Maya Hawke Is All Grown Up
Maya Hawke is getting into the family business. The 19-year-old daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke will make her acting debut this Christmas in the BBC adaptation of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott's classic novel about a family during the Civil War.
She'll star in the mini-series as Jo March, the outspoken protagonist of the story, a role she relates to on a personal level.
"I've felt really connected to this character since I was a wee thing," Hawke told Harper's Bazaar UK at the film's screening.
"So when I was offered the role I was like, 'I'm obviously the right person for this part!' They made the right choice and so I can go in and be myself."
Hawke even found herself drawing strength from the character during filming.
"Jo is so durable, it felt like whatever I had in me during that day she could handle," she said.
But she's also aware of how beloved a character she'll be portraying. "It was only after realizing everyone else thinks that they're Jo too that I started to feel the weight of the world on my shoulder!" she revealed.
She certainly has big shoes to fill. The 1994 adaptation of the March sisters' story features Winona Ryder in the role of Jo, and is something of a cult favorite, but Hawke's parents have supported her throughout this entire process. Her father, Ethan Hawke, even came to set one day.
"I have a wonderful, supportive relationship with my family," she said. "I get lots of advice from them about all kinds of things."
While the mini-series, which was adapted by Call the Midwife screenwriter Heidi Thomas and also stars Angela Lansbury, will air around Christmas time in the U.K., fans in the States will have to wait a little while longer. It won't premiere in the U.S. until Sunday, May 13th, 2018.
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