Maya Hawke makes frank admission about ‘nepo baby’ tag
Actor and singer Maya Hawke has spoken about the role of nepotism in her career and, more specifically, her casting in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Hawke is the daughter of actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, the latter of whom was a close collaborator of Tarantino’s in the 1990s and early 2000s. When Hawke landed a role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 2019, she received criticism for suggesting in an interview that she had won the part through a normal audition process rather than family ties.
Now, Hawke has addressed the comments that she was “wildly made fun of” for during an interview with The Times. “I never meant to imply that I didn’t get the part for nepotistic reasons,” she stated, “I think I totally did.” The actor even suggested that Tarantino was specifically looking to cast people with famous parents.
Hawke also addressed the complexities of the “nepo baby” tag more generally, tackling the question of if she “deserves” her success. “‘Deserves’ is a complicated word,” she commented, “There are so many people who deserve to have this kind of life who don’t, but I think I’m comfortable with not deserving it and doing it anyway.”
The actor and musician acknowledged the two paths she saw at the beginning of her career: changing her name and attending open castings, shrugging off her nepotistic opportunities, or leaning into them. Hawke stated that she was “comfortable” choosing the latter.
“It’s OK to be made fun of when you’re in rareified air,” she concluded, “It’s a lucky place to be. My relationships with my parents are really honest and positive, and that supersedes anything anyone can say about it.”
Since starring in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 2019, Hawke featured in Wes Anderson’s latest full-length offering, Asteroid City, and in Bradley Cooper’s Maestro last year. She is also set to voice the anxiety emotion in the highly-anticipated Disney Pixar sequel, Inside Out 2.
At the end of last month, Hawke delved back into the world of music with the release of her third album, Chaos Angel. In a three-star review, Far Out wrote: “Even with a foot in the door, Hawke deserves to be in the room but is at her best when she commits to bigger things, ironically, indulging herself in lavish production.”
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