Maya Hawke Reveals Hollywood Filmmaker Told Her She's 'Prettier With My Mouth Closed'

Yahoo

14-02-2025

Maya Hawke is sharing a rather sexist note she once received that made her 'really upset.'
The 'Stranger Things' star has been acting for nearly a decade, and while she comes from famous pedigree — her parents are Oscar nominees Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke — she's 'comfortable' being a nepo baby, and found the note anything but helpful.
'A director told me — actually, I think was a producer, but they were in cahoots — told me I looked prettier with my mouth closed, and that I should close my mouth after I speak more often,' said Hawke during an episode of the 'Happy Sad Confused' podcast released Thursday.
Hawke is only 26 years old but studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and the Stella Adler Studio in New York, and found the producer's suggestion particularly dense because she's long been attuned to what suits any given character she's playing.
Hawke said on the podcast that a lack of 'jaw tension' was integral to the role in question.
'I was playing a character that was distinctly un-self-conscious,' she added. 'That was a trait of the character, that they didn't care about looking pretty and they were un-self-conscious, and so it was clearly just a desire of the aesthetic of the thing, and I was annoyed about it.'
Hawke didn't mention the person by name, but she's worked on many well-known projects, including Wes Anderson's 'Asteroid City,' Bradley Cooper's 'Maestro,' Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' and the Duffer Brothers' 'Stranger Things.'
Hawke, who was raised by celebrities and attended a private school in Brooklyn, does nonetheless seem grateful to lead a creative life — and even acknowledged last year that she's OK with 'not deserving' the Hollywood opportunities available to her.
''Deserves' is a complicated word,' she told the Sunday Times in June. '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. And I know that my not doing it wouldn't help anyone.'
'I saw two paths when I was first starting, and one of them was: change your name, get a nose job and go to open casting roles,' Hawke continued at the time, adding: 'It's OK to be made fun of when you're in rarefied air. It's a lucky place to be.'
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