Ethan Hawke wasn’t going to let a cancelled flight make him miss the premiere of his new movie.
Hawke takes a directorial role in Wildcat, a biographical drama about the 20th-century American novelist Flannery O’Connor as she struggles to publish her first novel, with his daughter, Stranger Things star Maya Hawke, playing the author.
Appearing at the Toronto International Film Festival on Monday evening (11 September),the father-daughter team told reporters about Hawke’s journey to the premiere.
The US actor apparently hopped on a Greyhound bus and travelled from the Port Authority bus terminal in New York to Toronto, Canada, after learning a number of flights had been delayed or cancelled or together. Provided he took the bus the whole way there, the journey could have taken around 11 hours.
“He had to take the bus here ‘cause all the flights got cancelled,” his daughter told People magazine.
“Three flights cancelled, then I was like, ‘I’m not gonna miss this because of some airport,’” Ethan said. “So, I went to Port Authority and hopped the bus.”
The Before Sunrise actor also noted that he received no star treatment on the journey and that his fellow passengers were unmoved by his presence.
“Man, nobody cares about anybody else on the bus,” Hawke confirmed, adding that “nobody’s comfortable” when on the long-distance road trip, which takes between 10 and 14 hours when departing from New York.
Ethan Hawke— (Getty Images)
Hawke made the trip with his wife and producing partner, Ryan Hawke.
When asked what he got up to during the journey, the actor’s response was fittingly lowkey. He replied: “I just read my book and disappeared in the back and prayed that we made it.”
Maya, 25, also took the opportunity to speak about her appreciation for being able to promote a film during the Sag-Aftra strikes in Hollywood.
She explained: “To get to be at this festival and to have approval from our union during a strike, to be here and celebrate film and independent film and to get to see this movie in an audience, which is so rare now, is just the ultimate privilege.”
Maya Hawke and Ethan Hawke— (Getty Images)
In Wildcat, O’Connor does not have a romantic partner. As well as her author character, Maya also plays six different characters from the writer’s short stories as they engage in various trysts.
During an interview published last week, Maya and Ethan were asked about the potential discomfort of a father directing his daughter in a sex scene, and insisted that they were able to tackle the situation in a professional manner.
“We were so comfortable with it. I couldn’t care less,” Ethan said about overseeing Maya’s intimate scenes with her co-stars Rafael Casal and Licorice Pizza breakout Cooper Hoffman.
“We needed to take care of Rafael and Cooper,” the director continued to Variety, laughing. “I think it was weird for them.”
