Maya Hawke

Maya Hawke loves being the embodiment of anxiety for a generation of children thanks to INSIDE OUT 2 but don't worry, she's not THAT anxious in real life. In this live taping of the podcast at the 92nd Street Y, Maya talks about growing up as the daughter of two very famous and accomplished actors, almost being the Little Mermaid, being a part of STRANGER THINGS, and her music career. UPCOMING EVENT! Nathan Lane -- March 20th in New York -- Tickets here! SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Quince -- Go to Quince.com/happysadco for 365 day returns and free shipping! Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes, video versions of the podcast, and more! To watch episodes of Happy Sad Confused, subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Josh's youtube channel here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

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• 0:29Speaker 01

  I have so many wonderful friends from drama school and from New York theater and who didn't have the luxury to come from where I come from. And it is harder. You have to work hard to earn people's respect and make sure that you show up on time and do a great job and are prepared every day. But everyone should do that anyway. And you have to care for the people around you and try to share the luck that you have. But I definitely don't think it's harder. I think you do have to work hard to earn people's respect, but you always do.

• 1:05Speaker 02

  Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, Sad, Confused begins now.

• 1:13Josh Horowitz?

  Hey, guys, Josh here. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. If you're watching me on YouTube or on Spotify, you can sense the vibe. I'm in my cozy Barton sweatshirt from Holdovers. Such a great movie. Another great movie. Look at that segue. Inside Out 2. Who doesn't love Inside Out and Inside Out 2? Today's main event is a first-time guest on Happy, Sad, Confused. We're going to get to our conversation with Maya Hawke in just a second. It's a fun one. It's really good. Before we get to that, a couple of things to mention. If you want to see me live, we have a new event. We have just announced, March 20th in New York City, Nathan Lane. Nathan Lane.

• 1:56Josh Horowitz?

  Master of stage and screen, someone I've never, I don't think I've ever talked to you, period, let alone for the podcast. I'm very excited. It's gonna be at Symphony Space, beautiful space on the Upper West Side of New York. If you've never seen A Happy Sad Confused live, this is a good place to start. Link in the show notes for how you can get your tickets. It's selling well already, so get your tickets now, so we can see you out there. And a lot more events to come. As always, want to mention our Patreon, where you get all the early access, the merch, the autographed posters, you can ask questions, you can get your name and lights on the videos. Patreon.com/happy sad confused is where it's at. Tip your toe in the water. It's warm. It's nice. I promise you guys. Okay. Main

• 2:40Josh Horowitz?

  event today, we're gonna get to right now, is my live conversation that was taped at the 92nd Street Y, speaking of live events, with Maya Hawke. We screened Inside Out 2 prior to this, and then dove into this fantastic conversation with Maya, who of course, you know from Stranger Things, her music, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, she's been killing in recent years. You may also know Maya, of course, comes from kinda Hollywood royalty, like, come on, Uma Thurman, Ethan Hawke, and she is so smart, and cool, and quirky, in all the best ways. This was a very free-flowing, open and honest conversation. We really vibed,

• 3:24Josh Horowitz?

  and I never really had a chance to talk to Maya at length. So I think you guys are gonna dig this one. She's a special one. And of course, we teased a little bit of what's to come on Stranger Things, the final season. And yeah, this is a fun one. I think you guys are gonna dig it. So remember to subscribe to Happy Sad Confused if you haven't already done so. What are you doing with your lives? And enjoy this conversation taped at the 92nd Street Y, live in front of a lovely audience in New York City, with the one and only Maya Hawke. Hi, everybody. I'm Josh Horowitz. Welcome to the 92nd Street Y, everybody. Thank you guys so much for coming out tonight. How great is this movie, Inside Out 2? Come on, guys, give it up.

• 4:09Josh Horowitz?

  Not only do you get to see this wonderful movie on the big screen tonight, but whether you know it or not, you're inside my podcast right now. This is a live taping of Happy, Sad, Confused. And we have a first-time guest on the show, someone I've wanted to have for a long while. She has assembled quite a career, Maya Hawke, Ms. Maya Hawke. In addition to being the voice of anxiety in this ginormously entertaining, beautiful film. You know her from her amazing music from Stranger Things, from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. So much great work to discuss tonight. We're gonna dig into all of it, and your questions, please give a warm New York welcome to New Yorker, Maya Hawke, everybody. Come on, there she is.

• 5:01Speaker 01

  Hi.

• 5:02Josh Horowitz?

  Hi, Maya.

• 5:04Speaker 01

  How are you?

• 5:05Josh Horowitz?

  I'm doing okay.

• 5:05Speaker 01

  Okay, good.

• 5:06Josh Horowitz?

  Are you good?

• 5:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, really swell.

• 5:07Josh Horowitz?

  You have a lot to be swell about, because this movie, I didn't even mention the numbers. I could just exhaust everybody with numbers.

• 5:15Speaker 01

  It did well, is that what you're saying?

• 5:16Josh Horowitz?

  It did really well.

• 5:18Speaker 01

  I take no credit, I mean, that's...

• 5:21Josh Horowitz?

  It's all you.

• 5:21Speaker 01

  No, I really don't think so.

• 5:23Josh Horowitz?

  I'm just gonna say it, for the sake of folks that don't know it, I think about $1.7 billion. Not that that matters, but it's a nice thing, still. Highest grossing animated film.

• 5:33Speaker 01

  I didn't make that money. Making sure that that's out there.

• 5:37Josh Horowitz?

  No, you need to renegotiate your contract. Highest grossing animated film of all time, and a Oscar nominee for Best Animated Feature. So, congrats all around.

• 5:47Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 5:48Josh Horowitz?

  Do you get a ticket to the Oscars? Are you going?

• 5:51Speaker 01

  Uh, no.

• 5:52Josh Horowitz?

  What? Renegotiate again.

• 5:54Speaker 01

  Again, yeah, there's a lot to be done with this contract, really. No, I mean, I'm so excited that this movie is nominated, because getting to be a part of something that I really believe in, like, that I also think has had a power of good, is so moving and important, and getting to be a part of these kinds of screenings and celebrations of the movie, and watching people watch it, and react to it, and hear their feedback, it just...

• 6:24Speaker 01

  Is so special to me.

• 6:26Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 6:27Speaker 01

  And the honor in and of itself.

• 6:30Josh Horowitz?

  There is a generation, arguably there'll be multiple generations that know you as the personification of anxiety.

• 6:37Speaker 01

  [laughing]

• 6:37Josh Horowitz?

  How does that sit with you, that you are the living embodiment of anxiety for future generations of children?

• 6:42Speaker 01

  You know, that sits with me great because I think with the way that the movie ends, it's giving kids a warmer relationship to their anxiety, so that sits with me great. Doing interviews in press and people saying to me, "So you're a really anxious person?" Does not sit with me that well. That, I'm like, "No, I'm an actor." It feels like sometimes the whole world has forgotten what being an actor is, that you can pretend to do things. It's really funny, but the kids knowing me as anxiety and as their warm, friendly anxiety that's there to protect them and they just need to get to know a little bit better, that sits with me really well.

• 7:20Josh Horowitz?

  Has your voice itself been recognized by children yet? Can they, has any child said, "Wait, that voice sounds really familiar, that's the voice of that crazy-looking character on screen?"

