Ethan Hawke – four-time Oscar-nominee, noted Rihanna appreciator and silver fox – is on his way to Milwaukee. Hawke will be in town for two screenings of his new film, Wildcat, on Saturday, May 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 19 at 2 p.m. at the Oriental Theatre.
Wildcat, which Hawke directed and co-wrote, stars his daughter, Maya Hawke, as Flannery O’Connor, the mid-20th-century author of A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Everything That Rises Must Converge and more. The film follows the legendary Southern Gothic writer at the age of 24, when she was diagnosed with lupus (a disease that would eventually take her life). The diagnosis inspires her to explore her Catholic faith and her belief in the power of art, as she begins to compose her greatest stories.
Following the screenings, Hawke will join the film’s editor Barry Polterman for a Q&A.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
“Flannery O’Connor believed that devoting oneself to making art that is egoless and honest can be an act of piety. On this, I happen to agree with her emphatically,” Ethan Hawke said in a press release. “In my experience, films about faith are large statements of belief – martyrdom, conversion, prophesy. There’s a lot less work about the smaller, quieter channels we can use to get in touch with the divine.”
“Ever since our screenings of his documentary series The Last Movie Stars in July of 2022, we’ve been looking for ways to get Ethan to see our gorgeous cinema palace,” said Cara Ogburn, Milwaukee Film’s Artistic Director, in a press release. “And we are so honored to get to bring him to the Oriental Theatre with his latest project alongside the film’s editor and friend of our organization, Barry Poltermann, for what is sure to be an inspiring Q&A. The film will challenge your assumptions about the relationships between an author’s life and work, so I’m excited to dig into those choices made in the filmmaking process with our audiences in May.”
And now that the newsy stuff is out of the way, I – Archer, the writer of this article, hello there – can break the fourth wall and say that I’m unbelievable excited about this. This is fantastic! This is great! This is phenomenal! Flannery O’Connor is my favorite author—her short stories consistently crack my skull open. She was a writer like no other, and I’m thrilled that her life is being brought to the screen.
Also, Ethan Hawke is so cool. Like every other artsy little dude with dreams of finding the woman of his dreams by reading quietly on a train, I adore “The Before Trilogy.” That’s not to mention First Reformed, Boyhood, Training Day, Dead Poets Society, and his horror turns in Sinister and The Black Phone.
Ok, I’ll stop freaking out. Apologies.
Anyway, you can get tickets here, folks.
