A week ago, Maya Hawke had went viral with the revelation that the casting process for films is now taking social media followers into account. Now her father is sharing his two cents on what he thinks about Instagram dictating who should get cast in a movie.
Talking during the Berlin Film Festival (via Variety), Hawke was asked about his daughter’s remarks, to which he replies, “I really feel for these people. It’s really hard… Sometimes I’ll be setting a movie up and someone will say, ‘Oh, you should cast Suzie.’ I’m like, ‘Who is she?’ ‘She has 10 million followers.’ I’m like, ‘OK cool, has she acted before?’ ‘No, but…’ And you’re like, ‘Wow, so this is going to help me get the movie made? This is crazy.’… So if I don’t have this public-facing [platform], I don’t have a career? And if I get more followers I might get that part? What?”
For context, here’s a clip of Maya Hawke talking during Happy Sad Confused explaining how IG followers have become a factor when it comes to getting movies greenlit. Check this out:
Going back to Ethan Hawke though, he believes that the young actors on social media are putting too much emphasis on looking physically attractive. Hawke shares, “I wish they could meet [Phillip Seymour Hoffman] like I did when I was 18, because it’s a much more substantive and enjoyable life… I mean, go to the gym if you want to, but that doesn’t make you — Robert De Niro is not great because he has a six-pack. If the part calls for it, he’ll do it, and that’s awesome. But he’s so much more than that.”
Admittedly, there have been a lot of changes in the movie-making process besides casting. Some have also said that there has been a call for content that people can follow passively (i.e., they can watch it while doing chores, working out)—resulting in what some people are calling ‘Netflix slop’.
Who knows, maybe a movie renaissance is going to find its way back to audiences soon, but for now, it does seem like social media and AI are going to be huge factors when it comes to making movies today.
