How Ethan Hawke, Bobby Cannavale prepped for…
Welcome to O’Sardi’s!
For the new film “Blue Moon,” starring Ethan Hawke as the famed Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart, a reproduction of the enduring West forty fourth Street theater restaurant Sardi’s was constructed in a Dublin, Ireland, movie studio — 3,000 miles away.
“We have to build Sardi’s somewhere,” director Richard Linklater told The Post. “They’re not going to give us Sardi’s for a month.”
Ultimately the crew jetted to the Emerald Isle.
Ethan Hawke performs lyricist Lorenz Hart in the new film “Blue Moon,” which is set at Sardi’s. AP
“The historical challenge is very real,” Linklater added. “We redo all those pictures. You read every book. You get the actual designs, the architectural drawings. So it’s fun to do a very, very specific recreation.”
Of course, structural adjustments had been made to go well with the distinctive wants of the movie, which is set on March 9, 1943, the opening night time of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!”
The downstairs bar, where most of the witty motion takes place while whisky flows, is way smaller in real life.
Hawke’s Hart, Bobby Cannavale’s bartender and Andrew Scott’s Richard Rodgers, who wrote “Pal Joey” and other reveals with Hart before partnering with Oscar Hammerstein, needed room to unfold out.
And there are easter eggs hidden in the newly created celeb caricatures hanging on the wall.
But the traditional model and ambiance of the New York establishment, which first opened in its current location in 1927, are spot on.
Remarkably so, because Dublin-based manufacturing designer Susie Cullen has never step foot in Sardi’s before.
Sardi’s opened in its current location in New York in 1927. Stefano Giovannini
The Little Bar downstairs at Sardi’s is way smallter than what’s portrayed in the film. Tamara Beckwith/NY Post
“I was sent videos of a walk-through,” Cullen told The Post. “As you walk in through the door and what you see when you look left, what you see when you look right.”
She added: “We changed reality and made it work.”
Cullen prioritized what she believed had been the eatery’s important features: the quantity of cartoons on show, the deep crimson and brown coloration tones and the abundance of dark-stained wooden.
Production designer Susie Cullen prioritized the crimson and brown tones, the wooden and, of course, the caricatures on the partitions.
Bobby Cannavale performs a Sardi’s bartender. AP
The movie was made on a tight price range. So, the designer borrowed flats from other initiatives.
And some 100 unique caricatures had been drawn by a local artist to appear like the well-known portraits at Sardi’s.
But they’re not all of Broadway royalty of the day like Tallulah Bankhead and Ethel Barrymore.
“A few crew members appear amongst the characters,” Cullen said. “Like Richard [Linklater] is in. John Sloss, the producer, and his family, and one of the other producers, a couple of art directors.”
Sardi’s is understood for its iconic caricatures of Broadway stars. Tamara Beckwith/NY Post
The “Blue Moon” opening night time festivities for the New York Film Festival had been held at — where else? — Sardi’s. Marion Curtis/StarPix for Sony Pictures Classics/Shutterstock
Another side of creating Sardi’s of-a-different-era ambiance is the performances. Hawke and Cannavale did hands-on research to nail the vibe.
“Ethan and I live three blocks away from each other,” Cannavale told The Post.
“So, like the month before we went to Dublin, we went to Sardi’s a few times and we hung out. And we’ve hung out there before because we’ve had opening night parties there. And I think we both have our caricatures up on the wall.”
Then, on the night time prior to flying to Dublin, Hawke told The Post, Tony winner Patti LuPone walked in and joined the pair for a drink.
Ethan Hawke during the 69th BFI London Film Festival at The Soho Hotel on October 16, 2025. Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFI
Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater during a portrait shoot for “Blue Moon” during the 69th BFI London Film Festival on October 16, 2025. Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFI
“Patti LuPone was holding court and people were coming in, and there was all kinds of Broadway gossip happening,” he said.
“And Bobby went behind the bar and, you know, asked the bartenders about different details about what it’s like to work there and how it would have changed.”
Patti LuPone joined Hawke and Cannavale for a drink. Getty Images
Actually, making “Blue Moon,” which is now in theaters, proved one thing of a homecoming for Cannavale, who at present stars in “Art” on Broadway with James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris.
“I worked in a lot of bars in New York City,” he said. “Not Sardi’s, but yeah it did feel pretty authentic to the actual Sardi’s for sure.”
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