reilly, and an earlier production at the steppenwolf theater in chicagoic with john malkand gary siniseas filmed and shown on pbs, where a 14-year- old ethan hawke first saw it. >> and i had seen or heard nothing like this play, and it-r was hak concert, half... i didn't know whether it was malkovich i lo you know, steppenwolf, or sam shepherd, or was it the hank williams song in the beginning. what was it that was so good? >> brown: but it did something. did something to you. >> and then i went to library and i got seven plays, you and i just started chasing all this stuff. >> i didn't have the same relationship to it that that ethan did, but the more time i've read the play, including throughout our entire process, the more there was to be mined. and that's the most exciting thing for an actor. >> a lot of actors are drawn to this like catnip. a little bit like hemingway before him, sam has a reputation of toughness. and so, guys often try to macho that up. and if you do that, you actu lose. sam shepard is unbelievably funny, and he's a deeplyit spl man. and he's got a profound sensib