Ethan Hawke has chimed in on his daughter Maya Hawke‘s insights on how wild Hollywood casting is in 2025. It’s all about social media clout, apparently, and neither of them are down with this bizarre new industry practice.
In a February interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Maya discussed Stranger Things Inside Out 2 and what it’s like to work in showbiz now that social media is so important in terms of how studios market projects. “It’s like, I don’t care about Instagram,” she quipped while talking about how follower counts affect casting decisions.
Ethan was asked about his daughter‘s perspective at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival, per Variety, and chimed in, saying that he had experienced the phenomenon too, calling it “crazy.” He added, “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?’”
Ethan expressed concerns about what the state of casting might do to the next generation of actors, voicing concerns that if a person doesn’t maintain a public social media presence, they won’t have a successful career. “So many young actors think being an actor is protein shakes and going to the gym,” he remarked on the aesthetics-obsessed landscape. “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.”
He echoed Maya’s sentiments exactly. On the podcast, she also imitated real conversations she has had, saying, “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.”
She continued, “I’m talking with [some directors] about how I’m going to delete my Instagram and they’re 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 of the cast that I cast. So if you delete your Instagram and I lose those followers, understand that these are the kinds of people I need to cast around you.’”
Casting around a celebrity’s star status is not exactly new; even classic films were propelled by fame. However, the internet stardom of it all can perhaps be traced back to the early 2010s, when studios began banking on YouTubers with no acting experience. Soon we were seeing Fred, Cameron Dallas, and Kian Lawley (if you recognize those names, we’re truly sorry) in motion pictures. Those roles were won with social media followers and influencer credits, not traditional training, acting talent, or previous film experience.
Stunt casting has also majorly impacted voice actors, who rarely nab leading roles in big-budget animated films thanks to increasing studio reliance on household names from the big screen to sell movie tickets. Let’s face it, if Inside Out 2 was made in the 90s, it wouldn’t have starred an ensemble mainly known for their television work.
