Ethan Hawke "never took any pride" in being a poster boy "until it was gone".
The 55-year-old actor has reflected on a time where his movie posters were hung up in "college dorm rooms", but he never took much notice when it was actually happening.
He told GQ magazine's One More Question: "You know, I never took any pride in it until it was gone, but there was a time period where posters of my film were in college dorm rooms across America.
“Those days are done. I never was proud of it when it was happening, but now I’m like, ‘Well, that’s cool'.
“Wish that still was [the case], but you have to kind of embrace what is.
"I meet those women now at my kids’ soccer games, and they say, ‘I had your picture up in my college dorm,’ and I think that we have some bond, a secret between us, but that makes me feel good.”
After starring in 2001's Training Day, Ethan thought his career would lead to other action movie roles, which wasn't the case.
He recalled: “When I did Training Day, I really thought I’d be in a lot of action movies. I just thought that was going to happen for me.
“But when I was younger, I also thought I’d be in a lot of comedies.
"I thought all these things...I thought everything would be different somehow. And how it is, is fine — interesting, of course.”
At one point, Ethan also thought he would end up dating Drew Barrymore.
Appearing on the actress and TV star's eponymous daytime chat show, he told her: "I can’t remember a time in my life when I was not aware of you."
Drew, 51, then responded: "That’s how I feel about you!"
Ethan replied: "What I can’t believe is that we never dated, you know? I mean..."
Drew - who has been married three times - jokingly added: "Where were you? And by the way what me and every other girl on the planet wouldn’t have given to date you. Where the hell were you?"
Ethan subsequently recalled attending parties in the 90s, wondering if "Drew will be there".
The actor - who has been married to his actress wife Ryan since 2008 - shared: "I wanted to play it cool. I wanted it to happen organically. I thought, you know, something magic would happen."
Drew replied: "And look what happened — nothing!"