Josh Charles Says Taylor Swift Made Sure He and Ethan Hawke Got VMA Trophies for ‘Fortnight’ Video Win: ‘She’s a Class Act’

Josh Charles revealed he and Ethan Hawke received Moon Person trophies because of Taylor Swift.

The Best Medicine star told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday, Jan. 15 that after “Fortnight” took home Video of the Year at the MTV VMA Awards in September 2024, the 14-time Grammy winner made sure that both Charles, 54, and Hawke, 55, received their own trophies.

“I’m assuming it came from Taylor, that she just wanted to celebrate us for being a part of the video in a way that she felt helped the video and made it really special?” Charles told the publication. “So, she included Ethan [Hawke] and I as part of the people who received the award for [Video of the Year].”

He added, “All I know is I got an email that something was coming and to give my address and to make sure it’s the right one. When I got it, I was like, ‘This is incredible.'”

“She’s a class act,” Charles said of Swift, 36.

In April 2024, Charles and Hawke surprised fans with a cameo in Swift’s “Fortnight” music video, and the former reflected on the fun experience of the pair reuniting years after the release of Dead Poets Society. He also admitted that it was “hard” keeping the secret of starring in the visual to himself.

“Little debrief about yesterday: I don’t like keeping secrets so that was hard. I didn’t even tell my kids until the other day!” he captioned an Instagram post at the time, sharing a selfie with Hawke from the airport and a photo of them in the 1989 film they starred in together in the next slide.

Charles continued, “Here’s a couple of tortured old poets about to board an early flight to be pop stars for a day. Been through a lot with this dude over the years, but safe to say this was a most memorable day.”

He then praised Swift’s crew for treating the pair of actors with “such class” during the shoot for the single, which features Post Malone.

“What I’ll remember most was the laughter. There was a lot of it. Like we were 17 all over again. #TSTTPD,” Charles wrote.

Hawke also teased in a comment that he and Charles should “keep it rolling” and continue to reprise their roles as Todd and Knox from Dead Poets Society.

“Maybe Todd & Knox start appearing mysteriously in the background of all the world’s great poets!” he said at the time.