• 7:29Speaker 01

  It's hard to know. People do recognize me by my voice all the time. Like, I often have people like, hear me talking, I also talk really loud. But hear me talking to someone and then double back and turn around and be like, "Hey." But I, hard to know whether or not that's Stranger Things or anxiety or whatever it is.

• 7:48Josh Horowitz?

  Do you like your voice? It's served you very well in music and acting. Where are you at with your own voice?

• 7:53Speaker 01

  I mean, I like my voice enough that I elected not to get a vocal nodule removal procedure that would've made my life and singing a little bit easier because I heard it would potentially change the timbre of my voice, so I guess I do like my voice.

• 8:07Josh Horowitz?

  That was a choice at some point? That was a discussion?

• 8:08Speaker 01

  That was a choice, that was a discussion. But, so I do like it. I mean, whenever you hear your own voice back, especially if it's not from a performance, like if you just are talking in the background of someone else's voice memo or thing and you just hear yourself being like, "Hey, I'd really love to get that combo got," like, it's like, "Oh." I hate my voice, but when I'm speaking intentionally and know I'm being heard, I like my voice.

• 8:31Josh Horowitz?

  So was something like this a conscious or unconscious thing on the list of things that you wanted to do in a career? Like Pixar knows how to do it, knows how to do it right. Were you a Pixar kid?

• 8:43Speaker 01

  I was a total Pixar kid and, I mean, working on something like this was such a big dream, I didn't, almost didn't even dare to dream it, you know? But, I mean, it's always been an ambition of mine to enter the voice acting space. I really think there's a freedom from your body and from the way people see you that acting, you know, in an animation or in a podcast or just, you know, a radio play offers you this liberation from your physical form that is so exciting and awesome and I've always wanted to get into that. But Pixar is pretty much the creme de la creme of that work, in my opinion, and so it's a dream beyond dreaming.

• 9:20Josh Horowitz?

  Do you cry more from the beginning of Up or the death of Bing Bong in Inside House?

• 9:27Speaker 01

  I cried so much at the death of Bing Bong, I, like, couldn't watch the movie again. Like, I was like, this is, but I'm so fragile, like, I had nightmares from watching Ghostbusters. I am an extremely tender, tender, fragile creature that is like, this is, why did it, I thought it was for kids, it's so upsetting, why did it have to be so upsetting? But, uh, and the, but the beginning of Up is so sad and it's like crying, but you, it, maybe because it's the beginning and you're still getting to know the characters, I can survive it a little bit better.

• 10:00Josh Horowitz?

  Got it. So I was, that leads to, I was gonna ask you, were you an emotional kid? You just answered the question. You were...

• 10:05Speaker 01

  I was a real emotional girl, as Randy Newman would have said. That joke was for very particular people in this audience, clearly.

• 10:12Josh Horowitz?

  But the six people that got it loved it.

• 10:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:15Josh Horowitz?

  So how did that impact the kinds of entertainment your parents exposed you to? Were they, did they keep stuff from you or were they, knowing that this could really hit my, young Maya, hard or...

• 10:27Speaker 01

  They might say this differently. I would say, I didn't ask, until my teen years, I didn't ask to be exposed to a lot that they would feel the need to protect me from. Do you know what I mean? I wasn't reaching for the horror movie.

• 10:38Josh Horowitz?

  You were self censoring, you were like, I'm not, I don't need to go beyond my...

• 10:40Speaker 01

  I was a bit self censoring. I mean, for example, I broke my mother's lipstick once and came to her with it, holding it, crying, and she was like, "It's okay, it's fine." And I was like, "No, I need a timeout. I've done something really wrong." So, uh, my moral compass was pretty well-adjusted until the ninth grade, and then it went completely off the rails, and good luck censoring me.

• 11:03Josh Horowitz?

  Well, I mean, so, let's get into kind of like early influences. Obviously, your parents, very well-known actors, very accomplished actors. Did, to ask them, would they have said that it was inevitable that you would have pursued this? Was this something you talked about openly right from the get-go?

• 11:18Speaker 01

  I think so. I mean, I was fortunate enough to grow up in such a creative community where the making of, and I wish this for all kids, where the making of art and the participation in art kind of ran like water. And it didn't even seem like a choice or something that made you special or different. It was like, "What are we doing on a Sunday? We're putting on an audiobook and we're watercoloring." Like, you know, like, it was, "What are we doing on a Saturday night? We're going to the theater. What are we doing?" Like, the engagement, "We're gonna go see a ballet." We're gonna, like, the participation in the arts was full-throttled, um, for my whole life. So, my interest in it didn't really

• 11:56Speaker 01

  seem that special, I think. But until I was a little bit older. But, um, I definitely, I had my own academic challenges, and I think as those became clearer and clearer, the refuge and comfort I took in the arts as something that I could do and knew how to do, that didn't get graded on a, you know, didn't get a letter grade, was extremely meaningful and important. And then I think when they started to know was just when I didn't stop, you know? When I didn't start-

• 12:24Josh Horowitz?

  Still outgrew them.

• 12:25Speaker 01

  Yeah. I didn't start joining sports teams or getting spontaneously graded biology. I was always, every summer, trying to go to acting camp and theater camp, and I was making watercolor books, and I was illustrating my own novel that I'd written. Yeah, I was just like that annoy, I was annoying. Let's, let's not be confused. This is, I was an irritating, uh, extremely preachy person who was really interested in saving the trees, and also laminating my own books of poetry and like, screenprinting them and handing them out to people. So, and I, by the way, I do see the controversy there, the trees, the books I was making. I didn't see it at the time, but my hypocrisy is clear to me now.

• 13:09Josh Horowitz?

  So there was no, because the act of rebellion kind of would have been to go the other way, arguably, to be like, I don't have, I have no interest in the arts, I'm gonna be a lawyer.

• 13:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, that would have been cool. I mean, that would have been awesome. I didn't, I didn't have the skills to rebel in that way. Like, I just wasn't a success, successful student, really, in any way, other than like, you know, every report card would be like, incredible in class, participates wildly, I haven't seen a homework assignment in nine months, but she's a delight to have around. So I, so there was kind of that, but, yeah, I wasn't, my rebellion was like, in a, like, emotional evisceration of people's character, you know, like, was like, just, it wasn't-

• 13:55Josh Horowitz?

  I can tear you apart, thirteen years old.

• 13:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was more like, more direct than the indirect rebellion of being like, I'm a Republican, you know, like, I-

• 14:06Josh Horowitz?

  Right, the Alex P. Keaton rebellion, that's dating me, family ties, sorry. So, so you didn't go, you know, pro, as it were, until you're sixteen or seventeen years old, and that's by virtue of the fact that your parents basically set the ground rules and said, no auditioning.

• 14:21Speaker 01

  It was outlawed, um, it was outlawed. I mean, I think both my parents were child actors, which, you know, if you've looked into that at all, people seem to have a bad time.

• 14:31Josh Horowitz?

  Hundred percent success rate, as human beings.

