Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the “Wildcat,” co-written and directed by Ethan Hawke and featuring his daughter Maya as 20th Century writer Flannery O’Connor. Currently in select theaters since May 17th. See local listings.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Flannery O’Connor is a struggling writer of fiction in the late 1940s/early ‘50s who is flitting between New York City and her home is Georgia. When she begins to feel ill and breaks out in rashes, she is diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Lupus. Writing in her room for the rest of her life … she died at 39 … she produced three novels and 31 short stories, gathered in collections like “Everything that Rises Must Converge.”
“Wildcat” is in select theaters now, see local listings. Featuring Maya Hawke, Laura Linney, Steve Zahn, Vincent D’Onofrio, Alessandro Nivola and Liam Neeson. Written by Ethan Hawke and Shelby Gaines. Directed by Ethan Hawke. Not Rated.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Flannery O’Connor is a struggling writer of fiction in the late 1940s/early ‘50s who is flitting between New York City and her home is Georgia. When she begins to feel ill and breaks out in rashes, she is diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Lupus. Writing in her room for the rest of her life … she died at 39 … she produced three novels and 31 short stories, gathered in collections like “Everything that Rises Must Converge.”
“Wildcat” is in select theaters now, see local listings. Featuring Maya Hawke, Laura Linney, Steve Zahn, Vincent D’Onofrio, Alessandro Nivola and Liam Neeson. Written by Ethan Hawke and Shelby Gaines. Directed by Ethan Hawke. Not Rated.
- 5/22/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
It’s been a rough few weeks for indies but May is here with a handful of hopefuls looking to rev up the market — from A24’s buzzy I Saw The TV Glow to Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Venice award-winning Evil Does Not Exist. A documentary about Anita Pallenberg featuring Scarlett Johansson hits theaters, with a French animated sci-fi set on Mars, and a Flannery O’Conner biopic by Ethan Hawke.
I Saw The TV Glow is written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun (We’re All Going To The World’s Fair) and produced by Emma Stone under her Fruit Tree Banner. The horror-thriller that gripped Sundance (Deadline review called it a “trippy gut punch”) then SXSW follows a teenager named Owen trying to make it through life in the suburbs. The weirdness starts when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show, a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own.
I Saw The TV Glow is written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun (We’re All Going To The World’s Fair) and produced by Emma Stone under her Fruit Tree Banner. The horror-thriller that gripped Sundance (Deadline review called it a “trippy gut punch”) then SXSW follows a teenager named Owen trying to make it through life in the suburbs. The weirdness starts when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show, a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own.
- 5/3/2024
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
In March 2020, during the first days of the Covid pandemic, IndieWire launched an Instagram Live series. The idea was to hold a causal conversation with talent about their creative process and how they spend their free time, a discussion that took on a very different meaning against the uncertain backdrop of the lockdown. IndieWire instinctively turned to Ethan Hawke to launch the series and set the tone; and at a time when most creatives understandably went dark, Hawke was hungry for the conversation.
Later that summer, the actor-writer-director gave a Ted-Ed talk, “Give yourself permission to be creative.” Even if you haven’t watched the nine-minute talk, you’ve seen it: Excerpts, four years later, still flood most social media feeds on a daily basis.
In the most viral clip, Hawke, discussing what happens to people when they suffer a great loss, said, “Did anyone feel like this before? What is happening to me?...
Later that summer, the actor-writer-director gave a Ted-Ed talk, “Give yourself permission to be creative.” Even if you haven’t watched the nine-minute talk, you’ve seen it: Excerpts, four years later, still flood most social media feeds on a daily basis.
In the most viral clip, Hawke, discussing what happens to people when they suffer a great loss, said, “Did anyone feel like this before? What is happening to me?...
- 4/30/2024
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Ethan Hawke’s Wildcat won’t tell you much about what Flannery O’Connor accomplished. The audience won’t learn about O’Connor’s place in the literary world, the larger culture, or alongside other consciously Catholic fiction writers like Graham Greene. There’s a worthy determination to the way that Wildcat sees O’Connor’s world almost entirely from her mystical, pain-rattled perspective. But by limiting the film’s viewpoint so strictly, Hawke and co-screenwriter Shelby Gaines miss an opportunity to introduce O’Connor to a wider audience.
Hawke’s gnomic biopic opens with a 24-year-old O’Connor (Maya Hawke) trying to make it in New York, circa 1950. Having won a literary prize while attending the prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop, she’s trying to get her first novel, Wise Blood, published. But O’Connor, incapable of small talk or artistic compromise, isn’t a striving literary ingenue working the angles and currying favor.
