Follows the life of writer Flannery O'Connor while she was struggling to publish her first novel.Follows the life of writer Flannery O'Connor while she was struggling to publish her first novel.Follows the life of writer Flannery O'Connor while she was struggling to publish her first novel.
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- TriviaDirector and co-writer Ethan Hawke first became interested in the works of Flannery O'Connor in his early teens, when he and his mother lived in Atlanta, Georgia and his mother worked selling textbooks to local colleges. Hawke read so much of O'Connor's works that he assumed she was as well known outside of his household as Abraham Lincoln.
- Quotes
Flannery O'Connor: I try to turn the other cheek, but my tongue is always in it.
- SoundtracksThe Darkest Hour
performed by Norman Dane
Featured review
Terrific
The film is a melding of Flannery O'Connor's life with several of her stories as she labors to write after a diagnosis of Lupus. She's living on her mother's Georgia farm but corresponding with her editor in New York. While she writes her novel "Wise Blood" she also churns out a bunch of short stories.
Maya Hawke is excellent as O'Connor and several of the characters in the stories as is Laura Linney as the mother and several characters in the stories. The film is directed and co-written by Ethan Hawke.
When I was still teaching American Short Stories classes I would always xerox off a few O'Connor stories and Robert McAlmon's "The Jack Rabbit Drive" to add to the book we had to use. The film recreates a few scenes from O'Connor's story "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," and I remembered from reading biographical material that she had sold this story and a TV adaptation was made and how she howled in disbelief that they miscast Gene Kelly as the main character.
Well, good old Youtube sports this 26-minute horror with Gene Kelly as Tom Triplett (it's Shiftlet in the story) the one-armed handyman who comes upon the dirt farm of Mrs Crater and her daughter Lucy Nell. Agnes Moorehead and Janice Rule play the women. The ending is totally changed (and ruined) by the Schlitz Playhouse adaptation. The role is totally out of Kelly's depth (Kelly was never a very good actor). O'Connor never sold another story to be filmed in her lifetime.
Anyway, Wildcat is well worth tracking down even if you're not familiar with O'Connor's singular world view.
Maya Hawke is excellent as O'Connor and several of the characters in the stories as is Laura Linney as the mother and several characters in the stories. The film is directed and co-written by Ethan Hawke.
When I was still teaching American Short Stories classes I would always xerox off a few O'Connor stories and Robert McAlmon's "The Jack Rabbit Drive" to add to the book we had to use. The film recreates a few scenes from O'Connor's story "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," and I remembered from reading biographical material that she had sold this story and a TV adaptation was made and how she howled in disbelief that they miscast Gene Kelly as the main character.
Well, good old Youtube sports this 26-minute horror with Gene Kelly as Tom Triplett (it's Shiftlet in the story) the one-armed handyman who comes upon the dirt farm of Mrs Crater and her daughter Lucy Nell. Agnes Moorehead and Janice Rule play the women. The ending is totally changed (and ruined) by the Schlitz Playhouse adaptation. The role is totally out of Kelly's depth (Kelly was never a very good actor). O'Connor never sold another story to be filmed in her lifetime.
Anyway, Wildcat is well worth tracking down even if you're not familiar with O'Connor's singular world view.
helpful•54
- drednm
- Jul 13, 2024
- How long is Wildcat?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $563,591
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $58,140
- May 5, 2024
- Gross worldwide
- $563,591
- Runtime1 hour 43 minutes
- Color
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![Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Laura Linney, Steve Zahn, Joe Goodman, Karri O'Reilly, Cooper Hoffman, Maya Hawke, Rafael Casal, Shelby Gaines, Ryan Hawke, Philip Ettinger, Brian Tetsuro Ivie, and Cory Pyke in Wildcat (2023)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzVhNDdkMmItNTUxZS00MGNmLTgxZTQtYTFhNDE5OTE5NDE5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjQ0NzcxNjM@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg)