It wouldn’t be correct to say that Ethan Hawke is experiencing a resurgence right now as much as Ethan Hawke has always been around, and people are just taking more notice of him. He could end up scoring a Best Actor nomination for his performance in First Reformed, his directorial effort Blaze is receiving strong reviews, and he’s also got the indie rom-com Juliet, Naked in theaters. He’s doing well, and he did it despite turning down a role in one of the biggest blockbusters of the 90s, Independence Day.

Hawke was on Conan and told the story about how he had turned down lots of movies, but one that stuck out was Independence Day. You may recall that Hawke was incredibly hot coming off the success of Reality Bites, but the way he tells it, he was happier just going on a road trip with his buddy, and he thought the script for Independence Day was dumb. Cut to about 18 months later, and I’ll let Hawke tell the story.

The good news is that Hawke is doing just fine, and it’s not like he’s above doing sci-fi movies (Predestination, Daybreakers), action (Assault on Precinct 13, Getaway), or any other genre. That being said, he’s probably a bit more cautious these days on assuming whether or not a movie is going to flop.