Hawke’s gnomic biopic opens with a 24-year-old O’Connor (Maya Hawke) trying to make it in New York, circa 1950. Having won a literary prize while attending the prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop, she’s trying to get her first novel, Wise Blood, published. But O’Connor, incapable of small talk or artistic compromise, isn’t a striving literary ingenue working the angles and currying favor.
- 4/28/2024
- by Chris Barsanti
- Slant Magazine
Ethan Hawke goes back behind the camera for Wildcat, and here are details of his new film – plus a trailer.
Ethan Hawke is better known as an actor than a director, with a prolific career that has included many collaborations with Richard Linklater – the sublime Before trilogy, Tape, The Newton Boys and Boyhood stand tall. Plus, films as diverse as Dead Poet’s Society, Training Day, The Purge, Predestination and Lord Of War – the sequel to the latter is currently in development, with writer and director Andrew Niccol and star Nicholas Cage on board. It has not been confirmed if Hawke will appear.
However, he has also steadily built up an impressive career behind the camera. Besides co-writing the last two Before films with Linklater and Julie Delpy, he has directed several documentaries and three feature films – Chelsea Walls in 1999, The Hottest State, adapted from his own novel in 2006, and...
Ethan Hawke is better known as an actor than a director, with a prolific career that has included many collaborations with Richard Linklater – the sublime Before trilogy, Tape, The Newton Boys and Boyhood stand tall. Plus, films as diverse as Dead Poet’s Society, Training Day, The Purge, Predestination and Lord Of War – the sequel to the latter is currently in development, with writer and director Andrew Niccol and star Nicholas Cage on board. It has not been confirmed if Hawke will appear.
However, he has also steadily built up an impressive career behind the camera. Besides co-writing the last two Before films with Linklater and Julie Delpy, he has directed several documentaries and three feature films – Chelsea Walls in 1999, The Hottest State, adapted from his own novel in 2006, and...
- 3/14/2024
- by Jake Godfrey
- Film Stories
Maya Hawke stars as Flannery O’Connor, the celebrated author of Southern Gothic-inspired short stories, novels, and essays, in Wildcat.
The film, directed and co-written by Hawke’s father, Ethan Hawke, follows a 24 year-old Flannery in 1950s Georgia as she deals with a lupus diagnosis. She returns home to her mother, Regina (Laura Linney), and begins writing some of her most imaginative stories as she attempts to heal her relationship with her mom.
Throughout, the film offers fictionalized adaptations of several of Flannery’s most beloved short stories, which include cast members Rafael Casal, Cooper Hoffman, and Steve Zahn. Also appearing in Wildcat are Liam Neeson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Alessandro Nivola, Christine Dye, Willa Fitzgerald, and Ethan Hawke’s son, Levon Hawke. Watch the trailer for Wildcat below.
The film, which premiered at Colorado’s Telluride Film Festival in September 2023, is co-written by one of Hawke’s frequent theater collaborators, Shelby Gaines.
The film, directed and co-written by Hawke’s father, Ethan Hawke, follows a 24 year-old Flannery in 1950s Georgia as she deals with a lupus diagnosis. She returns home to her mother, Regina (Laura Linney), and begins writing some of her most imaginative stories as she attempts to heal her relationship with her mom.
Throughout, the film offers fictionalized adaptations of several of Flannery’s most beloved short stories, which include cast members Rafael Casal, Cooper Hoffman, and Steve Zahn. Also appearing in Wildcat are Liam Neeson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Alessandro Nivola, Christine Dye, Willa Fitzgerald, and Ethan Hawke’s son, Levon Hawke. Watch the trailer for Wildcat below.
The film, which premiered at Colorado’s Telluride Film Festival in September 2023, is co-written by one of Hawke’s frequent theater collaborators, Shelby Gaines.
- 3/13/2024
- by Paolo Ragusa
- Consequence - Film News
Radiant Films International is talking to buyers at EFM on Ethan Hawke’s Telluride and TIFF Flannery O’Connor biopic Wildcat.
Maya Hawke plays the Southern Gothic writer in the film, which draws upon excerpts from the writer’s short fiction, personal letters, and prayer journals.
The cast includes Laura Linney, Cooper Hoffman, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Alessandro Nivola, and Levon Hawke. Oscilloscope Laboratories plans a spring theatrical release in North America.
Shelby Gaines and Ethan Hawke co-wrote the screenplay on the feature from Renovo Media Group, Good Country Pictures, and Under the Influence Productions.
“Working on Wildcat was one of the...
Maya Hawke plays the Southern Gothic writer in the film, which draws upon excerpts from the writer’s short fiction, personal letters, and prayer journals.
The cast includes Laura Linney, Cooper Hoffman, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Alessandro Nivola, and Levon Hawke. Oscilloscope Laboratories plans a spring theatrical release in North America.
