Ethan Hawke recently opened up about his hopes of working on screen with his daughter, Maya Hawke. According to a Variety report dated January 25, Ethan spoke candidly while appearing at Variety’s Sundance Studio presented by Audible.
During the interview, he expressed admiration for Maya Hawke’s success as an actor.
“Heck yeah, are you kidding me?… I want to be with the star of ‘Stranger Things,’” Ethan Hawke said.
Maya, who portrayed Robin Buckley in Netflix’s global hit Stranger Things, recently wrapped the show’s final season. With that major chapter now closed, Ethan offered his daughter advice about navigating the future. He stressed the importance of forward momentum, urging Maya Hawke to focus on growth and new opportunities.
“Time to move on. You got to do it, and move on…Don’t look back,” he said.
Beyond a hope of future collaborations, filmmaking has already been a family affair for the Hawke family. Ethan previously directed Maya Hawke in the 2023 indie film Wildcat.
Ethan Hawke shares admiration for daughter Maya Hawke’s acting career at the 2026 Golden Globes
Ethan Hawke has previously expressed admiration for his daughter Maya Hawke’s growing career at the 2026 Golden Globes.
The Blue Moon star, who was nominated for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture, spoke candidly about his pride in Maya during an appearance on Live From E!: Golden Globes 2026 at the Beverly Hilton on January 11. He attended the event alongside his wife, Ryan Hawke.
Before directly praising her work, Hawke emphasized that his pride stemmed not just from Maya Hawke’s professional success but from who she was as a person.
“I’m proud of her as a human being, first and foremost,” Hawke raved to Zuri Hall (as per E!News)
He then elaborated on how much he genuinely enjoyed watching Maya portray Robin Buckley on Stranger Things. Ethan Hawke noted that the show itself appealed strongly to his own tastes. The actor, who shares Maya with ex-wife Uma Thurman, further noted that Robin had been “a great character” for Maya to take on.
“She is awesome on that show and that show is right up my alley and I loved it,” he said
Ethan Hawke also reflected on Maya Hawke’s independence as a young artist and how she had managed to carve out her own creative identity separate from her famous parents.
“The fact that she’s as young as she is and she’s already set off on her own. Her music is amazing, all her work inspires me…I am very proud of her, is the short answer,” he added.
Ethan Hawke reflects on Tom Cruise’s influence, stunt culture, and his love for filmmaking at Sundance
Ethan Hawke spoke candidly about the changing expectations placed on actors in Hollywood while appearing at Variety’s Sundance Studio presented by Audible during the Sundance Film Festival.
During the interview, the 55-year-old actor reflected on how Tom Cruise’s commitment to performing his own stunts had reshaped industry standards, sometimes in ways Hawke admitted made him conflicted.
“Tom Cruise has totally changed what’s expected for actors. Some part of me is getting angry over the years because everyone somehow feels like they’re less if they use a stunt team,” Hawke said at Variety’s Sundance Studio presented by Audible.
Turning to his own work, Hawke discussed why The Weight, a historical action-drama premiering at Sundance, stood apart from modern spectacle-driven films.
He emphasized that the movie focused on grounded, human-scale action rather than explosive set pieces, allowing many of the physical moments to feel authentic and achievable.
“What I liked about our movie is there were no ridiculous stunts. It’s human. It’s not about things blowing up, so most of the stunts were things we could do. They weren’t superhero things,” Ethan Hawke explained.
Director Padraic McKinley, who reunited with Hawke after The Good Lord Bird, stepped in to clarify that the actor was downplaying his own efforts.
McKinley revealed that Hawke performed nearly all of the stunts himself, including demanding sequences involving vintage vehicles, stopping short only after a near-serious injury.
“Ethan is not saying that he did every single stunt, including driving those old cars with insane clutches…He did every single one, except one little wide shot after he almost tore his hamstring off the bone,” McKinley said.
While Hawke may not be dangling from skyscrapers or clinging to aircraft like Cruise in Mission: Impossible, he was fully committed to the physical demands of The Weight.
At the heart of the film, he explained, was a deeply emotional story centered on a father willing to endure extreme conditions to reunite with his daughter. He described the film as fundamentally “about love,” calling that emotional core what made the script timeless and noting that his own experiences as a parent shaped his performance.
Hawke also observed that the most memorable action films were rooted in something real, rather than spectacle alone.
Ethan Hawke’s latest project, The Weight, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26.
Maya Hawke, on the other hand, is set to star as the tribute-turned-mentor Wiress in the upcoming Hunger Games prequel film, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.
Edited by Shayari Roy
