- Feb 5, 2002
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Flannery O’Connor was both an exceptional narrative artist and a devout Roman Catholic, an unfortunately rare combination, but a combination on accurate, alarming, and reverent display in Ethan Hawke’s new film, Wildcat. The idea for the project came from his daughter Maya Hawke, who discovered O’Connor’s fiction as a high school student and who later wrote a monologue inspired by O’Connor’s Prayer Journal for her audition at Julliard. Maya, best known for playing Robin in Stranger Things, brilliantly and convincingly embodies Flannery O’Connor in Wildcat, while also presenting a variety of always memorable and sometimes pitiable characters from O’Connor’s short stories with aplomb: Sarah Ham (“The Comforts of Home”); Lucynell (“The Life You Save May Be Your Own”); Mary Grace (“Revelation”); Hulga Joy (“Good Country People”); and my personal favorite, Sarah Ruth (“Parker’s Back”).
In writing the screenplay, Ethan Hawke and Shelby Gaines had to figure out how to tell the story of O’Connor’s life—as she was struggling to publish Wise Blood, her first novel—and to faithfully present her strange, dark, comic fiction to their audience. Just as Wise Blood was not a conventional novel, Wildcat is not a conventional film. It is not a documentary, nor does it attempt to tell complete short stories verbatim; rather, it is the dramatic action of the mystery that is Flannery O’Connor’s intense and intelligent young life told primarily through judiciously chosen sections of her stories, essays, letters, and prayers, and a liberal dose of splendid acting, which come together in one beautiful and remarkable motion picture. It’s something like the Coen Brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs in its use of several vignettes to tell one complete story, except this story about Flannery O’Connor actually happened.
Continued below.
www.wordonfire.org
In writing the screenplay, Ethan Hawke and Shelby Gaines had to figure out how to tell the story of O’Connor’s life—as she was struggling to publish Wise Blood, her first novel—and to faithfully present her strange, dark, comic fiction to their audience. Just as Wise Blood was not a conventional novel, Wildcat is not a conventional film. It is not a documentary, nor does it attempt to tell complete short stories verbatim; rather, it is the dramatic action of the mystery that is Flannery O’Connor’s intense and intelligent young life told primarily through judiciously chosen sections of her stories, essays, letters, and prayers, and a liberal dose of splendid acting, which come together in one beautiful and remarkable motion picture. It’s something like the Coen Brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs in its use of several vignettes to tell one complete story, except this story about Flannery O’Connor actually happened.
Continued below.
Capturing a Misfit: A Review of “Wildcat” - Word on Fire
In the film "Wildcat," Maya Hawke captures the raw, desperate, and holy desire of Flannery O’Connor to both serve God and be a great writer.
www.wordonfire.org