• 14:34Speaker 01

  Though, that said, I do know many wonderful, extremely talented people who started young, who have extraordinary, brilliant worth ethics and brilliant minds, and have wonderful social lives and healthy attitudes toward themselves, but it is really difficult, and I think that they wanted to give me space to be a private person. And I think that's even what, you know, one of the benefits of school is getting, and even whether it's acting school, or art school, or regular school, is getting to experiment with pushing the limits of your capacity without getting reviewed for it, you know, like, of getting to, let's say, play like-

• 15:17Speaker 01

  You know, I played the Artful Dodger in a high school play and I wouldn't get cast as the Artful Dodger in life, but I got to do that and find that person in my body and no one had to review me for it and thank God, you know? So, yeah.

• 15:32Josh Horowitz?

  What about in terms of, like, if I saw the posters on your wall as a kid? What film or TV, actors, movies were you obsessed with? Were you Harry Potter, Twilight? What were your franchises, what were your things?

• 15:47Speaker 01

  I was very into Hannah Montana. Very, very, that was my big poster. Thank you, friends.

• 15:55Josh Horowitz?

  You're in a safe space.

• 15:56Speaker 01

  I was very into High School Musical. I was a Disney kid in a big way. I was a big Disney kid. But then I also loved the Wrinkle in Time series and the Golden Compass series and I loved The Tree Girls in Brooklyn. And I like, there was a lot, I went to school, I ended up, I went, I got kicked out of or asked to leave the elementary school that I was at and sent to a school for kids with learning disabilities. As I said, I was slightly academically challenged and it was an hour drive. They now have, Winward is a wonderful place for kids with dyslexia and all kinds of different learning differences, but I, they now have one in the city, but there used to not be

• 16:37Speaker 01

  and so I would drive an hour in the morning, myself, no, just kidding. I would get driven an hour in the morning to this school and an hour back home and that's really where my love of books came in, because I would listen to audiobooks. I mean, audiobooks are my, like, life. And I would listen to them to and from school and that's where I got a lot of my reading done and then at home I was a Disney kid and a Food Network kid, but...

• 17:01Josh Horowitz?

  Always goes hand in hand.

• 17:04Speaker 01

  Always goes hand in hand.

• 17:06Josh Horowitz?

  Did you dress up as any characters Halloween? Like, any memorable characters you really were obsessed with?

• 17:11Speaker 01

  My most memorable Halloween, I dressed as a parrot.

• 17:14Josh Horowitz?

  Sure.

• 17:15Speaker 01

  Because I wanted to and it was, this is just, now that you brought it up, I know it's not really connected to what you're talking about, but it's a sad and lovely story. My mom made me this beautiful parrot costume and she like glued on every multicolored feather to these angel wings and like glued them onto this dress and it was so beautiful. But it was the first year that girls started dressing like sexy police officers. And I came in my like feather-covered, multicolored nightgown with my big parrot wings. I just really loved animals. And my, I like loved the zoo. And I arrived to like a room full of people and like they're, when they first were trying on stockings

• 17:57Speaker 01

  and short skirts and I locked myself in a closet and cried. But that was a memorable Halloween costume. But no, I was really interested in poetry. I was really, and I loved going to the theater. I like, I made my dad take me to every regional production of Hairspray. Like in every state that it went to. Like, they were on tour and I was their groupie. And...

• 18:20Josh Horowitz?

  What's that car behind the bus?

• 18:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was our car. It was our car. And like, and of Wicked and of South Pacific and I like, there was just all, I like loved musicals and loved going to the theater and, I don't know, I, yeah.

• 18:35Josh Horowitz?

  And what was your relationship to, I would imagine your relationship to the films of your parents is much different than mine. Like, I, I watch Pulp Fiction and I enjoy it, but you watch Pulp Fiction and you see your mom being stabbed with a hypodermic needle. That's gotta be a little more traumatic for a young child.

• 18:50Speaker 01

  It's a skill set to learn. I mean, I will say like, I'm always asked about what I've thought of different films of my parents and the truth is I haven't seen a lot of them. And you'd think that was weird, except try to imagine when is the right time to do that? Like, it's too important to watch one of their movies just like on your computer, like when you're on an airplane. It's like, that's too important. And it's weird to all get together as a family and watch it. And it's weird, like your friends, when you come over and they're like, "Oh, we wanna put on a movie." It's weird of them if they're like, "Yeah, we're dying to watch Nymphomaniac."

• 19:26Speaker 01

  So, it's, there's, it's strange windows of opportunity to experience it, but you also do wanna understand the work, you know, the life's work and the dedication that your family members have put into this craft that you are also, you know, putting your energy and love into and, but it is complicated. I, I was so disturbed when I saw Kill Bill 2 specifically. I was older when I saw Pulp Fiction, so I was fine with that. But the coffin thing, I just couldn't. But I also, I like saw my dad in a play when I was really young where it was Ivanov Chekhov. And wonderful play, by the way. I love, love the play, but I didn't know at the time that the character ends his life at the end of the play.

• 20:10Speaker 01

  And I was terrified. I was like, what? Like, again, sheets of tears locked in the closet. But seeing common themes running through my life.

• 20:22Speaker 01

  But, yeah, so.

• 20:23Josh Horowitz?

  So is there, is there one that you're keeping for a rainy day that you haven't seen of either of your parents that you still haven't watched?

• 20:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, but it's gonna be so embarrassing if I say it out loud.

• 20:32Josh Horowitz?

  That's why we're here.

• 20:34Speaker 01

  I mean, there, I, okay, Dead Poets Society.

• 20:39Josh Horowitz?

  Gasps.

• 20:39Speaker 01

  I know, I know, you guys would all be shocked that I hadn't seen that. That one's, that one's locked in a box for a rainy day.

• 20:44Josh Horowitz?

  It's a good one, you should check it out, yeah.

• 20:48Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, so you start, so is it like a momentous moment when you start to audition?

• 20:52Speaker 01

  Oh, End of My Mom, Hysterical Blindness, I can't wait to watch that, I don't know if you guys have seen it.

• 20:55Josh Horowitz?

  Nice.

• 20:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:03Josh Horowitz?

  If I had a dollar for everybody in my life who's benefited from therapy, I would be a very, very rich man. Therapy has certainly helped me, especially when I was a confused teenager and thankfully, that's not a shameful thing to say anymore, right? It's okay to seek help and need help and talk about it. We're all doing our best, we're just trying to get by, right, guys? Unfortunately, the reality is that getting help is still harder than it should be. That's why I'm thrilled always to have Rula as a sponsor of Happy, Sad, Confused, because it's very obvious to me that online therapy should be both accessible and affordable for everybody. So let's make it easy for anybody who wants help to get help. That's where Rula comes in. Here's the thing, a lot of online therapy platforms don't actually talk about. Most don't take insurance.

• 21:47Josh Horowitz?

