Ethan Hawke thinks "greed" runs the movie business.

The 53-year-old actor acknowledges that the movie industry is "designed to make money" - but Ethan admires actors and actresses who are willing to take financial risks.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Ethan explained: "Greed runs our universe.

"If you say you just want to make money, everybody understands what you are going for, and they are fine with it. ‘Great, yeah, good. Oh, yeah, he sold ten billion Big Macs. Good for him.’ No, you just poisoned the whole world."

Ethan loves that some people within the film industry are still willing to prioritise art over profit.

The 'Dead Poets Society' star said: "I love it when people keep the great dream alive of making something magnificent, and it’s very hard because the whole industry that runs movie making is designed to make money - and most of all our favourite movies, that’s not what was motivating the project.

"I would never want to not be a person that wouldn’t sell their house to make a movie. I love that. I think it’s cool. I admire the hell out of it."

Meanwhile, Ethan has admitted to feeling embarrassed that he's worked with so few female directors during his time in the movie business.

The veteran film star has "only worked with a handful of female directors" during his time in Hollywood and Ethan has admitted that he wishes it wasn't the case.

He explained: "I’ve worked with a lot of men from all over the world. And I’ve only worked with a handful of female directors, which is, I would say, embarrassing for me, but it’s embarrassing for the industry because I want to."