ETHAN HAWKE - PROUDEST DAD ALIVE

FOR HIS LATEST MOVIE, THE FATHER OF FOUR TOOK ON A NEW ROLE: DIRECTING HIS DAUGHTER MAYA

-  GILLIAN TELLING

Throughout his 40-year career Ethan Hawke has tackled practically every type of movie: sci-fi (Gattaca), western (The Magnificent Seven), cop drama (Training Day), classics (Hamlet and Great Expectations), art house (Boyhood), rom-com (Juliet, Naked) and horror (The Black Phone). But for his latest film, Wildcat, he managed to do something completely different-direct his own daughter.

"It was awesome," he says. Already a rising star thanks to her turn on Netflix's Stranger Things, Maya Hawke, 25, takes on the role of literary icon Flannery O'Connor in Wildcat. Says Ethan: "I have a tremendous amount of respect for the artist that Maya is, and it was thrilling to meet her at this moment in her life, to see the passion and the discipline and enthusiasm she has for making movies."

While Ethan sounds every bit the doting dad, the two kept things strictly professional on-set. "I was worried I'd fail her if I gushed over her performances," he says. "We had so many amazing collaborators and all these serious actors." (Wildcat also stars Laura Linney, Liam Neeson and Steve Zahn.) "They weren't there for us to make cute home movies. If there was ever a time for us to put our most professional feet forward, this was it." He adds with a smile, "Of course, I can be proud of her and geek out with joy when I watch her on Stranger Things, but when I was directing her, we had a goal to accomplish."