  That means you're either paying out of pocket or signing up for some very expensive monthly subscription. Rula does it all differently. They work with over 120 insurance plans, so the average copay. I can't get over this. It's just 15 bucks a session. So basically two of your lattes. Okay. A pretty good deal if you ask me. That means you can get real therapy from a licensed professional without breaking the bank. And Rula doesn't just set you up and leave you alone. They give you that therapist and then they're along the way, the whole journey with you to make sure your care is working for you and you're actually making progress, hitting your goals. This can all happen right away, guys. With Rula, appointments are often available as soon as tomorrow. There are no wait lists. There's no frustrating back and forth. They

• 22:28Josh Horowitz?

  make it easy. Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that's actually covered by insurance. Visit rula.com/happy to get started. That's rula, R-U-L-A dot com slash happy. You deserve mental health care that works with you, not against your budget. You guys know the best stuff in your closet is the stuff that you actually wear, right? The things that you just keep coming back to, whether you're going to work, you're going out, you're just hanging around. Well, with the holidays coming up, Quince makes it really easy to find great gifts for everyone on your list. This year, I'm doing a lot of my holiday shopping at Quince. And yes, that includes a few things for myself. That's okay, right? One of the things I love about Quince is that you're getting really high-quality

• 23:11Josh Horowitz?

  stuff without spending a fortune. Their cashmere sweaters start at just 60 bucks and they've got everything from great down jackets and wool coats to cashmere scarves and accessories. Basically, everything you need to stay warm and look good this winter. And they're using really premium materials at Quince. We're talking at 100% Mongolian cashmere, Italian leather, even 14-karat gold. These are the kinds of things that make great gifts, but also that make people actually use them, right? And wear long after the holidays. And here's the best part. Quince prices everything 50 to 80% less than similar brands. How did they do it? Well, they work directly with ethical factories and they cut out the middlemen. So you're getting that luxury quality without paying those crazy luxury prices. I love

• 23:54Josh Horowitz?

  how functional and fashionable all my Quince stuff is. I've got a cashmere hoodie that is honestly invaluable and actually makes me look like I know what I'm talking about when it comes to fashion, and that is a miracle. So give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. It's now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks where you've heard about them, you know what to do. Let them know it was happy, sad, confused. That's the best way to support our show.

• 24:31Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, so the shift in terms of like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try this out and they're gonna let me try this out. Like, do you remember your first auditions?

• 24:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, I, I really, there, I think it was through my school, I don't totally know how to happen, but one audition crossed my desk in high school. And this story is kind of, if anyone, like, you know, whatever, wanted to know, this story is available. But I, um, an audition for Sofia Coppola was doing A Little Mermaid.

• 24:56Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 24:56Speaker 01

  And, uh, I really wanted to audition for it and, and I really protested and, uh, did my version of rebellion. To make sure that I, I could and I did and I ended up going through like a long audition process for it, like a year long. And then the movie ended up not happening, but, um, that was my first audition. And then my next auditions were for drama schools. And I auditioned for all of them and a ton of them. And then, when I was in drama school, I was kind of like sneaking out at lunch breaks, trying to audition for other things, because I was determined to be fiercely independent. And, uh, I, uh, and then my thing, I think, well, the next audition I remember was for the first part I ever got. I, I think there were many more before then that I didn't get that I don't remember, thank God.

• 25:38Josh Horowitz?

  And that's Little Women, I assume we're gonna get that.

• 25:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, Little Women.

• 25:41Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, can we revel for a moment the fact that we never got to see Sofia Coppola's Little Mermaid? I'm sorry, that's, that's crazy.

• 25:47Speaker 01

  I know, it would've been really cool.

• 25:48Josh Horowitz?

  It wasn't a musical, it was...

• 25:49Speaker 01

  No, she was also gonna, like, do it in many ways inspired by the original myth. Like, it was gonna be a darker and, and really, I mean, in, in some ways, I'm glad that it didn't happen, because I had a lot of really wonderful life experiences that might not have happened if that had. You know, that, I mean, that's a little bit of a rocket ship to the moon, that I'm, you know, I mean, hindsight's always golden. You know, um, that I'm kind of, in some ways, glad it didn't happen. But I also would love to see that movie, even if I didn't get to be in it. And, and, and would've loved to be in it, let's be very clear.

• 26:24Josh Horowitz?

  So, okay, you mentioned, yeah, I'm applying to drama schools, you're like, kind of throwing that away, but you got into Juilliard, you went to Juilliard, correct?

• 26:31Speaker 01

  For one year, but, so that I don't, I, it's, um, not a good thing to brag about when you only went for one year and it's a four-year program, but I did go.

• 26:38Josh Horowitz?

  But that was your choice, it wasn't like they said, "See ya, Maya."

• 26:41Speaker 01

  It was complicated, they have really, um, strict policies about working and being in school. And I took a job thinking it wouldn't interfere, Little Women, and it did interfere. And so it was some mutual...

• 26:51Josh Horowitz?

  Got it.

• 26:51Speaker 01

  Um, mutual, some, a mutual parting of words.

• 26:54Josh Horowitz?

  So when you go into those auditions and you get, for instance, Little Women playing Joe, choice part in this great production, I mean, you're a smart person. You know your name, expectations, walking into a room. Like, did you feel that, especially in the early auditions? Now, you've obviously amassed this body of work. You walk in, you're your own person, you're Maya Hawke. But early on, I would imagine there, you know, that follows you into an audition room in the early days, or did you not feel that?

• 27:21Speaker 01

  I think it's actually like, sort of started to cumulatively follow and affect me more now than it did at the time. I think I did feel something of that at the time, but I was so confident. And, like, and I felt so scrappy and so confident and really unencumbered and really like, this is gonna be great. Like, I don't know, it's like, I'm gonna devour the world, you know? And, and I think over time, and I also hadn't ever gotten any feedback, you know? I hadn't really been with anyone who was like, oh, this, oh. And so, I think over time, as I've gotten more feedback about that, I've kind of developed

• 28:06Speaker 01

  a more complicated relationship to the idea of what those expectations mean and hold.

• 28:09Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 28:10Speaker 01

  But, yeah, I mean, I was, I was aware of it, but I, yeah, I was, I was aware of it.

• 28:19Josh Horowitz?

  It's funny, because like, I've had so many guests on this stage or elsewhere who, whose parents were well-known actors, whether it's John David Washington was here, and Lily Rose Depp, and Jack Quaid. And if anything, the common conversation topic when this comes up is, they almost felt like they had to overcompensate and like, work harder because there was a sense from some people that you're, you're skating by. You're like, oh no, I'm gonna outwork you just to show you that's...

• 28:43Speaker 01

  I say this not as a criticism to anyone who has said that, but I think the idea that you have to work harder is crazy.

• 28:50Josh Horowitz?

  Well, you shouldn't, absolutely.

• 28:52Speaker 01

  Well, no, what I mean, not that you shouldn't, I mean, that it is easier. Like, you don't have to work harder.

• 28:59Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 28:59Speaker 01

  I mean, I think, I have so many wonderful friends from drama school and from New York Theater. And who didn't have the luxury to come from where I come from, and it is harder.

• 29:09Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 29:09Speaker 01

  Um, you have to work hard to earn people's respect and make sure that you, you know, show up on time and do a great job and are prepared every day, but everyone should do that anyway.

• 29:20Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 29:20Speaker 01

  And, and you know, you have to care for your, for the people around you and try to share the luck that you have, but I, I definitely don't think it's harder.

• 29:32Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 29:33Speaker 01

  I think you, you do have to work hard to earn people's respect, but you always do.

• 29:36Josh Horowitz?

  Hundred percent. Okay. So let's, okay, jumping into, okay, so Little Women, big role, big production. Did you feel a comfort level or was it kind of like, where does this camera, like, how does this work? What's a mark? Like, what was your sense of comfort on that first set?

• 29:50Speaker 01

  Well, I grew up on sets.

