'I wanted to be in character so didn't laugh at him,' Ethan says of the late actor, who starred alongside him in the 1989 film.

• Jun 2, 2018

AceShowbiz - Ethan Hawke thought Robin Williams hated him because he refused to laugh at his jokes on the set of "Dead Poets Society".

The "Training Day" actor made his breakthrough as a teenager by playing pupil Todd Anderson, who is taught by Robin's inspirational English teacher John Keating, in the 1989 drama.

Ethan had been close to giving up his dreams of an acting career at the time and was so determined to make an impression as a serious actor that he got frustrated when everyone else would laugh at the "Jumanji" star's jokes.

"Robin was incredibly funny, relaxed and inventive and improvised constantly. The more the crew laughed the more he performed," Ethan explained on The Graham Norton Show. "But I really wanted to be a serious actor and had read Stanislavski (acting technique). I wanted to be in character so didn't laugh at him. The funnier he was, the more steam came out of my ears."

The late actor, who passed away in 2014, would tease his young co-star about how serious he was, which convinced Ethan that Robin "hated" him, so he was shocked to find the "Mrs. Doubtfire" star recommending him to his agent.

"After the movie came out I got a call from Robin's agent asking to represent me as Robin had told him I was going to be someone one day. He was a lovely gentle man," Ethan continued.

The 47-year-old also confessed how he had "blown it so many times" when it comes to choosing parts, recalling how he turned down Will Smith's role in "Independence Day" because he thought the script was dumb.

"I once read the script for Independence Day and mocked it because I was arrogant and thought it terrible," he shared. "When the movie came out I went to see it with my girlfriend expecting it to be awful and it was a massive hit. After the movie she said, 'You're an idiot.'"