Shelby Gaines and Ethan Hawke co-wrote the screenplay on the feature from Renovo Media Group, Good Country Pictures, and Under the Influence Productions.
“Working on Wildcat was one of the...
- 2/19/2024
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Oscilloscope Laboratories has settled on a theatrical release date for its Flannery O’Connor biopic Wildcat, co-written and directed by Ethan Hawke, following the acquisition of North American rights. Exec produced by and starring the filmmaker’s daughter, Maya Hawke, the film will open at The Angelika in New York, and in L.A. theaters still to be determined on May 3rd, with a national roll-out to follow.
Competitors in its opening weekend will include Uni’s action comedy The Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, and an unknown title from Disney.
World premiering at last year’s Telluride Film Festival before going on to screen in Toronto, Wildcat invites the audience to weave in and out of the mind of celebrated Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor (Maya Hawke) as she ponders the great questions of her writing: Can scandalous art still serve God? Does suffering precede all greatness?...
Competitors in its opening weekend will include Uni’s action comedy The Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, and an unknown title from Disney.
World premiering at last year’s Telluride Film Festival before going on to screen in Toronto, Wildcat invites the audience to weave in and out of the mind of celebrated Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor (Maya Hawke) as she ponders the great questions of her writing: Can scandalous art still serve God? Does suffering precede all greatness?...
- 1/29/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired North American rights to Wildcat, Ethan Hawke’s portrait of Flannery O’Connor, which premiered at Telluride last year.
Maya Hawke stars in and produced the film, which weaves in and out of the Southern Gothic writer’s mind as she ponders the great questions of her writing: can scandalous art still serve God? Does suffering precede all greatness? Can illness be a blessing?
The cast includes Laura Linney as O’Connor’s mother, Philip Ettinger, Rafael Casal, Cooper Hoffman, Steve Zahn, Vincent D’Onofrio, Alessandro Nivola, Christine Dye, Willa Fitzgerald, and Levon Hawke.
O-Scope plans a spring theatrical release.
Maya Hawke stars in and produced the film, which weaves in and out of the Southern Gothic writer’s mind as she ponders the great questions of her writing: can scandalous art still serve God? Does suffering precede all greatness? Can illness be a blessing?
The cast includes Laura Linney as O’Connor’s mother, Philip Ettinger, Rafael Casal, Cooper Hoffman, Steve Zahn, Vincent D’Onofrio, Alessandro Nivola, Christine Dye, Willa Fitzgerald, and Levon Hawke.
O-Scope plans a spring theatrical release.
- 1/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired North American rights to Wildcat, Ethan Hawke’s portrait of Flannery O’Connor, which premiered at Telluride last year.
Maya Hawke stars in and produced the film, which weaves in and out of the Southern Gothic writer’s mind as she ponders the great questions of her writing: can scandalous art still serve God? Does suffering precede all greatness? Can illness be a blessing?
The cast includes Laura Linney as O’Connor’s mother, Philip Ettinger, Rafael Casal, Cooper Hoffman, Steve Zahn, Vincent D’Onofrio, Alessandro Nivola, Christine Dye, Willa Fitzgerald, and Levon Hawke.
O-Scope plans a spring theatrical release.
Maya Hawke stars in and produced the film, which weaves in and out of the Southern Gothic writer’s mind as she ponders the great questions of her writing: can scandalous art still serve God? Does suffering precede all greatness? Can illness be a blessing?
The cast includes Laura Linney as O’Connor’s mother, Philip Ettinger, Rafael Casal, Cooper Hoffman, Steve Zahn, Vincent D’Onofrio, Alessandro Nivola, Christine Dye, Willa Fitzgerald, and Levon Hawke.
O-Scope plans a spring theatrical release.
- 1/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired North American rights to Ethan Hawke’s portrait of Flannery O’Connor, Wildcat, starring and executive produced by Maya Hawke. The film had its world premiere at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival. Oscilloscope will release the film in theaters in the Spring.
Directed and co-written by 4-time Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke, Wildcat tells the story of Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor’s as she ponders the great questions of her writing: Can scandalous art still serve God? Does suffering precede all greatness? Can illness be a blessing?
In 1950, Flannery (Maya Hawke) visits her mother Regina (Laura Linney) in Georgia when she is diagnosed with lupus at 24 years old. Struggling with the same disease that took her father’s life when she was a child and desperate to make her mark as a great writer, this crisis pitches her imagination into a feverish exploration of belief. As...
Directed and co-written by 4-time Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke, Wildcat tells the story of Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor’s as she ponders the great questions of her writing: Can scandalous art still serve God? Does suffering precede all greatness? Can illness be a blessing?