• 29:52Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 29:52Speaker 01

  So I was, um, really comfortable. Uh, it like, I'm more comfortable on set than I am anywhere else. Certainly more comfortable than I am right here right now. Um, I, that community and world and the world of being in a big group of people who are all making something together.

• 30:08Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 30:08Speaker 01

  And, you know, the experience that I'd had in my life to understand exactly what the sound department does and exactly what props do and what set design does and how those things are different and that you can't touch your props. And, you know, that you, uh, that that's your mark and they're gonna light and you're gonna step aside after they light, after you block it and the, the rhythm of it and the pace and the snack cart and, um...

• 30:29Josh Horowitz?

  Most importantly, yeah.

• 30:30Speaker 01

  Are all like my, my total comfort zone. Um, and, and I feel really at home with it. The, the place where I started to run into feelings of discomfort and newness were in its release, in press, in, like, that's where I was like, whoa, I haven't been here. Um, you know, I, cause like I said, my parents really worked hard to keep me in private.

• 30:51Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 30:51Speaker 01

  So the outward facing, public stuff I wasn't included in, but I was included in the art making part. And so the art making part has always been my comfort zone and the outward facing part has always been my like, "Wahhh!"

• 31:02Josh Horowitz?

  So how do you get the, you're doing great. How are you?

• 31:04Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 31:07Josh Horowitz?

  I know you don't like grades, so I'm not gonna grade you, but you would get a really good grade if there was one.

• 31:11Speaker 01

  Oh, good, thank you.

• 31:12Josh Horowitz?

  But, no, how have you managed that?

• 31:13Speaker 01

  I love grades if they're As.

• 31:15Josh Horowitz?

  If they're As, okay. But, yeah, like, how, what was the switch in your mind? Like, how do you, you're obviously not, you know, falling apart here. You're hopefully okay.

• 31:24Speaker 01

  No, I'm fine.

• 31:25Josh Horowitz?

  But, like, where did that switch come from? How do you deal with the press that comes with releasing an album, being in Stranger Things, being in a Quentin Tarantino movie, etc.?

• 31:32Speaker 01

  I have no problem with it when it feels like the promotion of a thing that everyone got together to make together. Like, being here for this movie, when it feels like we're promoting this movie and saying, "Come see this movie, we all worked really hard on this. I did my little part, but thousands of people did their part and they deserved to be on the stage just as much as me, and let me tell you who they are and what they did." That, totally comfortable and fun, and talking about what the material is about and what the point we were trying to make, when it edges into feeling, "Excuse me."

• 32:04Josh Horowitz?

  We're getting personal and deep and your phone rings?

• 32:08Speaker 01

  I'm just joking. When it edges into feeling like self-promotion, is, and when it feels like you're doing press and it's not clear what you're promoting, it's like, "Wait, hold on, what am I talking about? Like, just you, uh-uh." Like, you know, and I think that that, it's a little bit old-fashioned and I definitely loops back into the way that I was raised, but I think that the line between actor and celebrity has gotten extremely blurry, and I think, you know, in some ways a celebrity is someone where their personality is what is the draw.

• 32:48Speaker 01

  And what I always wanted to be was an actor, where the work is what the draw is, not the personhood. But the industry keeps changing and you have to change with it, and understand that all of these things are getting blurred, and, you know, there are wonderful, incredible actors I admire whose personalities we all know very well. And, so, it's, I think just figuring out the footing in these changing times of social media and public personality. And also how difficult it is to get things made. And it's like, you know, where it's like, I don't care about Instagram. Instagram sucks. Right, but just so you know, if you have over this many followers, you can get the money movie funded.

• 33:28Speaker 01

  Well, I want to make the movie, so I, you know, like, it's, it's a really confusing line to walk. And I've talked to so many smart directors who tell me that they get a, you know, I like, I'm talking to them 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 that I need to cast around you. So like, you know, and so there's a, it's confusing. And I find, I'm, I'm thinking out loud with you right now, you know, I think this will be a lifelong question for me.

• 34:06Josh Horowitz?

  And then we have like, you know, a filmmaker who probably doesn't have access to social media or even a, an Apple phone, iPhone, Quentin Tarantino. And you're on a set like that where that's, I've talked to many actors that have obviously worked with Quentin. And it feels like that's like the, that's heaven. That's kind of like where you want to be as an actor.

• 34:26Speaker 01

  Well, yeah, I mean, there are these few directors, maybe there's 10 of them, who have reputations that are vast enough and have shown how well they can work and what they can do, that they get given a lot of freedom and a lot of privacy. And they don't have to have a thousand, like, extra BTS guys, like, taking footage and asking you to, like, make a video of you peeling your orange on the side of the set. You know, you can really focus and sit there and make a film with them. And I've been privileged enough to really work with three in my life. I got to work with, uh, three sets that were like this. I got to work with Quentin, I got to work with Bradley Cooper, and I got to work with Wes Anderson.

• 35:05Speaker 01

  And all of them have this extreme sanctity to their set, where walking onto that set is like walking into church. It's, you can hear crickets, nobody speaks, you're rolling on film. It's extremely focused and extremely celebratory at the same time. Like, it's not overly snooty, serious. It's raucous, but it's raucous in the direction of the work and centered on the work. And, um, and I don't know any actor who wouldn't want to work on that kind of set, much less with auteur directors of that caliber, of caliber of excellence. But even just to be, get to be on a set like that is church.

• 35:43Josh Horowitz?

  There's one filmmaker you didn't mention, and I understand. And why, because it was it was a smaller piece of time, but Brady Corbe directed one of your music.

• 35:51Speaker 01

  Oh, my god, yeah, I also didn't mention my dad. I mean, there's a don't no one be offended by my list. I didn't mention my dad, who also had a very church like on the movie that we made together Wildcat. But, um, yeah, Brady Corbe.

• 36:02Josh Horowitz?

  That jumped out at me. I mean, obviously, folks have probably seen The Brudos by now. If you haven't, you need to check it out. It's unbelievable.

• 36:08Speaker 01

  I'm obsessed with Brady.

• 36:10Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 36:10Speaker 01

  He's a genius. He and one of the things that's most genius about him, not to mention like the story and the quality of that work and film and the performances. But for what he made it for. And, you know, it's even back to this conversation about producers and budgets and these conversations. He's the sort of person who says, this is what I want to make. This is who I want to make it with and what I want it to be about and what I want to shoot on. How much money can I have to do exactly what I want? And if the number is lower than he would want it to be, he doesn't compromise and say, oh, well, then I won't do what I want. Okay, then I'll give this up. He's like, okay, I'll figure out how to do it for that.

• 36:48Speaker 01

  And it's an inspiration and it's it's, you know, I think for not that what he made it for was a low amount of money. But it's a lower amount of money than most films that get nominated for Best Picture. And for young filmmakers going into this industry and thinking about wanting to tell their story and thinking, how am I ever going to raise twenty million dollars to make my masterpiece? You could raise ten, you know, like there is a it's there's possibility in that you can make things, you know, if you have the spirit to do so. And with my music video, he Brady, I think you were going this way, right? Brady directed Teres. And, you know, he made that music video for like two dollars and a mug.

