Ethan Hawke’s directorial debut Wildcat, a biopic of the life of writer Flannery O’Connell starring his daughter Maya Hawke, has just been given a release date as revealed by Deadline. The film will be released in New York and LA on May 3rd with a national release to follow soon after.
Wildcat follows Flannery O’Connor after she is diagnosed with lupus and wants to make her mark on the literary world, using her imagination and faith to ask difficult questions and explore deeper insights into her life in a satirical voice. She is known for writing the novels Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away along with a large collection of short stories.
The official synopsis for Wildcat reads:
Wildcat invites the audience to weave in and out of the mind of celebrated Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor (Maya Hawke) as she ponders the great questions of her writing: Can scandalous art still serve God? Does suffering precede all greatness? Can illness be a blessing?
In 1950, Flannery visits her mother Regina (Laura Linney) in Georgia when she is diagnosed with lupus at 24 years old. Struggling with the same disease that took her father’s life when she was a child and desperate to make her mark as a writer, this crisis pitches her imagination into a feverish exploration of belief. As she dives deeper into her craft, the lines between reality, imagination, and faith begin to blur, allowing Flannery to ultimately come to peace with her situation and heal a strained relationship with her mother.
Wildcat stars Maya Hawke, Laura Linney, Philip Ettinger, Rafael Casal, Cooper Hoffman, Steve Zahn, Vincent D’Onofrio, Alessandro Nivola, Christine Dye, Willa Fitzgerald and Levon Hawke.
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