Ethan Hawke & Russell Crowe Star in Gritty Western Thriller ‘The Weight’

New photos present Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe starring within the new Western thriller The Weight. The film premiered on January 26 on the 2026 Sundance Movie Competition, with the pictures including to Hawke’s account of the work for these not in attendance.

The Weight was filmed over six weeks in and across the Bavarian Forest in Germany, standing in for Oregon. In an interview with Leisure Weekly, Hawke described it as “One of many hardest summers of [his] life.” The actor went on to say: “Being within the water, being within the woods, I hold saying, ‘Oh, it is an motion film with out that a lot motion,’ but it surely was exhausting. Simply worrying in regards to the ticks alone.“

Try the unique photos from The Weight beneath, revealed by EW:

Hawke performs Samuel Murphy, a widowed father who’s struggling financially, however does all the pieces he can to repair his and his daughter’s state of affairs. However he will get right into a battle with an undercover cop and is distributed to jail. Crowe, taking part in Warden Clancy, then makes a take care of Murphy, involving smuggling and transporting gold.

Temperatures within the river the place the solid and crew of The Weight filmed hovered simply above freezing; this was typically additional difficult due to the rocky, harmful terrain. In the identical interview, Hawke stated that filming reminded him of White Fang, one other comparable movie he did as a baby. Try his further feedback beneath:

Once I was a child, I did this film, White Fang, the place I went to Alaska for six months… It was so romantic. It was a life-changing expertise for me. And I am nonetheless hungry for this sort of expertise the place you’re taking a digital camera into the wild and are available out with a film.

This film is about through the Nice Melancholy, with characters who’re stoic, assured, and compelled to be sturdy mentally and bodily. It is the sort of position that Hawke within the first place, as he explains beneath:

“It is an old style concept of the principled man… I am actually considering attempting to place forth a narrative proper now about constructive manifestations of masculinity, and like, what’s dignity, empowering others, caring for others, fatherhood, serving. These sorts of old style rules, after which set them in an motion style, and have an individual’s integrity examined.”

Hawke additional advised EW that he was enthusiastic about being in a “character-driven motion film […] There have been motion motion pictures the place not lots of s**t blows up. They’re about individuals, however they’re excessive stakes.” In the meantime, Pete Hammond at Deadline described this Padraic McKinley-directed, survival-focused thriller as “pure gold.“

Hawke has lately starred within the crime drama sequence The Lowdown in addition to the Black Telephone motion pictures, and simply earned an Oscar nomination for his efficiency in 2025’s Blue Moon. Crowe, as of late, has starred in thrillers akin to Nuremberg and Sleeping Canines. The Weight is the primary time the 2 actors are starring in a function movie collectively.