• 37:31Speaker 01

  And and he was like, let's do it. This is what I want to make. This is what we have to make it. We're going to make it. And we shot in the woods at like the back of my dad's yard and we were hanging up flashlights from trees and reflecting them with mirrors. And everyone was doing us a favor and especially him to me. But and it was an one of my favorite filming experiences of my life and that felt like church and like a party.

• 37:59Josh Horowitz?

  Slightly larger budget on Stranger Things, safe to say.

• 38:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:04Josh Horowitz?

  Is there anything that you wish you'd known prior to signing on to Stranger Things that you could have told Maya a few years back? I mean, it seems like, you know, you know what you're getting into. It's already a huge success.

• 38:16Josh Horowitz?

  I don't know, was there any kind of sticker shock or surprise about the way the production was done that you wish you had known?

• 38:22Speaker 01

  Nothing had prepared me for working on a character that didn't have an end. You know, it's a, when you're working on even something like Little Women that I did for the BBC, which is three-episode arc, or any sort of film, you can track your character from, or a play, from beginning, middle to end. Where do I start? Where do I have to end up? What has to happen to me to get me from this beginning person to this end person, to be on this journey? And I wish I could have talked to myself about learning that it can't be about that, that it has to be putting your boots on every day and trying to make something magical happen that's worth watching,

• 39:00Speaker 01

  and go blindly into the unknown, a little bit like life, of not knowing exactly where your character is gonna end up, you know? That, and just trying to pursue it with love and openness. Because I spent, I wasted a lot of time in my first season being like, "But how am I gonna do this scene if I don't understand what's gonna happen in the next episode? And I'm just totally confused and freaking out and you have to explain it to me and blah." And I, I could have saved myself a lot of time and Matt and Ross a lot of, "Well, you know, if, if I had, if I had understood that better."

• 39:33Josh Horowitz?

  It must be, though, a source of pride that it's such a large ensemble on that show. And one of, and one of the, I mean, true achievements that the Duffers have done and the whole directors and writers on that show is serving that entire ensemble pretty damn well.

• 39:47Speaker 01

  Oh, my god, yes.

• 39:50Josh Horowitz?

  But the fact that your character in particular, like, you know, became among many a fan favorite. I mean, what does that mean to you when you hear folks that really adore Robin as much as they do? What's, how is that meaningful for you?

• 40:01Speaker 01

  Well, it means a lot to me because I love TV. Even as I said, I didn't know how to act in a TV show, I certainly know how to watch them. And, and I, I, I love them and I, you know... It's always difficult when you love a story and characters and they bring in a new character and the new character inevitably because you only have, you know, thirty to forty minutes of episode time makes you spend less time with the characters you love. And sometimes you're happy and usually you're not. And, um, so I was really nervous about distracting from what had already made the show so special and what people had fallen in love with.

• 40:43Speaker 01

  And I didn't quite get at the time that a part of the Duffer Brothers' method is to bring in new energy every season. I mean, you know, they did that with Sadie Sinkin' in season two, but I didn't quite see the way in which they were doing that, like that that was a part of it. Um, and so I, I was really nervous about it and they do it so well. And I feel similarly, you know, to Inside Out Two, Stranger Things, when you're a part of something that works, you're just so lucky. Like, it's so relaxing to be a part of something that works where it, the creators of it understand its heartbeat and know how to, you know, they're like watchmakers and they know how

• 41:25Speaker 01

  to tighten each gear on the watch so that it runs smoothly and keeps the time. And you just have to come in and play your part and, you know, try to hit the notes right, try not to slam on the note that's out of key, you know. But, uh, so it's just beautiful and I was so moved to get to the point that you were making. I was so moved to feel accepted by the fanbase and continue to be so. And, you know, even when we just went and filmed this past season, which no one's seen yet, every day was on my mind of, am I serving the story? Am I serving the people who love the show? Am I, you know, dedicating myself to what, what they come here to feel?

• 42:05Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 42:06Speaker 01

  Um, and that's the guiding light every day is like, what do they come here to feel?

• 42:12Josh Horowitz?

  I know you're very good at watching TV. I don't know how good you are at watching yourself on TV, but I have a clip. I'm gonna show a clip.

• 42:17Speaker 01

  Oh, okay, I can handle it.

• 42:18Josh Horowitz?

  You can handle it? I just noticed your eyes went really shut.

• 42:21Speaker 01

  No, I'm, I'm, I'm a huge egomaniac, let's go.

• 42:24Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, this is a scene that we've all probably seen many times, but it's a wonderful scene between you and the wonderful Joe Keery, Robin essentially coming out to Joe.

• 42:32Speaker 01

  Awesome.

• 42:33Josh Horowitz?

  Here we go.

• 42:41Speaker 04

  Listen to me, Steve. I'm not like your other friends.

• 42:44Speaker 05

  Robin, that's exactly why I like you.

• 42:47Speaker 04

  Do you remember what I said about Clicks class? About me being jealous?

• 42:51Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 42:52Speaker 04

  It isn't because I had a crush on you.

• 42:57Speaker 04

  It's because she wouldn't stop staring at you. Tammy Thompson. I wanted her to look at me.

• 43:05Speaker 04

  But she couldn't pull her eyes away from you and your stupid hair. And I didn't understand because you were a douchebag. And you didn't even like her. And I would go home and just scream into my pillow.

• 43:25Speaker 05

  Tammy Thompson's a girl.

• 43:28Speaker 04

  Steve.

• 43:31Speaker 05

  Oh, holy shit.

• 43:34Speaker 04

  Yeah. Holy shit.

• 43:45Josh Horowitz?

  What do you remember about shooting that? Did you feel a special weight to that moment?

• 43:49Speaker 01

  I remember everything about shooting that. I mean, I remember the weeks that led up to shooting that scene. I will always be so grateful to the brothers for writing me that scene and for writing that monologue the way that they did. We had so many different conversations about, you know, like, does it make sense for Steve to react so open? Like, in this time period and in this location? And like, and does it make sense for Robin to be so, like, open, even as it's difficult to say? And of course, we have the truth serum, which does help. And kind of, we had these conversations about the idea that the truth serum somehow also brings out the best in you?

• 44:34Speaker 01

  Like, actually goes to the real truth of all of our deep compassion for each other when we are surrounded by each other, no matter what our past conditioning has taught us to believe about anybody?

• 44:49Speaker 01

  And I remember sitting on, I remember going into that bathroom and someone suggesting that we just sit on the floor and figuring out that he could slide under the thing. And I remember being so surprised how few takes we did because we did so many takes, we do so many takes on that show, so many takes. But funnily enough, the dialogue scenes that are just straight dialogue usually take fewer takes than the really complicated cinematography that the Duffers are extraordinary at, those take more and more. But a scene like this, they really just are like, "Let us know when you're done. Like, we trust you, you know these characters, let us know when you're done."

• 45:31Speaker 01

  And that's such a generous thing to do and it was such a moving scene to film and an even more moving scene to have come out into the world.

• 45:39Josh Horowitz?

  I don't know if I'm emotionally prepared for the final season, am I? Are we all ready for it? Because I feel like the cast has talked already about how emotional they got, you guys got, making it. Did it feel especially momentous? I mean, some of these folks have been, literally, we've seen them grow up.

• 45:55Speaker 01

  I know. It's like, boyhood.

