India, Oct. 23 -- Ethan Hawke is not interested in mimicry. When he signed on to play lyricist Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon, the veteran actor told The Canadian Press he was not chasing imitation and wanted to live inside the man's chaos. Set almost entirely at popular theatre-district restaurant Sardi's, the legendary Broadway hangout, Blue Moon unfolds in real time, tracing the crumbling final months of Hart's life in 1943.

Hawke disappears into the role, playing Hart as a balding, irritable genius under his own brilliance. "I've spent my life with theatre people," he said during the Toronto International Film Festival. "I felt like I knew him. You know, I felt like I spent a couple of months with old Larry. I know this dude and I love him...