In 1950, Flannery (Maya Hawke) visits her mother Regina (Laura Linney) in Georgia when she is diagnosed with lupus at 24 years old. Struggling with the same disease that took her father’s life when she was a child and desperate to make her mark as a great writer, this crisis pitches her imagination into a feverish exploration of belief. As...
- 1/17/2024
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
Maya Hawke's portrayal of Robin Buckley, the quirky Hawkins teen who befriends Steve Harrington in the third season of "Stranger Things," quickly made her a fan favorite. As it turns out, Maya's foray into the Upside Down wasn't her intro to Hollywood, though; she's been around red carpet royalty her entire life. The 25-year-old actor is the child of two major stars: Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke.
Thurman is best known for her roles as Mia in "Pulp Fiction" and The Bride in "Kill Bill: Volume 1" and "Kill Bill: Volume 2." Meanwhile, Ethan is known for playing Jesse in the Before trilogy and starred in the June 2022 horror film "The Black Phone." The pair met on the set of "Gattaca" in 1996 and married in 1998. They had two children, Maya and Levon Hawke, before separating in 2003 and divorcing in 2005. Ethan later married Ryan Shawhughes, and the pair went on to have two daughters,...
Thurman is best known for her roles as Mia in "Pulp Fiction" and The Bride in "Kill Bill: Volume 1" and "Kill Bill: Volume 2." Meanwhile, Ethan is known for playing Jesse in the Before trilogy and starred in the June 2022 horror film "The Black Phone." The pair met on the set of "Gattaca" in 1996 and married in 1998. They had two children, Maya and Levon Hawke, before separating in 2003 and divorcing in 2005. Ethan later married Ryan Shawhughes, and the pair went on to have two daughters,...
- 10/26/2023
- by Eden Arielle Gordon
- Popsugar.com
Ethan Hawke opened up at Zurich Film Festival about working with daughter and “Stranger Things” star Maya Hawke on “Wildcat.” “It’s extremely easy to direct your own daughter, because the love is there,” he told the audience.
“When I was making the documentary ‘The Last Movie Stars’ [about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward], I got to interview Martin Scorsese. I asked: ‘Why do you think Paul survived?’ So many people fall prey to the trappings of celebrity.”
“He gave me a very simple answer: ‘Because of Joanne.’ They worked together all the time. When you work with someone you love, it keeps you close to whatever makes you want to do this in the first place.”
While Hawke ended up directing the film about writer Flannery O’Connor – and co-wrote the script with Shelby Gaines – it was Maya who brought it to him.
“She was 15 or 16 years old when she discovered...
“When I was making the documentary ‘The Last Movie Stars’ [about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward], I got to interview Martin Scorsese. I asked: ‘Why do you think Paul survived?’ So many people fall prey to the trappings of celebrity.”
“He gave me a very simple answer: ‘Because of Joanne.’ They worked together all the time. When you work with someone you love, it keeps you close to whatever makes you want to do this in the first place.”
While Hawke ended up directing the film about writer Flannery O’Connor – and co-wrote the script with Shelby Gaines – it was Maya who brought it to him.
“She was 15 or 16 years old when she discovered...
- 10/1/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Fall festival premiere “Wildcat,” a reimagining of famed author Flannery O’Connor process writing her first novel, is even more of a family affair than originally advertised.
While the film, currently seeking distribution after premiering at both Telluride and TIFF, was executive produced by star Maya Hawke, co-written and directed by her father Ethan Hawke, and produced by his wife Ryan Hawke, actress Laura Linney, who plays O’Connor’s mother (among other roles) was the final piece of the puzzle that allowed them to produce the imaginative project.
“There are few people in the world who, if they ask you to do something, they whisper and you show up. And Ethan is just one of those people, for me,” said Linney during a recent interview with IndieWire. (The cast of “Wildcat” received a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement to promote the film amid the ongoing strike.) She recalled when they worked together early in her career,...
While the film, currently seeking distribution after premiering at both Telluride and TIFF, was executive produced by star Maya Hawke, co-written and directed by her father Ethan Hawke, and produced by his wife Ryan Hawke, actress Laura Linney, who plays O’Connor’s mother (among other roles) was the final piece of the puzzle that allowed them to produce the imaginative project.
“There are few people in the world who, if they ask you to do something, they whisper and you show up. And Ethan is just one of those people, for me,” said Linney during a recent interview with IndieWire. (The cast of “Wildcat” received a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement to promote the film amid the ongoing strike.) She recalled when they worked together early in her career,...
