Actress Reveals Hollywood's Dirty Little Secret Killing The Industry
Maya Hawke pulled back the curtain on how decisions are made in Hollywood, and it's not a great look.
Maya is the daughter of legendary actor Ethan Hawke, and she's made a name for herself over the past several years with some major credits.
She's appeared in "Stranger Things," "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" and "Fear Street." Not bad for someone who is only 26, and she's now exposing the idiotic casting standards in the industry.
Maya Hawke is the daughter of actor Ethan Hawke, and she's done a nice job of building up her own career. (Photo by CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty Images)
Maya Hawke implies Instagram dictates casting standards in Hollywood.
There used to be a time in Hollywood when there were legit movie stars. A-list stars and plenty of them. Now, that's not really the case. We have Tom Cruise, Chris Pratt and maybe a couple others. The number of legit stars has fallen off a cliff, and that apparently has led to casting decisions being made by a different metric:
Instagram popularity.
Maya Hawke claimed during a recent interview that some filmmakers need a certain number of total followers for the cast in order to make a film.
The "Stranger Things" star said the following on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, according to Variety:
"I don’t care about Instagram. Instagram sucks. Right, well just so you know, if you have over this many followers you can get the movie funded. It’s a really confusing line to walk…I’m talking about deleting my Instagram and [some directors are] like, ‘Just so you know when I’m casting a movie with some producers, they hand me a sheet with the amount of collective followers I have to get from the cast. So if you delete your Instagram and I lose those followers, understand these are the kinds of people I need to cast around you.'"
Maya Hawke exposes Hollywood's stupid casting standards. (Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images)
Casting major movies based on Instagram popularity is next level stupid, and it's a sign of just how low standards have become.
The goal in any movie or show should be for the best person available to get the role. It's no different than a sports team. The best players will play.
Believe it or not, a person can have a lot of Instagram followers and the personality of a cardboard box. That's more or less 90% of Instagram models.
Should we start casting them in blockbuster films? Hell no. Walton Goggins is maybe the most talented man currently in entertainment, and he doesn't even have a million followers. Yet, I'd cast him in just about anything as my top choice.
We're talking about the man who played Boyd Crowder and Baby Billy!
If you're wondering why Hollywood is failing, it shouldn't be that hard to figure out. Instead of focusing on new ideas and building up legit talent, the industry pumps out recycled ideas and apparently casts based on Instagram. I guess we're left to just Taylor Sheridan saving us. He's our only hope now. Let me know what you think at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.