'Wildcat' director Ethan Hawke discusses the challenges, contradictions of Flannery O'Connor

For people of a certain age, Ethan Hawke has grown up alongside them on screen, beginning with his debut in Joe Dante's sci-fi fantasy "Explorers" in 1985. Moviegoers held their breath then cheered as Robin Williams' Mr. Keating helped release the artist in the shy, sheltered Todd Anderson in the timeless "Dead Poets Society." And those who graduated college in the early '90s felt every bit of existential angst of his Troy Dyer in the Gen X-defining "Reality Bites."

Since then, Hawke has been nominated for four Academy Awards ― two for best supporting actor ("Training Day" and "Boyhood") and two for best adapted screenplay ("Before Sunset" and "Before Midnight") ― and three of those accolades came as a result of his long creative partnership with fellow Texan, director Richard Linklater.

He has written four novels and directed everything from music videos and short films to a limited documentary series on the lives of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. His latest effort tackles the "Christ-haunted landscape" of Savannah's own Flannery O'Connor, which stars his daughter, Maya Hawke, as the master of Southern gothic storytelling. Ahead of the Savannah premiere of "Wildcat" at 7 p.m., May 12, at Trustees Theatre, 216 E. Broughton St., Hawke talked about the challenges, contradictions and creativity involved in capturing the complicated O'Connor on film.

Tickets are reportedly sold out for the event, which will include a Q&A with Hawke after the screening. But, it's always worth checking in at the box office 10-20 minutes before showtime to see if any tickets have been returned and are available.

When were you first introduced to the writings of Flannery O'Connor, and did those writings repel, shock, or intrigue you, because it seems that most readers have visceral reactions to her work, and they are almost never indifferent?

"I first encountered Flannery O’Connor by way of my mother, who regaled Flannery as one of the greats. Her stories are so funny and strange, but you get the sense there’s something mysterious going on behind the scenes. All of the violent images left an impression on my young mind, and I would revisit them from time to time.

Years later, my daughter Maya introduced me to Flannery’s 'A Prayer Journal,' and I was very moved by seeing a different side of Flannery: the achingly earnest writings of a young artist. Her fiction is so self-assured and sardonic; it’s fascinating to see her at a point when she’s still searching for her voice."

As a screenwriter and director, how did you make choices as to what scenes reflected the contradictions and complexities of this writer? Writing is such a solitary act and depicting it on screen can be such a challenge when moviegoers are fed such a steady diet of action.

"My mission with making this film was to explore the inner life of an artist and how the lines between imagination, faith, and human creativity are porous. On paper, the biographical details of Flannery O’Connor’s life are tragic and relatively unremarkable. But her fiction, the prism which she saw through and processed the world around her, is so singular and vibrant. In my own experience, writing is not necessarily a solitary venture relegated to one room, but an active, all-encompassing exploration that happens every moment of the day. I tried to find a cinematic way to depict that process.

When you study Flannery’s entire creative output — as my co-writer Shelby Gaines and I did in preparation for this film — a lot of recurring themes emerge. While she’s writing to her friends and musing about the hypocrisy of the Georgia bourgeoisie, you’ll see echoes in a character like Ruby Turpin. A lot of times there’s an archetypal mother character, and an archetypal intellectual young person. When selecting which stories to include as vignettes, we tried to group all of the ones we found thematically similar, while also keeping in mind which had parts for our double casting device."

Did Flannery's own abandon in writing influence you in writing and directing "Wildcat?"

"In the film, Flannery has a large speech about how she doesn’t outline, and how she 'writes to discover what she knows.' I typically try to follow that spirit. Conversely, Flannery’s writing is remarkably precise, so making a film about her demanded me to mirror her discipline. The style of my last feature film, 'Blaze,' was very freeform and improvisational, matching the messy, rock-and-roll attitude of its subject. That approach would not work if applied to such a meticulous editor like Flannery!

It took a lot of trial and error to figure out the architecture of the film and the progression of vignettes. As a director, I tried to create rules around the visual style for the imagination/reality sequences, when to show restraint with camera movements, and when to let loose."

In a TED Talk you delivered online in 2020, you said something along the lines of it's not up to the artist to determine if the work is good but to create, because the world is an unreliable critic. That sentiment seems to apply so clearly to Mary Flannery O'Connor, because everyone around her recognized she had the talent to tell a story, but she did not conform to their ideas of the right kinds of stories to tell, and yet, she kept writing. As a screenwriter and director tackling a character who is a bit thorny and not always likeable, how were you able to allow those contradictions to sit side by side so fully and make the audience root for her, even though many of us know how that story ends?

"I think 'likeability' is a bit of a false virtue in screenwriting – or at least less important to consciously consider. If you’re doing your job correctly as a filmmaker and painting an honest portrait of a human, an audience should be able to find some relatable quality to latch onto. In the particular case of Flannery, I find myself charmed by her arrogance instead of repelled by it – especially when that’s juxtaposed with her private doubts and struggle with pride."

Speaking of those contradictions, many question whether we should exalt or even study Flannery O'Connor because of her views on race that evolved over time but were most definitely influenced by the Jim Crow South in which she lived, her mother and her church. Did you face backlash or questions about the why of approaching her story?

"Of course. We had so many conversations about how to handle the subject of Flannery and Race, whether or not to make this movie at all. Sometimes in her writing, Flannery is regrettably limited by the world she grew up in, but also she often transcends it. It’s a complex dynamic. At her sharpest, Flanney’s writing is fascinated by this complexity and explores it from every angle. As much as possible, we tried not to 'defend' her, to use Flannery’s own words to speak for her. She was merciless at exposing human hypocrisy ― and that hypocrisy lived inside her psyche too, of all this she was keenly aware.

When writing about Flannery O’Connor, Alice Walker says, 'We throw away our geniuses at our own peril.' I think Flannery’s writing, and Flannery the writer herself, leave us with a lot to consider, warts and all."

You write screenplays, novels, essays; you act on stage, on screen, and you direct. What sensibilities from each of those separate disciplines inform one another? For instance, you've got precious little real estate with a screenplay to build character through scenes as compared to a novel.

"My writing, my acting, my directing ― all of these are extensions of the same creative urge and they all inform each other in unseen ways. I don’t know if I specifically was pulling on my experience as a novelist when making a film about one. Of course when directing, my experience as an actor informs the way I work with the cast and crew. But specifically with storytelling, I think the medium often defines what kind of stories you can tell and how you can tell them."

As a director, what was it like to work with a professional actor who also happens to be your daughter, and to see her so fully embody the role of Flannery O'Connor with such intention? Is that just the dream of every director? 

"It was an absolute dream working with Maya. I’ve joked that the rehearsal process for this movie was 24 years long ― there are so many shared references and shorthand we’ve developed over years that it’s so easy to communicate with each other. And there’s a trust built in."

Okay, totally off-topic: I grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. All my family still lives there. Willie Nelson is our patron saint, and I have a picture of him and his sister on my office wall. Although you were raised more in New York than in Texas, how much of that Lone Star spirit is in your soul?

"My first concert was Willie's 4th of July picnic circa 1976… I have been madly in love ever since. I listened to his new song, "Energy Follows Thought," every morning on my way to work filming 'Wildcat.' He doesn’t really know me, but he has been one of the best friends I’ve ever had."

This interview was conducted via email to accommodate Ethan Hawke's shooting and touring schedule.

Amy Paige Condon is a content coach for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Ethan Hawke brings Flannery O'Connor biopic Wildcat to Savannah