• 46:00Speaker 01

  I don't know if you can be emotionally prepared. I, I'm not emotionally prepared, both for the ending of these characters and these stories and for the ending of this chapter in my life, you know? I mean, if you could see the tears that were shed in the last few weeks of filming, they were like overwhelming. In fact, I even think I learned something about acting, filming the last scene of the show about being emotionally present and, like, you know, the kind of thing where you always know what you're supposed to be doing, but you don't actually, you're not actually doing it, and then all of a sudden you lock into something and you're like, "Oh, this is how you do it. This is what I was telling other people to do. I get it now." And, but I don't know, I don't know.

• 46:44Speaker 01

  Depends on where it sits in your heart, you know? But it's gonna, definitely gonna be something.

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• 48:23Josh Horowitz?

  We haven't even talked about your, your music career, which is a huge part of your life.

• 48:32Speaker 01

  Touched on Brady.

• 48:33Josh Horowitz?

  Well, yes, we did, we did. But talk to me a little bit about, like, is that, even when you're shooting, like, does that, does that stop and start? Or is it an everyday thing? Is music a part of your life?

• 48:42Speaker 01

  Music is and always has been a part of my life every day. The, what stops and starts is where it sits in terms of my career. And kind of, this links back to what we were talking about, about press and self-promotion. I think there's something, because, you know, you put, even though a bunch of people work on a record, you're... It might be a little more like directing a film, actually, but because a bunch of people work on it, you put your name on the cover. And then the act of promoting it kind of falls on you alone, and it does start to border on what feels to me like self-promotion, which does make me uncomfortable. But I'm always writing music and always making music and in and finding new and different ways to have it be a part of my career.

• 49:27Josh Horowitz?

  Does, does the acting work inform the music? Like, is the next album gonna be informed by the year of shooting Stranger Things 5? Or is it a totally different kind of?

• 49:36Speaker 01

  I think it probably will be. I mean, like, what I, how I talk about it is like, if you know how you have an outlet on the wall, and it's got like, three different little plugs? But it's all coming from the same power source?

• 49:49Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 49:50Speaker 01

  It's like, you can plug music in, you can plug acting in, you can plug painting in. It's all coming from the same source, and there are different outlets to express it. And I, I feel like more and more people are being interdisciplinary artists these days for a variety of reasons. But I, a lot of which have to do with that one of the only ways to survive in this career these days is to generate your own work. Waiting around for someone to send you a great life-changing script is not necessarily the path anymore. So, that's an aspect of it. But they really speak to each other and inform each other because both are asking you to

• 50:31Speaker 01

  dive deeper into yourself, and to, to know yourself better, and to identify your feelings. And, yeah, so I'm just kind of always in the practice of doing that. But it's nice that I can do music at home.

• 50:41Josh Horowitz?

  It's all, you know, sure. And it's also, though, I mean, it's also exposing yourself in a, in a different way. I mean, again, I think back, I remember when your dad was like, writing books at first, and poetry at first, and he, he got a lot of flack at first, I feel like. People were like, what's this actor doing, writing a novel?

• 50:58Speaker 01

  He got so much flack. I feel like people get little less flack.

• 51:01Josh Horowitz?

  I do now.

• 51:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:03Josh Horowitz?

  He kind of suffered through for the rest of us.

• 51:05Speaker 01

  Pioneer.

• 51:06Josh Horowitz?

  Exactly.

• 51:07Speaker 01

  A multi-hyphenate pioneer.

• 51:08Josh Horowitz?

  But do you feel more exposed, you know, releasing an album than you do, as you said, like, when you're in Inside Out 2, this is, a thousand people worked on this, and you are one very important component of it. You said just now, music is a collaborative art form, but still, you're writing these songs, you're the face of it.

• 51:24Speaker 01

  Well, you sometimes have to be the face of it.

• 51:25Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah. Yeah.

• 51:27Speaker 01

  Um, it, does it feel more exposing? Sometimes the nature of questions that people feel entitled to ask, feel like based on the window that you've opened to like, but putting it out doesn't like, i- i- you know, in every performance, I hide personal secrets and, and truths about myself and, you know, like for, Robin, for example, has so many different chapters of journeys of where I was in my relationship to myself at any one time are, are packed into that character and that story. And, you know, in, inside out too, anxiety is, um, is the little voice that talks to me in my head and tells me I'm not doing a good job. And like even to the point to which, like sometimes when I'm making fun of myself where I'm like,

• 52:11Speaker 01

  oh, you know, it's just really funny because I have this funny spot on my leg and it's just like a weird little red spot. And I'm sure that it's nothing or just a dang run hair or something, but I'm really worried about it and I'm thinking I should probably go to the doctor, right? Because also my hip hurts and those two things might be connected, don't you think, maybe? Um, like that's kind of how I'm, let people in my life know that I'm self-aware, that I'm being insane, you know, was that voice and then I lent it to this character. And so there's personal stuff everywhere. Um, and, uh, and in the music as well. The eye of songwriting, I think, opens up people's feeling of ability to say, well, is this about that? Is that character this person, this, is this, especially if you're like a public person, like,

• 52:55Speaker 01

  is this song about this other famous person that I'm interested in? You know, like that whole thing, ugh, not into that. I know that it's done very good for a lot of people's careers, but, ugh. Um, so I, uh, I, um, yeah, anyway. So it is more vulnerable, but it also isn't like the, the final product isn't more vulnerable. The process of promoting it is.

• 53:17Josh Horowitz?

  We were talking backstage, you have another big moment coming up. We're gonna be able to see Maya onstage, acting onstage for the first time very soon.

• 53:26Speaker 01

  Very exciting.

• 53:26Josh Horowitz?

  This spring in New York. Has that been on the list for a while, or you must be looking forward to this?

• 53:32Speaker 01

  I think every single year since I left school, I was like, alright, this year I'm gonna do a play. You know, I'm like, this is what I need to do, and for a variety of reasons, it hasn't happened yet, but it's been, it's what I wanted to do with my life, you know? And so it means so much to me that I get to be doing it now, and that I get to do this play by this extraordinary playwright, Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice. She's amazing, a playwright of our generation, and this is one of her greatest plays, and I feel really lucky to be getting to put it back up on its feet at the Signature, no less, which is a really special theater to me from my life. My dad has done a lot of plays there, so I've hung out backstage there and seen a lot of

• 54:14Speaker 01

  plays there, in some ways because of its partnership with Juilliard. I got to go see tons of plays there when I was there, and it's a very special theater to me, so it's a fabulous cocktail, and I am debilitatingly nervous, but also extremely excited.

• 54:30Josh Horowitz?

  We'll be there to support, don't you worry.

• 54:32Speaker 01

  Thank you. I hope to see you all there.

• 54:34Josh Horowitz?

  We will all be there, right, guys? Yeah. Okay. What causes you anxiety on a film set?

• 54:42Speaker 01

  Other people being late, me being late, fear of going up on my lines, going up on my lines, other people going up on their lines, and a lack of clarity about the plan, actually, is probably the best, like, what are we doing? What are we doing? Like, I've been waiting for two hours, what's happening? Do you need me? Am I being useless? Like, and is there a plan? And what's the shot, like, what's the, I like, as much as anyone I'm working with will read me in to the day, the calmer I feel. And I can, I can work a pretty infinite amount of hours if I understand what I'm working

• 55:23Speaker 01

  on and why I am doing it, and I really hit roadblocks when I am being asked to do things I don't understand. And I'm working on that, for people who might be considering hiring me. I am trying to get better at doing things I don't understand, but that's, that's where anxiety comes up.

