WILDCAT Trailer (2024) Maya Hawke

WILDCAT Trailer (2024) Maya HawkeShow more

WILDCAT Trailer (2024) Maya Hawke, Liam Neeson, Drama Movie
© 2024 - Oscilloscope Laboratories

"An inquiry into the broken nature of grace." Oscope Labs has revealed an official trailer for Wildcat, the latest feature film directed by beloved American actor Ethan Hawke, following up his feature Blaze from 2018. This one originally premiered at the 2023 Telluride & Toronto Film Festivals last year, with stops at Zurich & Stockholm as well. This time it's a family affair - it follows the life of writer Flannery O'Connor while she was struggling to publish her first novel (titled "Wise Blood" published in 1952), starring Ethan's own daughter Maya Hawke as Flannery. Directed & co-written by 4-time Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke, Wildcat invites viewers to weave in & out of celebrated Southern Gothic writer Flannery O'Connor'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? Some intriguing ideas. The film also stars Laura Linney, Philip Ettinger, Rafael Casal, Cooper Hoffman, and Christine Dye. This does look quite impressive, with some nice filmmaking flourishes to enhance her story as she tries to turn her observations into writing.

Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Ethan Hawke's Wildcat, direct from Oscope's YouTube:

Wildcat Poster

In 1950, Flannery O'Connor (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 she dives deeper into her craft, the lines between reality, imagination, and faith begin to blur, allowing Flannery to ultimately come to peace with her situation & heal a strained relationship with her mother. Wildcat is directed by Oscar-nominated American actor / filmmaker Ethan Hawke, director of the feature films Chelsea Walls, The Hottest State, Blaze, and also the docs Seymour: An Introduction and "The Last Movie Stars" series previously. The screenplay is written by Shelby Gaines and Ethan Hawke. Produced by Joe Goodman, Ethan Hawke, Ryan Hawke, Karri O'Reilly, Cory Pyke. This initially premiered at the 2023 Telluride & Toronto Film Festivals last fall. Oscilloscope Labs will debut the Hawkes' Wildcat in select US theaters starting on May 3rd, 2024 early in the year's summer movie season.

Ethan Hawke and his daughter Maya Hawke are teaming up for their next movie.

On Wednesday, Oscilloscope Laboratories shared the trailer for Wildcat, exclusively with PEOPLE. The film sees Ethan, 53, direct his daughter Maya, 25, as 20th-century author Flannery O'Connor.

Wildcat depicts O'Connor's life in the 1950s as she writes her debut novel Wise Blood and is diagnosed with lupus at 24 years old.

Ethan, who like O'Connor is an author himself, cowrote the script with Shelby Gaines, while Maya — best known for her starring role in Stranger Things — receives her first executive producer credit on the film.

The movie's trailer displays O'Connor's wild imagination, her devout Catholicism and strained relationship with her mother (Laura Linney) as she struggles with her failing health while committing herself to her writing.

In an interview with PEOPLE about the upcoming movie, Training Day star Ethan says that he and Maya teamed up because she “wanted to make a movie about a young woman where the primary relationship of the movie was to herself and her work.”

Maya Hawke's Parents: All About Her Relationship With Dad Ethan and Mom Uma
Ethan Hawke Directs His Daughter Maya Hawke in Trailer for Wildcat
Maya Hawke (center) in Wildcat. COURTESY OF OSCILLOSCOPE
"Anybody that knows Maya knows that she's a force,” Ethan says of his daughter. “She always has been. She writes and performs her own music and she loves acting and she loves painting and she's kind of an artistic animal.”
“There's a lot of movies about men and their relationship to themselves and their work, but you don't see a lot of movies about young women that are about that," he adds. "And I think she saw in Flannery's experience a real challenge — a real difficult portrait of a person worth talking about, and I think the actor in her saw. 'Oh wow. I'd like to play her,’ and because I come at directing it as an actor, that really excites me."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

For Ethan and Maya, just making a film together is not enough — the filmmaker says the project is only fun "if we have something to say and we offer something."

"I think it was a thrill for us to collaborate with all the people in the production. So many people were so gifted around us and it was just fun to be in a band together," he adds.
Ethan Hawke Says Daughter Maya Gives 'One of My Favorite Performances I've Ever Seen' in Their New Film
Ethan Hawke Directs His Daughter Maya Hawke in Trailer for Wildcat
Maya Hawke in Wildcat. COURTESY OF OSCILLOSCOPE
O'Connor died in 1964 at 39 years old. She published two novels and dozens of short stories during her writing career. "She's an incredibly compelling figure. There's something about what a devout serious young woman she was, juxtaposed with the absolute insane madness of her imagination," Ethan says of the author.
Wildcat is in theaters May 3. The movie made its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival last fall.