Ethan Hawke’s latest professional endeavor could be construed by some as a taxing personal challenge. He had to direct his eldest daughter’s sex scenes in their upcoming film “Wildcat.”
However, the actor said he was completely unbothered.
“We were so comfortable with it. I couldn’t care less,” Hawke told Variety.
Maya Hawke, 25, plays late novelist Flannery O’Connor in the biographical movie and also portrays several of O’Connor’s characters from her short stories, some of which have intimate scenes.
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Maya and Ethan Hawke smile for a photo at the premiere of their new film “Wildcat” at the 50th Telluride Film Festival. (Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for ABA)
“We needed to take care of Rafael and Cooper,” he joked of the characters in the film. “I think it was weird for them,” he told the outlet.
“We made sure to have an intimacy coordinator on set for them,” Maya continued, leaning into the bit. “So that they felt safe and comfortable and not like they were being spied on,” she said of the characters. “By some creepy dad,” Ethan added.
The father-daughter duo insisted that there was no awkwardness on set for them when Ethan directed Maya’s sex scenes. (Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
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If intimacy scenes could not dissuade Maya from working with her father, neither would preconceived conceptions about working with family. “Before we started…everyone was asking me, ‘Are you nervous to work with your dad?’ I hadn’t thought to be,” she said.
Ethan said he heard similar remarks cautioning him of working with his daughter. “I started thinking, ‘What am I not seeing? What am I missing?’” he shared. “But this is our safe place.”
“Making art together,” Maya added.
Maya and Ethan Hawke say they did not listen to outside noise when it came to warnings about working together. (Kurt Krieger/Corbis/Getty Images)
Amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, the father-daughter duo were permitted to speak with the press due to an interim agreement previously made with the low-budget film.
In a time when nepotism in the entertainment industry is heavily scrutinized and discussed, Maya is aware that she is perceived to be a “nepo-baby.” She is also the daughter of actress Uma Thurman.
Uma Thurman poses with her three children, from left, Luna Thurman-Busson, Levon Hawke and Maya Hawke. (Nina Westervelt/Variety via Getty Images)
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“I had moments of insecurity about it while we were shooting the movie…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,” said Maya.
“If someone wants to criticize us for working together, that’s totally fair. You have to let people have their opinion,” Ethan noted. “You just have to try to do a good job when you’re onstage.”