Ethan Hawke and his daughter Maya Hawke aren’t shy about working together — even if that means one of them filming a sex scene while the other directs it.
While the scenario might seem totally awkward to most people, neither the 52-year-old actor nor his 25-year-old Stranger Things star daughter found it weird when the former directed the latter’s sex scenes in their new film Wildcat.
“I couldn’t care less,” Ethan told Variety, adding that they both “were so comfortable with it.”
However, Maya’s onscreen partners weren’t quite so relaxed about the unique setup.
“We needed to take care of Rafael [Casal] and Cooper [Hoffman]. I think it was weird for them,” Ethan shared.
“We made sure to have an intimacy coordinator on set for them. So that they felt safe and comfortable and not like they were being spied on…” Maya added, before Ethan quipped, “…by some creepy dad.”
Maya and Ethan previously worked together on 2020’s The Good Lord Bird. The father-daughter duo have no reservations about working together, even in the age of ongoing debates surrounding nepotism and “nepo babies” in Hollywood.
“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,” Maya noted.
“If someone wants to criticize us for working together, that’s totally fair. You have to let people have their opinion. You just have to try to do a good job when you’re onstage,” Ethan added.
Speaking to Variety, Maya also discussed what it’s like addressing her dad by his first name on set.
“I started using his name — ‘Ethan’ — to be like, ‘I’m a professional.’ And then I realized it was actually more distracting to people. They’d be like, ‘Why are you doing that?’ So I mostly called him ‘Dad,'” she revealed.
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Released on Sept. 1, Wildcat follows Maya as novelist Flannery O’Connor. The idea for the film came from Maya herself, who has had a longtime fascination with the Southern Gothic writer, according to Variety. She pitched the idea for the film to Ethan’s production company, Under the Influence.
“The production’s demands were high. It wasn’t a cute father-daughter thing,” co-star Laura Linney told Variety.
“Before we started everyone was asking me, ‘Are you nervous to work with your dad?’ I hadn’t thought to be,” Maya, who also produced the film, explained.
“I started thinking, ‘What am I not seeing? What am I missing?'” Ethan noted, adding that working together is their “safe place.”
The actor also declared that the movie was made because of Maya, not him, despite his long career in Hollywood. “The temperature in the room changed because Maya now has every right to be the lead of something. It’s different than if she were 17. This movie is being financed because she’s in it, not because I’m directing,” he said.
Ethan shares Maya with his ex-wife Uma Thurman. The former couple also have a 21-year-old son named Levon.
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