Ethan Hawke shared a surprising story from his teenage years involving Hollywood friend River Phoenix and a stolen motorcycle.
During his recent appearance at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Hawke recounted how a reckless ride ended with a broken foot and a memorable anecdote.
The Emmy-winning actor revealed her was 14 when he was joyriding on a motorcycle that didn’t belong to him.
Stranger Things actress Maya Hawke’s dad alongside his soon-to-be close friend River Phoenix were working on the Explorers (1985), a sci-fi adventure film.
“A little bit after that picture, River and I stole his father’s motorcycle and I crashed it,” Hawke told the host Colbert.
“The bike was fine,” Hawke quipped with a laugh, “but my foot was broken.”
Fearing the consequences if Phoenix’s parents found out, Hawke said the pair decided to keep the injury a secret until the next day.
“River said, ‘Ethan, my dad cannot know we were riding the bike,’” Hawke exclaimed.
“And I was spending the night at his house — my mom wasn’t picking me up until the next morning — he was like, ‘You have to get through this night and you go to the hospital at your mom’s house.’”
Hawke followed Phoenix’s plan and came up with inventive methods to manage pain.
“I went into their kitchen and I just cried, ‘My foot is killing me!’” Hawke shared.
Both managed to evade getting a scolding from Phoenix’s father, but as a consequence of the broken foot the production on Explorers had to be ‘shut down’.
“I mean, it was a nightmare,” he added.
