and his daughter have a running joke about their movie.
which Ethan directed and Maya stars in as O鈥機onnor, was made with complete sincerity. It鈥檚 a deeply creative investigation into the and short story writer behind 鈥淎 Good Man is Hard to Find鈥� that dips in and out of both her imagination and her real life.
O鈥機onnor died at age 39, in 1964, of lupus. She won the National Book Award posthumously, in 1972. Though celebrated for her prose and sharp social satire, in recent years she鈥檚 also come under scrutiny for racism in private correspondence and her treatment of race in her works. It was territory that was both thorny and rich with possibility. But the Hawkes can鈥檛 help but laugh about it too, imagining the pitch to a major studio or streamer.
Here鈥檚 how it might go:
Maya: 鈥淲e want to make a movie about an unfortunate-looking woman with lupus. She struggles with her faith and has no boyfriends.鈥�
Ethan: 鈥淪he鈥檚 a really brilliant writer but she鈥檚 completely unsuccessful.鈥�
Maya: 鈥淎lso recently her mild success has been has been completely disbarred and people are mostly interested in removing her from the canon these days. What do you think?鈥�
Ethan: 鈥淪ounds like the makings of a commercial, hit movie!鈥�
鈥淲ildcat鈥� (in select theaters Friday), if it isn鈥檛 evident, was made independently. Both Hawkes drew heavily on friends they鈥檝e worked with over the years to round out the cast. Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, Steve Zahn and Vincent D鈥橭nofrio are just several of the names in the big ensemble.
Maya had the idea for a movie around the time she was deciding to commit her life to acting. Despite having two successful actors as parents, including mother she鈥檇 hesitated primarily because she loved literature so much. If she went to Juilliard, she worried that she鈥檇 have to choose. So, in a mild act of rebellion, Maya decided to audition not with a monologue from the theatrical canon, but with one she鈥檇 reworked from O鈥機onnor鈥檚 鈥淧rayer Journal鈥� with her dad on his breaks while filming
鈥淚f I showed them that I was really interested in literature, and if then they still wanted me, then it would probably be a place that would still allow me to explore language and writing and poetry the way that I wanted,鈥� Maya said. 鈥淲hat a rebel.鈥�
Ethan too had read O鈥機onnor early, at the urging of his mother who wanted him to read female authors in addition to Faulkner and Hemingway. They were both interested in this prickly woman who wrote about faith in a way that wasn鈥檛 proselytizing, and about race and white Christian hypocrisy as few others did. She was also talented, self-hating and dealing with this illness, which killed her father. She got her diagnosis at 24 and moved back to Milledgeville, Georgia, to live with her mother (portrayed by Linney).
Biopics hold little interest to Ethan, especially, he said 鈥渋n the age of Wikipedia.鈥� But in agreeing to direct and co-write the film, he thought of films like 鈥淩aging Bull鈥� and 鈥淎n Angel at My Table.鈥� They were about real subjects, and but they didn鈥檛 require any preexisting interest in boxing or literature. They were just films about people.
鈥�(鈥榃ildcat鈥�) is a kind of treatise on imagination, reality and faith and how those three things intersect with each other,鈥� Ethan said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not trying to do a college lesson on Flannery. We used her life experience as a launching pad for a conversation."
Before getting too deep into the process, they also asked themselves hard questions about making a movie about someone who .
鈥淚t begged the question: Do we want to make a movie about somebody who said some ugly things at some point? And what would that say about us if we did? And how do you be a good anti-racist?鈥� Ethan said. 鈥淥ne of the things that I came down to is that you just can鈥檛 tell a story about America in the past or the present, frankly, without touching on America鈥檚 wounds and America鈥檚 crimes and America鈥檚 sins. One academic said it very beautifully that Flannery O鈥機onnor is a racist in recovery, like our country.鈥�
Maya wondered whether depiction is inherently a celebration or if it can be an observation. She hopes it鈥檚 the latter, which she said is a courtesy that鈥檚 often extended to films about complicated men but perhaps less so when it鈥檚 a female subject.
Something author said while Ethan was working on had also stuck with him.
鈥淗e used to say how important it was that you don鈥檛 paint racists with horns on their head because people don鈥檛 have horns and racism is real,鈥� Ethan said.
And after much research and debate, together they decided to not back down from the conversation or defend her.
鈥淚鈥檓 interested in this woman, and I鈥檓 interested in all the truths of her life,鈥� he said.
鈥淲ildcat鈥� also inspired Maya's new album, 鈥淐haos Angel鈥� (out May 31). The title and title track came out of a scene she shared with Philip Ettinger where O鈥機onnor is talking about how she used to wrestle with her guardian angel.
鈥淭hat idea really hit me in my gut,鈥� Maya said. 鈥淭he way in which we resist our best selves. 鈥� As soon as we finished making the movie, I went to record this album.鈥�
Maya is currently 25, the age her father was when he鈥檇 just finished 鈥淏efore Sunrise鈥� and was acting on stage in Chicago in 鈥淏uried Child.鈥� They are close and like-minded, often finishing one another鈥檚 sentences. But Hawke laughs that he is slightly envious of Maya's musical talents.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a part of me that has joked my whole life that all I really am is a failed musician,鈥� he said. 鈥淎ll art aspires to be music. It鈥檚 the easiest emotional connection that we can find with each other. So to watch her excel at this art form? I鈥檓 a little jealous of her for that.鈥�
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
