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.
MAYA HAWKE LIED TO ETHAN HAWKE ABOUT SKIPPING THERAPY TO LOSE VIRGINITY: 'MY FATHER WAS VERY UPSET'
"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.
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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.
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.
"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."
"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."
