Ethan Hawke is commenting on his daughter’s claims that young actors’ Instagram followings are landing them huge movie and television roles.
“Stranger Things” star Maya Hawke recently shared on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast that she knows some “smart directors” that are requiring producers to cast actors with high follower counts on Instagram to push the movies forward.
Maya, who is the daughter of Ethan and Uma Thurman, claimed that actors are expected to share more of their personal lives in the age of social media and their follower count is becoming increasingly important to their careers.
At the ongoing Berlin Film Festival, Ethan was asked about his daughter’s recent remarks and said he was very confused about social media playing a role in an actor’s ability. He called the new requirements “crazy.”
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“I really feel for these people. It’s really hard. Sometimes I’ll be setting a movie up and someone will say, ‘Oh, you should cast Suzie.’ I’m like, ‘Who is she?’ ‘She has 10 million followers.’ I’m like, ‘OK cool, has she acted before?’ ‘No, but…’ And you’re like, ‘Wow, so this is going to help me get the movie made? This is crazy,'” he said, according to Variety.
Ethan continued, “So if I don’t have this public-facing [platform], I don’t have a career? And if I get more followers, I might get that part? What?”
The “Mystery Date” star explained that he’s had encounters with some up-and-coming actors who “think being an actor is protein shakes and going to the gym.”
Ethan drew his own comparison and explained that Robert De Niro didn’t find his success because he was flaunting his “six-pack” abs.
“I wish they could meet [Philip Seymour] Hoffman like I did when I was 18, because it’s a much more substantive and enjoyable life,” he said.
“I mean, go to the gym if you want to, but that doesn’t make you — Robert De Niro is not great because he has a six-pack. If the part calls for it, he’ll do it, and that’s awesome. But he’s so much more than that.”
The actor-filmmaker explained that his daughter Maya has helped him a lot with social media and has explained the importance of having a presence online in the new digital age.
“She’s like, ‘Dad, you need an Instagram account… That was a terrible post, Dad, get rid of it,'” he said, adding a laugh. “But she’s an artist, my daughter. You can’t stop her. She’s always creative: painting, singing, writing music, acting. I don’t worry about her, she’ll figure that out. But I learn a lot from her now.”
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Last week, Maya said that the line between actor and celebrity has become “extremely blurry.”
“And I think in some ways a celebrity is someone where their personality is what is the draw. And what I always wanted to be was an actor where the work is what the draw is, not the personhood. But the industry keeps changing and you have to change with it and understand that all of these things are getting blurred,” she continued.
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Maya said that “there are wonderful, incredible actors I admire whose personalities we all know very well.” However, she noted that for others, navigating the industry is now about “figuring out the footing in these changing times of social media and public personality and also how difficult it is to get things made.”
Maya explained that some producers have insisted that the cast’s combined Instagram follower count must meet a certain quota for a project to move forward.
“I don’t care about Instagram. Instagram sucks. Right, well, just so you know, if you have over this many followers you can get the movie funded,” the actress said. “It’s a really confusing line to walk.”
Maya recalled that she had talked to “so many smart directors” about how she wanted to delete her Instagram account, but they warned her that it would impact their casting decisions.
“They’re like, ‘Just so you know, when I’m casting a movie with some producers, they hand me a sheet with the amount of collective followers I have to get of the cast that I cast, so if you delete your Instagram, and I lose those followers, understand that these are the kinds of people I need to cast around you,'” she said.
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In 2019, Maya starred in Tarantino’s comedy-drama film “Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood.” The actress also appeared in Bradley Cooper’s 2023 biographical movie “Maestro,” based on legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein’s relationship with his wife Felicia Montealegre, and she was a member of the star-studded ensemble cast in Wes Anderson’s 2023 science-fiction comedy-drama “Asteroid City.”
Maya currently has 8.9 million followers on Instagram, and Ethan has 2 million.
Fox News Digital’s Ashley Hume contributed to this report.
