Ethan Hawke Says His ‘Total Recall’ Cameo Will Consist Of A 5 Page Monologue

Geez. It’s one thing to show up in a cameo role in a film, say a few lines, wink at the audience and then leave. It’s another to show up and give a speech lengthy enough to be a State Of The Union.

Okay, maybe we’re exaggerating, but Ethan Hawke revealed he will be talking — a lot — when he pops up in next year’s “Total Recall” redo. Vulture caught up with the actor at an after-party for the off-Broadway play “Knickerbocker” and he said about his upcoming role, “[I’ve got to] leave the party. Learn the lines. It’s a five-page monologue … Yeah, it’s great. It’s really good.” He remained coy on who he’ll be playing exactly, so we’ll leave it to Philip K. Dick fans to tell us: any guesses on who this chatty character might be? But man, that’ll be one helluva piece to memorize.

As for Hawke’s TV pilot “Exit Strategy” directed by his “Brooklyn’s Finest” and “Training Day” director Antoine Fugua he doesn’t seem to be too optimistic about its chances. “I’d be surprised if anyone ever sees that show. I really don’t know about TV. I have no idea. It’s all new to me. It’s a total mystery,” he said. That’s kind of too bad as it sounded pretty promising. The pilot, written by David Guggenheim (“Safe House”), the show is described as a “high octane procedural” where five CIA experts are sent into the field to extract agents after a mission goes bad. Hawke plays the team leader and mastermind of the exit strategy. The procedural part comes in because each episode will take place in a different country with a different crisis each week. Recent reports have suggested it might be tweaked a bit and brought in as a mid-season replacement on Fox so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.

But plenty on Hawke’s schedule anyway. He recently wrapped the indie flick “A Late Quartet” and he’ll flex his blockbuster muscles next summer when “Total Recall” hits on August 3, 2012.