Ethan and Maya Hawke joke about their nepotism
Ethan and Maya Hawke were well aware nepo baby discourse might reach their new film Wildcat
When it comes to Hollywood, there’s always been a fascination with nepotism (think: Judy Garland and Liza Minelli; Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher; John Huston and Anjelica Huston). Even so, the term “nepo baby” has never been more popular—or more weaponized—than it is now. And despite the fact that they’ve worked together before (on The Good Lord Bird), the Hawkes are very aware it might be wielded against them in their new project, Wildcat, directed by Ethan and starring Maya as Flannery O’Connor.
In a new interview with Variety, Ethan meets the charge with humor: “Put simply, I’m a nepo dad! And I’m not embarrassed about it.” In fact, Ethan truly believes Wildcat was made possible because Maya’s stature has risen in the industry to leading lady level. “This movie is being financed because she’s in it, not because I’m directing,” he proclaims. (“Well … a little bit of both,” Maya hastens to add.)
Their friends and co-stars are more than willing to shield the duo from any untoward accusations. “The production’s demands were high. It wasn’t a cute father-daughter thing,” says Laura Linney, who plays Maya’s mother. Meanwhile, Rafael Casal (who appears in both The Good Lord Bird and Wildcat) opines, “Ethan and Maya have spent a lifetime discussing art with each other. If anything, them being family allows them to skip past the usual trappings of strangers and get right to the honest moments.”
Ethan and Maya agree that “making art together” is their “safe space,” so much so that they really had no qualms working together, let alone shooting some of the intimate scenes that were required by the script. “We needed to take care of Rafael and Cooper [Hoffman]. I think it was weird for them. We were so comfortable with it. I couldn’t care less,” the director tells the outlet. Maya adds that they had an intimacy coordinator to make sure those actors “felt safe and comfortable and not like they were being spied on …,” as Ethan says: “… by some creepy dad.”
Despite being totally and completely cool working together, Maya still had “moments of insecurity” while shooting, knowing that the nepo baby discourse might soon find them. “But the internet doesn’t have a lot of nuances. My dad has been a massive teacher for me, and we want to work together. We like being with each other.”
“If someone wants to criticize us for working together, that’s totally fair. You have to let people have their opinion,” says her dad, who also insists that while being famous can get you an audition for Julliard, “but they’re not going to get you in.” (Maya dropped out of the famed acting school to appear in the 2017 Little Women limited series.) In Ethan’s view, “You just have to try to do a good job when you’re onstage.”