Ethan Hawke talks Robin Williams silent battle during ‘Dead Poet Society'

Ethan Hawke recalled his time on set and shared his observations from the private struggles of co-star Robin Williams.

The Black Phone actor starred as introverted prep school student Todd Anderson in the film.

During his appearance at the CBS Sunday Morning, he told the host Tracy Smith that Williams' 2014 death does not change the way he sees the movie now because at the time, he said, "I was aware of the complexity of his emotional life."

"I've had a lot of depression in my family, and it was obvious to me that all that power and that charisma came at a certain cost," Hawke said, describing Williams as "a deeply, deeply sensitive person who was highly attuned to the energy of a room."

He recalled a moment from set where Williams was “making up lines and everybody’s laughing, everybody’s praising him.” 

However later things were different, when Hawke went out to get a glass of water and something to eat he saw him “hiding in a little corner. He was hiding in the dark by himself. And I [thought], 'Okay, it makes a lot more sense to me now.' It was a lot. It was taxing."

Hawke went on to say that when he watches the film now, “I think of the spirit of the man that I knew on those days, and how powerful it was, and how much he weathered that storm of his own psyche for us and for other people. And I admire him tremendously."

In the Dead Poets Society, Williams starred as John Keating, a passionate English professor at a New England boarding school who inspires his young students played by Hawke, Josh Charles, and Robert Sean Leonard, among others to pursue their dreams despite social pressures.

Williams won Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role along with other accolades like Best Original Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Director.