Maya Hawke Laments Some Producers Relying On Follower Counts To Cast Films: 'A Lifelong Question For Me'

Yahoo

16-02-2025

Maya Hawke shed some light on some of the difficulty surrounding filmmaking, what she calls a 'confusing' state in the industry nowadays in which some producers rely on social media follower counts to cast their movies.
The Stranger Things actress discussed the topic on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast recently, when she made the distinction between actor and celebrity, saying how she has always wanted to embody the former (judged on her work versus her personality).
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'But the industry keeps changing, and you have to change with it, and understand that all of these things are getting blurred and there are wonderful, incredible actors I admire whose personalities we all know very well,' she began.
One of the rapid changes is the advent of online platforms like Instagram and TikTok that Hawke, whose parents are industry heavyweights Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, has struggled with in the past.
'Just figuring out the footing in these changing times of social media and public personality and also how difficult it is to get things made, where it's like, 'I don't care about Instagram, Instagram sucks.' 'Right, but just so you know, if you have over this many followers, you can get the money movie funded.' Well, I want to make the movie, so it's a really confusing line to walk,' she said.
The Inside Out 2 star said she has spoken to 'so many smart directors' about deleting her Instagram until they've told her of why that might not be such a good idea. 'They're like, 'Just so you know, when I'm casting a movie with some producers, they hand me a sheet with the amount of collective followers I have to get of the cast that I cast so if you delete your Instagram, and I lose those followers, understand that these are the kinds of people that I need to cast around you.'' (Hawke has 8.9 million Instagram followers.)
Hawke concluded that the subject will produce a 'lifelong question' for her, even as she's worked with a few directors — like Quentin Tarantino on Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood, who is known for shunning modern tech like iPhones and prefers physical media to streaming.
'Few directors, maybe there's ten of them, who have reputations that are vast enough and have shown how well they can work and what they can do, that they get given a lot of freedom and a lot of privacy,' she said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Hawke addressed another producer-related incident that left a bad taste in her mouth.
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