Hawke is unrecognizable as the 5-foot balding Broadway genius in Richard Linklater's new film. "It was demolishing to my vanity," he says from Berlin.

Berlin: At the press conference, several journalists already praised Linklater's movie about the great American lyricist as a "masterpiece."

Hawke stars as the late Broadway icon, the lyricist behind such favorites as "My Funny Valentine," "The Lady Is a Tramp," and more.