Ethan Hawke joined by daughter Maya Hawke and Laura Linney at Wildcat TIFF premiere in first red carpet since Linney’s assistant got punched by crazed fan
- Father and daughter, 52 and 25, posed for photos together at film premiere
- Linney’s assistant was attacked Friday in NYC by autograph seeker
- The movie is a biographical drama about late novelist Flannery O’Connor
Ethan Hawke, his daughter Maya Hawke and actress Laura Linney were pictured with one another at the premiere of their movie Wildcat in Toronto Monday.
The trio was seen posing for photos during entrances at the Royal Alexandra Theatre for the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.
It marked the first time Linney walked the red carpet since a frightening incident that occurred Friday when an aggressive autograph seeker hit her assistant’s head.
Wildcat, which is written and directed by Ethan, 52, is a biographical drama about late novelist Flannery O’Connor, who is played by Maya, 25, in the motion picture, as she tried to get her first novel published.
Linney, 59, plays the role of Regina in the film, which also stars Philip Ettinger, Cooper Hoffman, Rafael Casal, Vincent D’Onofrio, Willa Fitzgerald and Alessandro Nivola.
Ethan took to the red carpet donning an all-black suit over a black T-shirt with black and white penny loafers.
He was clean shaven with his brown locks combed back at the cinematic event.
Maya wore a black strapless satin gown with black heels, donning a bracelet on her wrist. She had her light brown locks in bangs.
Linney wore a one-shoulder maxi dress with horizontal black, white and dark grey stripes. She rounded out her ensemble with black heels.
The three-time Oscar nominee actress had her dark blonde locks parted at the event.
The father and daughter opened up last week to Variety about their collaboration in the forthcoming film.
Asked about how nepotism played into their latest venture – amid a spike in talk of the topic online in recent years – Ethan told the outlet that while Maya thought of the project, he was ‘a nepo dad’ and ‘not embarrassed about it.’
Maya said she ‘had moments of insecurity about it while we were shooting the movie,’ but was undeterred in forging forward on the film with her father.
‘The internet doesn’t have a lot of nuances,’ Maya said. ‘My dad has been a massive teacher for me, and we want to work together. We like being with each other.’
Ethan said he was fine with critiques regarding nepotism in the project.
‘If someone wants to criticize us for working together, that’s totally fair,’ he told the outlet. ‘You have to let people have their opinion.
‘You just have to try to do a good job when you’re onstage.’
Maya said of working with her father, ‘Before we started, everyone was asking me, “Are you nervous to work with your dad?” I hadn’t thought to be.’
Linney, who plays the role of O’Connor’s mother Regina in the motion picture, said that the movie was a vehicle for the father and daughter ‘to advance their skill and contribute to the world in an artistic way.’
Linney noted that ‘the production’s demands were high’ on Wildcat, and filming ‘wasn’t a cute father-daughter thing.’
Linney was seen three days after a fan struck her young assistant in the head as she emerged from a show at New York Fashion Week.
The actress had enjoyed a front row seat at the Christian Siriano Fashion Show alongside Janet Jackson and Alicia Silverstone at the Pierre Hotel on the Upper East Side.
But things turned nasty as she waited outside among milling crowds afterwards for a car to pick her up.
A fan with an autograph book tried to push past her assistant and reacted furiously when he could not reach the star, punching him in the back of the head before stalking off.
‘Oh my God!’ screamed one onlooker, ‘I have never seen anything like that.’
The moment was captured by TikToker @mickmicknyc who captioned it ‘why celebrities need bodyguards!’
The four-time Emmy winner already looked nervous as she emerged from the show and glanced anxiously up and down the street.
‘It’s like chaos here, don’t worry we’ll figure it out,’ someone assures her.
The crazed fan is then seeing approaching from behind and poking her in the back with his pen, prompting the assistant to say ‘Hey hey! No, don’t do that.’
‘Don’t f***ing touch me’, the man responds, before lashing out at the slightly built assistant.
‘Are you alright?’ The Big C actress asked him as she laid her hand on his shoulder and the attacker stormed off back towards the hotel.
‘Alright, I’m fine,’ he assured her and smiled as he shepherded her to a waiting car.