- 9/12/2023
- by Marcus Jones
- Indiewire
Sometimes when you finish reading a good novel or collection of short stories, you look forward to picking it up again it in a year or two or 20, to reenter its world and discover new wisdom in its powers of observation, new flashes of light in its turns of phrase. Ethan Hawke’s Wildcat casts a similar spell, so rich is it in detail and nuance and creative juice. Drawing upon the distinctive voice of Flannery O’Connor, it’s a sublime portrait of a great writer, a movie I can’t wait to see again for its visual elegance, its electric leaps between an author’s life and her work, and the delicious, playful intensity of all the performances, with Maya Hawke and Laura Linney each taking on a half-dozen interconnected roles.
At one point in Wildcat, Flannery, embodied with terrific wit and feeling by Maya Hawke, rails against the...
At one point in Wildcat, Flannery, embodied with terrific wit and feeling by Maya Hawke, rails against the...
- 9/6/2023
- by Sheri Linden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ethan Hawke has no problem with daughter Maya Hawke doing sex scenes.
Ethan directs Maya in upcoming Flannery O’Connor biopic “Wildcat,” which premiered at Telluride. Maya plays the author as well as six other characters in O’Connor’s short stories, some of which include sex scenes.
Ethan told Variety that he had no hesitation directing Maya in those moments, which co-starred Rafael Casal and Cooper Hoffman. To note, the cast of “Wildcat” received a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement to promote the film amid the ongoing strike.
“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 added, “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,...
Ethan directs Maya in upcoming Flannery O’Connor biopic “Wildcat,” which premiered at Telluride. Maya plays the author as well as six other characters in O’Connor’s short stories, some of which include sex scenes.
Ethan told Variety that he had no hesitation directing Maya in those moments, which co-starred Rafael Casal and Cooper Hoffman. To note, the cast of “Wildcat” received a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement to promote the film amid the ongoing strike.
“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 added, “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,...
- 9/5/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
In Wildcat, Ethan Hawke’s drama about Flannery O’Connor that premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on Friday, a smug white woman (Laura Linney) riding a city bus gives a Black child a penny. In response, the boy’s mother smacks the white woman, whose sanctimony quickly turns to shock.
It’s easy to imagine a contemporary viral video version of this moment trending on social media and sparking arguments about privilege. But the scene comes from O’Connor’s 1961 O. Henry-award winning short story, Everything That Rises Must Converge, and it’s part of how the filmmakers reveal the Georgia-born author’s background in the Jim Crow South and her evolution on the subject of race.
“Flannery O’Connor wrote about what she knew, and what she knew about was white hypocrisy,” says Maya Hawke, who plays multiple roles in the film, including the author. “What she knew how to look at was,...
It’s easy to imagine a contemporary viral video version of this moment trending on social media and sparking arguments about privilege. But the scene comes from O’Connor’s 1961 O. Henry-award winning short story, Everything That Rises Must Converge, and it’s part of how the filmmakers reveal the Georgia-born author’s background in the Jim Crow South and her evolution on the subject of race.
“Flannery O’Connor wrote about what she knew, and what she knew about was white hypocrisy,” says Maya Hawke, who plays multiple roles in the film, including the author. “What she knew how to look at was,...
- 9/3/2023
- by Rebecca Keegan
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ethan Hawke has directed, written and/or acted in quite a few notably esoteric projects throughout his multi-faceted career, and he’s now come up with another in Wildcat. This one makes use of four Flannery O’Connor stories that tie in to aspects of the writer’s difficult life and truly do illuminate aspects of it in clever and plausible ways. The general public would have no clue as to what’s going on in this often perceptively made film that connects with her work, but the episodes are frequently weird, abruptly amusing and almost always cleverly pertinent in some way.
There’s no question but that Wildcat is a small, narrowly focused work that will be of interest mainly to college literature students, southern academics and particular female writers. But kudos to Hawke for putting even a small spotlight on this singular American writer who, while working through dreadful medical ailments,...
There’s no question but that Wildcat is a small, narrowly focused work that will be of interest mainly to college literature students, southern academics and particular female writers. But kudos to Hawke for putting even a small spotlight on this singular American writer who, while working through dreadful medical ailments,...
- 9/2/2023
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
Flannery O’Connor saw folks in a way few writers did. She saw through them, past their petty prejudices and hollow pieties, to the less civilized selves they so desperately tried to keep under wraps. But it wasn’t just O’Connor’s X-ray vision that made the Georgia-born author such an uncanny reporter on the human condition. She also had the most extraordinary ear, capturing the music of how her people spoke, then lacing into her stories regional turns of phrase one simply couldn’t invent, as if she were embroidering with barbed wire.
