Ethan Hawke’s Flannery O’Connor Drama ‘Wildcat’ Sets Release Date With Oscilloscope

EXCLUSIVE: Oscilloscope Laboratories has settled on a theatrical release date for its Flannery O’Connor biopic Wildcat, co-written and directed by Ethan Hawke, following the acquisition of North American rights. Exec produced by and starring the filmmaker’s daughter, Maya Hawke, the film will open at The Angelika in New York, and in L.A. theaters still to be determined on May 3rd, with a national roll-out to follow.

Competitors in its opening weekend will include Uni’s action comedy The Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, and an unknown title from Disney.

World premiering at last year’s Telluride Film Festival before going on to screen in Toronto, Wildcat invites the audience to weave in and out of the mind of celebrated Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor (Maya Hawke) as she ponders the great questions of her writing: Can scandalous art still serve God? Does suffering precede all greatness? Can illness be a blessing?

In 1950, Flannery visits her mother Regina (Laura Linney) in Georgia when she is diagnosed with lupus at 24 years old. Struggling with the same disease that took her father’s life when she was a child and desperate to make her mark as a writer, this crisis pitches her imagination into a feverish exploration of belief. As she dives deeper into her craft, the lines between reality, imagination, and faith begin to blur, allowing Flannery to ultimately come to peace with her situation and heal a strained relationship with her mother.

Also starring Philip Ettinger, Rafael Casal, Cooper Hoffman, Steve Zahn, Vincent D’Onofrio, Alessandro Nivola, Christine Dye, Willa Fitzgerald, and Levon Hawke, Wildcat hails from Renovo Media Group, Good Country Pictures, and Under the Influence Productions. Ethan Hawke and Shelby Gaines wrote the script. The film is produced by Joe Goodman, Ryan Hawke, Karri O’Reilly, and Cory Pyke. Exec producers are David Kingland, Eric Groth, Maya Hawke, Wojciech Frykowski, Gaines, Brian Tetsuro Ivie, Gregory Daniel King, and Ralph Winter.

UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance are handling worldwide rights.