Wildcat | |
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Directed by | Ethan Hawke |
Written by |
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Based on | Short stories by Flannery O'Connor |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Steve Cosens |
Edited by | Barry Poltermann |
Music by |
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Production companies |
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Distributed by | Oscilloscope Laboratories |
Release dates |
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Running time | 105 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $500,113 [2] [3] |
Wildcat is a 2023 American biographical drama film about American novelist Flannery O'Connor struggling to publish her first novel. Also based on O'Connor's short stories, the film was directed by Ethan Hawke and written by Hawke and Shelby Gaines. It stars Maya Hawke, Rafael Casal, Philip Ettinger, Cooper Hoffman, Steve Zahn, and Laura Linney.
Its world premiere was held at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2023. It was given a limited release on May 3, 2024, with wide release to follow.
Flannery O'Connor, an idiosyncratic young Southern writer and faithful Catholic, imagines a melodramatic movie trailer with a crazed, nymphomaniacal boarder, Star Drake (played by Maya Hawke, who also plays O'Connor and multiple other roles) getting her boarding-house hosts into violent trouble. Many other imaginary and real episodes then occur, often following various short stories of O'Connor, including "Everything That Rises Must Converge", "Good Country People", "The Life You Save May Be Your Own", "Revelation", and "Parker's Back".
After winning a writing competition, she travels to New York to get approval from a publisher for her novel, Wise Blood, but refuses the request that she outline her work. She discusses her novel with Robert Lowell, someone with whom she has mutual romantic feelings, though he eventually marries Elizabeth Hardwick, whom O'Connor meets at a writers' party where she does not get along well with other people, even though Lowell describes O'Connor as his most talented student. (Hardwick calls the Eucharist a mere symbol; O'Connor rejoins, "If it's just a symbol, to hell with it!") At the party, she relates the anecdote that when young, she was in a Pathé movie because she had trained a chicken to walk backward.
Coming back from New York, she feels tired and has facial rashes; she learns she has lupus, of which her father died. She refuses to see a doctor for a while, though she finally gets treatment for it, though she eventually must use crutches, and at one point falls down the stairs. Her mother Regina, who has racist tendencies, tries to help her, though she does not always enjoy Flannery's work, which she sees as abrasive. Flannery buys a peacock to comfort herself.
An Irish priest counsels her about her writing and other struggles; she mentions James Joyce's Ulysses being banned in Ireland, which he agrees is needless. She says she is trying to be a good Catholic; the priest recommends she do acts of charity. She says all she has is her writing; the priest recommends she use that. After receiving a letter from Lowell saying he married Hardwick, Flannery settles into a life of concentrated writing.
Words on the screen reveal that she lived fourteen years longer, before dying from the "French wolf", lupus. The final words on the screen, post-credits, are her thanks to pigs for their pituitary glands needed for her lupus injections.
Wildcat was written by Ethan Hawke and Shelby Gaines and directed by Hawke. The film was produced and fully financed by Renovo Media Group's Cory Pyke. Joe Goodman of Good Country Pictures, Hawke and wife Ryan Hawke of Under the Influence Productions also produced. [4] Maya Hawke executive produced and has a main role in the film. In January 2023, it was reported that Laura Linney, Philip Ettinger, Rafael Casal, Steve Zahn, Cooper Hoffman, Willa Fitzgerald, Alessandro Nivola, and Vincent D’Onofrio joined the cast. [5]
Principal photography took place in Louisville, Kentucky from January 10 to February 11, 2023. [5] [6] Filming also took place in Shelbyville and Frankfort of central Kentucky. [7] [8]
Wildcat's world premiere was held at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2023. [1] [9] It was also shown at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2023. [10] [11] In January 2024, Oscilloscope acquired US distribution rights to the film. [12] It was released in limited theaters in New York and Los Angeles on May 3, 2024, with a wide release to follow. [13]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 46% of 35 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.9/10. [14] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 53 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. [15]
Mary Flannery O'Connor was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries.
Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, author and film director. He made his film debut in Explorers (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in Dead Poets Society (1989). Hawke starred alongside Julie Delpy in Richard Linklater's Before trilogy from 1995 to 2013. Hawke received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Training Day (2001) and Boyhood (2014) and two for Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writing Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013). Other notable roles include in Reality Bites (1994), Gattaca (1997), Great Expectations (1998), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), Maggie's Plan (2015), First Reformed (2017), The Black Phone (2021) and The Northman (2022).
Laura Leggett Linney is an American actress. She is the recipient of several awards, including two Golden Globe Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards, and has been nominated for three Academy Awards and five Tony Awards.
Alessandro Antine Nivola is an American actor. He has been nominated for a Tony Award and an Independent Spirit Award and has won a Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Independent Film Award (BIFA), and the Best Actor Award at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival among others.
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Shelby Shook Gaines is an American composer, musician, and writer. He is the son of novelist Charles Gaines and artist Patricia Ellisor Gaines.
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Maggie's Plan is a 2015 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Rebecca Miller, based on an original story by Karen Rinaldi. The film stars Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, Travis Fimmel, Wallace Shawn, Ida Rohatyn, and Julianne Moore.
Willa Fitzgerald is an American actress. She is known for her starring role as Emma Duval in MTV's Scream. She has played cheer coach Colette French in the USA Network's television drama series Dare Me and officer Roscoe Conklin in the Amazon Prime Video television series Reacher. Her other notable roles include Amazon Studios' television series Alpha House, the USA Network's drama series Royal Pains, and Netflix's horror miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher.
Maudie is a 2016 biographical drama film directed by Aisling Walsh and starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke. A co-production of Ireland and Canada, it is about the life of folk artist Maud Lewis, who painted in Nova Scotia. In the story, Maud (Hawkins) struggles with rheumatoid arthritis, the memory of a lost child, and a family that doubts her abilities, before moving in with a surly fish peddler (Hawke) as a housekeeper. Despite their differing personalities, they marry as her art gains in popularity. The film was shot in Newfoundland and Labrador, requiring a re-creation of Lewis' famously small house.
First Reformed is a 2017 American psychological drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader. It stars Ethan Hawke as a minister of a small congregation in upstate New York who grapples with mounting despair brought on by tragedy, worldly concerns, and a tormented past. Amanda Seyfried, Cedric Kyles, Victoria Hill, and Philip Ettinger appear in supporting roles.
Laura Linney is an American actress who has played roles in film, television and theater
The Better Angels Society is a 501(c)3 organization that was founded by supporters of Ken Burns to raise funds for his work from individuals of wealth and private family foundations. They have grown into the preeminent organization dedicated to engaging Americans with their history through documentary film. Katherine Malone-France was appointed President & CEO in 2023, taking the reins from Amy Margerum Berg who served as the organization's president between 2016-2023.
Brian Tetsuro Ivie is a Japanese-American filmmaker, film producer and documentarian. He is the youngest active producer for Stephen Curry’s Unanimous Media empire. Ivie is most well-known for his documentary film, Emanuel, which tells the story of the 2015 Charleston church shooting, which took the lives of nine innocent African Americans. The film was produced by Viola Davis and Mariska Hargitay, & by NBA star Stephen Curry.
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The 50th Telluride Film Festival took place between August 31 and September 4, 2023, in Telluride, Colorado. Marking the fiftieth edition of the festival, Alfonso Cuarón, Adam Curtis, Ethan Hawke, Rachel Kushner, Steve McQueen, and Mira Nair, all of them past guests, were invited to return as Guest Directors. The poster for Telluride Film Festival's fiftieth anniversary, designed by Luke Dorman, was released in July 2023. Dorman is the Principal Graphic Designer at Meow Wolf.
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