The upcoming Flannery O’Connor biopic “Wildcat,” which had its Telluride premiere, is directed by Ethan Hawke and stars Maya. The author and six other characters, some of whom have explicit sexual content, are all portrayed by Maya in O’Connor’s short stories. Maya Hawke’s involvement in sex scenes is not a concern for Ethan Hawke. Rafael Casal and Cooper Hoffman were also in the movie with Maya, which was directed by Ethan, according to Variety. It should be noted that the “Wildcat” cast was given a SAG-AFTRA temporary agreement to promote the movie while the strike was still going on.
“We needed to take care of Rafael and Cooper,” Ethan said. “I think it was weird for them. We were so comfortable with it. I couldn’t care less.” Maya Hawke added on her part, “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…” to which Ethan said, “…by some creepy dad.”
Ethan continued in a statement to Variety about Maya’s portrayal of O’Connor, “Young actresses very rarely get that opportunity to be brilliant, complicated, mean, sexual, asexual. Making movies about imperfect women is hard.” Maya said to Entertainment Weekly, “I hope to work with my dad my whole life. He’s my greatest teacher and my greatest adviser, and it’s an honor to get to work alongside him.”
Regarding the representation of femininity as a whole on screen, the “Stranger Things” actor stated that powerful female sexuality may come in a variety of ways in an interview with Margaret Qualley for Interview magazine. She said, “ “You’ll go to see an all-female Shakespeare production or something, which is so awesome, but so often the way in which women try to be powerful is by impersonating men. You don’t have to sit with your legs separated to be taken seriously, That’s an option, and if that works for you, that’s a great option.”
She continued her statement, “I’m so sick, in my own life and in movies, for all the women to have to do all the work to make the moment special, for them to have to peacock around and look so beautiful. I feel so fluid in my own gender. I love getting dressed up and being sparkly and peacocking around, and I also love not doing that.”