To plagiarize (but also to canonize) O’Connor: A good writer is hard to find. Lesser talents have been ripping her off for the nearly 60 years since she died, and rather than do the same, writer-director Ethan Hawke and his mid-20s daughter Maya (whose dead-ringer resemblance to mother Uma Thurman is its own kind of...
To plagiarize (but also to canonize) O’Connor: A good writer is hard to find. Lesser talents have been ripping her off for the nearly 60 years since she died, and rather than do the same, writer-director Ethan Hawke and his mid-20s daughter Maya (whose dead-ringer resemblance to mother Uma Thurman is its own kind of...
- 9/2/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Ethan Hawke has taken on the helm for the feature that will focus on the life of Flannery O’Connor, ‘Wildcat.’
Maya Hawke will star as the Southern writer. Other cast members include Oscar-nominee Laura Linney (“You Can Count on Me”), Philip Ettinger (“First Reformed”), Rafael Casal (“Blindspotting”), Steve Zahn (“White Lotus”), Cooper Hoffman (“Licorice Pizza”), Willa Fitzgerald (“Reacher”), Alessandro Nivola (“The Many Saints of Newark”) and Vincent D’Onofrio (“Law & Order: Criminal Intent”).
The story will follow O’Connor as she struggles to publish her first novel. A devout Catholic from Georgia, O’Connor was invited to the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Famous for her offbeat short fiction about the American South and her faith, she was plagued by lupus for much of her life and died at 39.
Also in news – Jack O’Connell to play Amy Winehouse’s husband in biopic ‘Back to Black’
Ethan Hawke produces and also co-wrote the script with Shelby Gaines.
Maya Hawke will star as the Southern writer. Other cast members include Oscar-nominee Laura Linney (“You Can Count on Me”), Philip Ettinger (“First Reformed”), Rafael Casal (“Blindspotting”), Steve Zahn (“White Lotus”), Cooper Hoffman (“Licorice Pizza”), Willa Fitzgerald (“Reacher”), Alessandro Nivola (“The Many Saints of Newark”) and Vincent D’Onofrio (“Law & Order: Criminal Intent”).
The story will follow O’Connor as she struggles to publish her first novel. A devout Catholic from Georgia, O’Connor was invited to the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Famous for her offbeat short fiction about the American South and her faith, she was plagued by lupus for much of her life and died at 39.
Also in news – Jack O’Connell to play Amy Winehouse’s husband in biopic ‘Back to Black’
Ethan Hawke produces and also co-wrote the script with Shelby Gaines.
- 1/24/2023
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Maya Hawke is set to take a leading role in a biopic about one of America's most indelible writers. According to Deadline, the "Stranger Things" and "Do Revenge" actor is set to star in and executive produce the film "Wildcat," which her father Ethan Hawke will direct and produce. "Wildcat" will tell the story of 20th-century Southern writer Flannery O'Connor, whose disturbing, religion-fueled Southern Gothic stories like "A Good Man is Hard To Find" and the novel "Wise Blood" remain literary mainstays to this day.
Maya Hawke will reportedly star as a young O'Connor in the stage before she published her first novel in 1952. The film is apparently a passion project for the star, with Ethan Hawke telling Deadline, "Maya has been working hard for years to put this project together, and we're grateful for the opportunity to introduce a new generation of filmgoers to the genius of Flannery O'Connor.
Maya Hawke will reportedly star as a young O'Connor in the stage before she published her first novel in 1952. The film is apparently a passion project for the star, with Ethan Hawke telling Deadline, "Maya has been working hard for years to put this project together, and we're grateful for the opportunity to introduce a new generation of filmgoers to the genius of Flannery O'Connor.
- 1/23/2023
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
Ethan Hawke is keeping it all in the family with his latest film, “Wildcat.”
Based on the life of novelist Flannery O’Connor, the biopic film stars Maya Hawke as the Southern writer. Ethan directs, produces, and co-wrote the script along with Shelby Gaines, as Variety first reported.
“Maya has been working hard for years to put this project together, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to introduce a new generation of filmgoers to the genius of Flannery O’Connor,” Ethan said, while also sharing a first look at the production on Instagram. “Her work explores themes important to all artists — the intersection of creativity and faith, the blurred relationship between imagination and reality.”
Ethan previously starred opposite Maya on limited series “The Good Lord Bird.” Maya executive produces “Wildcat” through her Under the Influence Productions. Principal photography for the film began January 10 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Per the official synopsis,...
Based on the life of novelist Flannery O’Connor, the biopic film stars Maya Hawke as the Southern writer. Ethan directs, produces, and co-wrote the script along with Shelby Gaines, as Variety first reported.
