Blue Moon, Ethan Hawke's latest collaboration with Richard Linklater, was met with cheers at its Berlin Film Festival world premiere.

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: Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater on their new film 'Blue Moon,' in which Hawke plays American lyricist Lorenz Hart.

Blue Moon, though, is very much a minor effort in the Linklater canon. Premiering in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, the Texan auteur’s new film – his 22nd, and the first of two due for release in this year alone – boasts a fine,