Ethan Hawke, star of ‘The Good Lord Bird,’ on why he made the show

Ethan Hawke portrays John Brown, the real-life abolitionist behind the Harpers Ferry raid, in Showtime’s “The Good Lord Bird,� based on the novel by James McBride. Hawke came to love Brown’s intensity and dedication to the cause of emancipation while reading the novel. Reflecting on John Brown, Hawke says, “I was reading these letters and people would say, “How could you do that? You’re crazy. You got your sons killed,� and he said, “Someday, America is going to be ashamed of slavery, and they’ll never be ashamed of my sons.