“Maya has been working hard for years to put this project together, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to introduce a new generation of filmgoers to the genius of Flannery O’Connor,” Ethan said, while also sharing a first look at the production on Instagram. “Her work explores themes important to all artists — the intersection of creativity and faith, the blurred relationship between imagination and reality.”
Ethan previously starred opposite Maya on limited series “The Good Lord Bird.” Maya executive produces “Wildcat” through her Under the Influence Productions. Principal photography for the film began January 10 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Per the official synopsis,...
- 1/23/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Ethan Hawke has started production on “Wildcat,” a look at the life of Flannery O’Connor that stars Maya Hawke as the Southern writer. He’s assembled an ensemble of heavy hitters that also includes Oscar-nominee Laura Linney (“You Can Count on Me”), Philip Ettinger (“First Reformed”), Rafael Casal (“Blindspotting”), Steve Zahn (“White Lotus”), Cooper Hoffman (“Licorice Pizza”), Willa Fitzgerald (“Reacher”), Alessandro Nivola (“The Many Saints of Newark”) and Vincent D’Onofrio (“Law & Order: Criminal Intent”).
In addition to directing the film, Ethan Hawke produces and also co-wrote the script with Shelby Gaines. “Wildcat” is produced by Joe Goodman of Good Country Pictures, Ryan Hawke and Ethan Hawke of Under the Influence Productions, Cory Pyke of Renovo Media Group and Kevin Downes and Jon Erwin and Daryl Lefever of Kingdom Story Company. Executive producers include Eric Groth and David Kingland of Renovo Media Group alongside Maya Hawke through Under the Influence Productions.
In addition to directing the film, Ethan Hawke produces and also co-wrote the script with Shelby Gaines. “Wildcat” is produced by Joe Goodman of Good Country Pictures, Ryan Hawke and Ethan Hawke of Under the Influence Productions, Cory Pyke of Renovo Media Group and Kevin Downes and Jon Erwin and Daryl Lefever of Kingdom Story Company. Executive producers include Eric Groth and David Kingland of Renovo Media Group alongside Maya Hawke through Under the Influence Productions.
- 1/23/2023
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The story of Country Music Hall of Fame duo the Louvin Brothers will be told in a new biopic starring Ethan Hawke, according to Variety. Satan Is Real, currently in development, costars Hawke and Alessandro Nivola as sibling singers Charlie and Ira Louvin.
Best known for their 1958 album Satan Is Real, with its outrageous hellscape album cover, the Louvin Brothers were a study in conflict. While delivering songs like “The Christian Life” and “The Kneeling Drunkard’s Plea,” the siblings often quarreled and lived on the edge, particularly Ira, whose...
Best known for their 1958 album Satan Is Real, with its outrageous hellscape album cover, the Louvin Brothers were a study in conflict. While delivering songs like “The Christian Life” and “The Kneeling Drunkard’s Plea,” the siblings often quarreled and lived on the edge, particularly Ira, whose...
- 5/16/2019
- by Joseph Hudak
- Rollingstone.com
Ethan Hawke and Alessandro Nivola are teaming up in “Satan Is Real,” the story of the Louvin brothers. The real-life best friends will portray Charlie and Ira Louvin, influential country musicians whose relationship is forged by love, hate, jealousy, and alcohol.
In an interview with Variety, Hawke and Nivola said they hoped to achieve a music term called “blood harmony” in their performances. It’s a term that describes the kind of harmonizing that can be achieved when family members sing together, because their genetic link allows them to share the same tone in their voice.
“It’s such an important expression to us,” said Hawke. “It sounds both violent and beautiful and the music should be that. It’s aggressive, it’s electric, it’s strange. It’s not Brooklyn folk rock. It’s not wannabe cool guy country. It’s hillbilly gospel music.”
The film will be directed by Phil Morrison,...
In an interview with Variety, Hawke and Nivola said they hoped to achieve a music term called “blood harmony” in their performances. It’s a term that describes the kind of harmonizing that can be achieved when family members sing together, because their genetic link allows them to share the same tone in their voice.
“It’s such an important expression to us,” said Hawke. “It sounds both violent and beautiful and the music should be that. It’s aggressive, it’s electric, it’s strange. It’s not Brooklyn folk rock. It’s not wannabe cool guy country. It’s hillbilly gospel music.”
The film will be directed by Phil Morrison,...
- 5/15/2019
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Partners just started production in New York on Tesla.
Passage Pictures has come on board to produce Ethan Hawke’s adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ 1953 play Camino Real, with Juliette Binoche attached to play a lead role.
Hawke adapted the screenplay with writer-composer Shelby Gaines, and starred in the play on stage at Williamstown Theater Festival. Camino Real takes place in a quasi-nihilistic, surreal isolated town in a tropical climate where the characters confront their existence amid a sensual, dream-like narrative of love and burlesque dancing.
