Oscar-nominee John Hawkes helped open the TCM Classic Film Festival on Thursday by introducing the Alfred Hitchcock classic Shadow of a Doubt, but the actor also teased one of his own major projects. Hawkes will star in True Detective Season 4, opposite Jodie Foster, in a mystery that takes the HBO series to Alaska. The Winter’s Bone star also urged fans to check out Issa Lรณpez’s 2017 film Tigers Are Not Afraid before the new season starts.
“We were in Iceland for six months pretending we were in Alaska,” Hawkes said when asked about working with Foster on the series. “It’s complicated.” Hawkes went on to praise Lรณpez as a “really extraordinary” writer. “She wrote extraordinary scripts and is really an amazing director,” Hawkes continued. “You should check out a film of hers called Tigers Are Not Afraidย if you haven’t seen it. It was kind of the movie that got her this job.”
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Hawkes noted that the cast was populated with “really amazing” actors. Foster stars as Det. Liz Danvers, who investigates the disappearance of eight men operating the Tsalal Arctic Research Station in Ennis, Alaska. The cast includes Kali Reis as Danvers’ partner, Evangeline Navarro. Fiona Shaw, Finn Bennett, Isabella Star Lablanc, Aka Niviรขna, Anna Lambe, Joel D. Montgrand, and Christopher Eccleston also star. The season’s full title is True Detective: Night Countryย and will be released on HBO and Max later this year.
True Detective wasn’t the real reason Hawkes was at the TCM festival though. He was among several current Hollywood stars who introduced classic films during the event. He presented Shadow of a Doubt, the 1943 Hitchcock thriller starring Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright. Although not as well known as Hitchcock classics like Psycho, Vertigo, or North By Northwest, Hitchcock often considered it one of his favorite films. Cotten plays Charlie Oakley, whose beloved niece (Wright) begins suspecting him of a series of murders.
Hawkes looked at the film from an actor’s perspective, noting that Cotten’s performance is “a combination of subtle and sledgehammer.” He also showed the film to Charlie Kaufman when the two were working on a pilot to help inspire each other. Just before the film rolled, Hawkes also delivered a message about TCM.
“I just quickly say that when I check into a hotel or motel, as the case may be, the first thing I do is see if they have Turner Classic Movies,” Hawkes said to a round of applause. “The hotel is rated by whether or not they have [TCM], as far as I’m concerned.”ย
