Do you feel you have a lot of freedom in the projects you choose? ["Snow Falling on Cedars"] is similar in feel to "Gattaca" in a lot of ways. It's quite mellow in tone. Is this something you plan to keep going in that sort of style?

No, I don't. It's true, "Snow Falling on Cedars and "Gattaca" are similar in tone. There's a [strand] of lonely people that I play, but basically you just try and do what appeals to you. You do the best things that you're offered, [that] allow you to work with the most creative and exciting people that you can.

So what's your next plan, what's your next project.

I don't know exactly what I'm doing next. I just finished a film adaptation of "Hamlet", which is set in New York with Gertrude and Claudius as a kind of Jane Fonda and Ted Turner. It's corporate - the idea of kings and queens in a modern day sense, controlling information and money. Hamlet is a film maker, so instead of a play within a play, it's a movie within a movie. [It's] really terrific. We shot it on 16mm, in New York. Bill Murray plays Polonius and Sam Shepherd plays the ghost. Kyle MacLachlan plays Claudius. Trust me, it's really funny.

Ethan Hawke on "Snow Falling On Cedars".