Production is scheduled to begin in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, in 2020. Passage Pictures CEO Uri Singer...
Passage Pictures has come on board to produce Ethan Hawke’s adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ 1953 play Camino Real, with Juliette Binoche attached to play a lead role.
Hawke adapted the screenplay with writer-composer Shelby Gaines, and starred in the play on stage at Williamstown Theater Festival. Camino Real takes place in a quasi-nihilistic, surreal isolated town in a tropical climate where the characters confront their existence amid a sensual, dream-like narrative of love and burlesque dancing.
Production is scheduled to begin in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, in 2020. Passage Pictures CEO Uri Singer...
- 5/8/2019
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Ethan Hawke will direct a film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ 1953 play “Camino Real,” starring Juliette Binoche.
Passage Pictures will produce. The film is expected to shoot in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, next year. John Sloss from Cinetic Media is also attached to produce alongside Passage Pictures CEO Uri Singer, Mario Peixoto (Singer’s Brazil-based partner at Passage Pictures) and Ryan Hawke from Under the Influence Productions.
Hawke, who previously starred in a stage production of “Camino Real” at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, adapted the play with writer-composer Shelby Gaines. The play is set in a quasi-nihilistic, surreal, isolated town in a tropical climate. The characters confront their existence and purpose in a narrative of love and burlesque dancing. Hawke’s “Camino Real” will have a contemporary setting.
Passage is currently in production on Michael Almereyda’s “Tesla” in New York, in which Hawke plays Nikola Tesla opposite Eve Hewson and Kyle MacLachlan.
Passage Pictures will produce. The film is expected to shoot in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, next year. John Sloss from Cinetic Media is also attached to produce alongside Passage Pictures CEO Uri Singer, Mario Peixoto (Singer’s Brazil-based partner at Passage Pictures) and Ryan Hawke from Under the Influence Productions.
Hawke, who previously starred in a stage production of “Camino Real” at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, adapted the play with writer-composer Shelby Gaines. The play is set in a quasi-nihilistic, surreal, isolated town in a tropical climate. The characters confront their existence and purpose in a narrative of love and burlesque dancing. Hawke’s “Camino Real” will have a contemporary setting.
Passage is currently in production on Michael Almereyda’s “Tesla” in New York, in which Hawke plays Nikola Tesla opposite Eve Hewson and Kyle MacLachlan.
- 5/8/2019
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Ethan Hawke has signed on to direct a feature iteration of the 1953 Tennessee Williams play Camino Real, after having previously starred Kilroy in the stage production at the Williamstown Theater Festival in 1999. Passage Pictures is on board to produce the pic, which was co-written by Hawke and writer-composer Shelby Gaines.
Oscar-winning French actress Juliette Binoche, known for roles in films such as Three Colours: Blue, The English Patient, and Let the Sunshine In, is attached to star in the adaptation. The play is centered in a quasi-nihilistic, surreal isolated town in a tropical climate, in which its characters’ confront their existence and purpose in a sensual, dream-like narrative of love and burlesque dancing.
Filming is slated to being next year in Brazil. Passage CEO Uri Singer will produce alongside John Sloss from Cinetic Media, Mario Peixoto, Singer’s Brazil-based partner at Passage, and Ryan Hawke from Under the Influence Productions.
Oscar-winning French actress Juliette Binoche, known for roles in films such as Three Colours: Blue, The English Patient, and Let the Sunshine In, is attached to star in the adaptation. The play is centered in a quasi-nihilistic, surreal isolated town in a tropical climate, in which its characters’ confront their existence and purpose in a sensual, dream-like narrative of love and burlesque dancing.
Filming is slated to being next year in Brazil. Passage CEO Uri Singer will produce alongside John Sloss from Cinetic Media, Mario Peixoto, Singer’s Brazil-based partner at Passage, and Ryan Hawke from Under the Influence Productions.
- 5/8/2019
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
There are generally two types of Westerns that a filmmaker can craft these days. One way to make them is to try and pay homage to the classics and attempt to capture that feel. It’s old fashioned, but it can often work. The other way is to try and re-invent the genre, turning it on its side. That’s far riskier, but the potential outcome can be revelatory. If you don’t take one of these patches, it’s hard to figure out what you’re trying to say with your film. Unfortunately, actor and director Vincent D’Onofrio falls into that trap with The Kid. He’s crafted a well made Western, but it has nothing to say. The result is, sadly, a disappointment. The movie is, of course, a Western, centered on the final days of the long brewing showdown between Sheriff Pat Garrett (Ethan Hawke) and...
- 3/7/2019
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
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