• 55:41Josh Horowitz?

  You said you're really good at watching TV. What are you watching? Do you watch every kind of show, or do you have a?

• 55:46Speaker 01

  It might be my like absolute like addiction and fear of the news and my feeling that like I need to be paying attention, but also that like attention is actually what is being wanted from me, from the people who have learned to monetize fear and attention and like use it to their benefit, even if you're upset about it. And that kind of confusion has definitely gotten me into a role of like when I feel, if I've already looked at the news enough and I feel like I've taken in all the information and anything more I would be doing would just be like fear, like allowing my own little fear rabbit to go. So, once I've reached that point, I've been really interested, I've been really enjoying

• 56:28Speaker 01

  watching political shows, which is insane, but like I loved The Diplomat this year. It's so good. And then after loving The Diplomat, I went back and watched the two great Aaron Sorkin news shows that I had never watched of The West Wing and The Newsroom, which has been my like, huh, wow, loving that. And it's a great refuge to pretend that we live like that still, like that we get to have their problems. I mean, not that they don't have problems, they have problems, but I like their problems a little more. So, that's what I've been watching lately and also Madam Secretary. And I'm trying to think if there's anything else. But yeah, I've been trying to keep up with the Oscar movies and getting ready to have

• 57:10Speaker 01

  an opinion and also enjoying some political-esque soap opera energy.

• 57:18Josh Horowitz?

  So, any early opinions or not early at this point, but 2024 movie opinions? You're an Oscar nominee via Inside Out 2. Any other films you're rooting for?

• 57:27Speaker 01

  I mean, as I said about Brady as my friend and if I had a vote, which hopefully someday I will have, I would vote for him.

• 57:34Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, we're gonna end with the happy, second-fused, profoundly-random questions.

• 57:38Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 57:39Josh Horowitz?

  Here we go.

• 57:40Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 57:41Josh Horowitz?

  Are you a dog or a cat person?

• 57:42Speaker 01

  Dog, but I love cats. If they liked me better, I would be a cat person.

• 57:47Josh Horowitz?

  They don't respond well to you, they're...

• 57:49Speaker 01

  I'm too needy. The dogs are right for me. I come to them and they're like, "Oh, you're here! We're so excited to see you!" And the cats are like, "You seem like you have a lot of energy and like, you want more from me than I want from you, and that's fine."

• 58:03Josh Horowitz?

  Imbalance in this relationship.

• 58:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:05Josh Horowitz?

  You should be, yeah, okay. What do you collect, if anything?

• 58:08Speaker 01

  I was a kid, I collected glass animals. I now collect tour lanyards from concerts that I go to, and my friends' art.

• 58:19Josh Horowitz?

  You have a treasured lanyard. What's the tour that you really...

• 58:23Speaker 01

  Era's Tour.

• 58:25Josh Horowitz?

  Nice. Favorite video game of all time. Did you ever go through a video game phase?

• 58:31Speaker 01

  Uh, did I ever go through a video game phase? Uh, yeah, I had a Nintendo and I liked, uh... Wait, no, why now?

• 58:42Josh Horowitz?

  Why?

• 58:43Speaker 01

  Okay, well, I liked this one game that was, uh, where you could take care of dogs digitally. Um, who, what? Nintendo Dogs. Nintendo Dogs! Um, yes, I like Nintendo Dogs a lot. You like, you like, get your puppies and you like, bathe them and you make them do shows and you get points and, and I liked that game a lot. I played this one video game that I also don't know the name of that I loved. It was like a mystery and you were like a detective in a hat and you traveled through a town and you had to solve the mystery by solving riddles. I loved that. Um, and I also like Mario and, but I was never a big video game person and a big, no-violent video game person.

• 59:20Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 59:21Speaker 01

  Um, my brother recently put, like, those Oculus goggles on me and tried to teach me how to play like a gun game. He was like, "Mia, you're a grown-up now. Like, you can be, like, you're not, don't even be such a baby." And I was like, "Okay." So I like, put on the Oculus and I'm playing the gun game and I'm like, and he's like, "Okay, now you've like, you gotta grab the knife out of the air." And I'm like, "Okay, knife grabbed." And then, and he's like, "Okay, and now you've gotta slash it." And I was like, "Okay, slashed. All right, I'm in, I'm doing okay." And then he's like, "All right, now you just have to throw it at that guy." And I was like, "Okay," and I threw the, um, the console, um, all the way across the room and like, but you're also in the goggles and you're like, "Where did it go?"

• 1:00:00Speaker 01

  So, anyway, not a huge video game person, but I do, and I now I'm addicted to games on my phone. Like, I like the wa- there's like a fruit game where you like turn smaller fruits into larger fruits and then they explode. Um, I like that game a lot. I have a really high score. It's in the upward eight thousands if anyone is, else is playing.

• 1:00:20Josh Horowitz?

  Would you rather be four feet taller or four feet shorter?

• 1:00:25Speaker 01

  God, neither.

• 1:00:28Speaker 01

  I, I would rather be four feet shorter, I think. I mean, am I, no, that's not a question I'm gonna ask. I, uh, I would rather be four feet shorter with the hopes that the people that I love might be able to put me in a backpack.

• 1:00:41Josh Horowitz?

  Oh, that's sweet.

• 1:00:42Speaker 01

  And carry me around, and that more places that are uncomfortable for tall people would be comfortable for me.

• 1:00:47Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:47Speaker 01

  Like-

• 1:00:48Josh Horowitz?

  You thought this through.

• 1:00:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:49Josh Horowitz?

  Good job.

• 1:00:49Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 1:00:50Josh Horowitz?

  Um, what's the wallpaper on your phone?

• 1:00:53Speaker 01

  Uh, me and my boyfriend.

• 1:00:56Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, do you ever get mistaken for another actor? Last actor you were mistaken for?

• 1:00:59Speaker 01

  My mother.

• 1:01:01Josh Horowitz?

  Really?

• 1:01:02Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:01:03Josh Horowitz?

  How does that go down? What, like, literally?

• 1:01:05Speaker 01

  Like, literally, people, I guess who just like haven't checked the world in twenty years. Um, like, I have, I have walked down the street and someone be like, "Boy," like, I've had kids be like, "You were so good in Pulp Fiction." Like, thinking that, like, they'd just watched this movie that just came out.

• 1:01:25Josh Horowitz?

  Time froze, yeah.

• 1:01:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, I've, uh, and I've also had, like, older people be like, "I loved you and that." Like, and it may be like, "Yeah, it's an honor." Um, and, uh, so that is the person I'm most commonly mistaken for.

• 1:01:38Josh Horowitz?

  Amazing.

• 1:01:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:01:39Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, what's the worst note a director has ever given you?

• 1:01:43Speaker 01

  Uh, a director told me, actually, I think it was a producer, but they were in cahoots. Told me that I looked prettier with my mouth closed. And that I should close my mouth after I speak more often. Now, if you watch any of my performances, you will see I do, I am kind of a mouth breather. Like, I do, I do often let my mouth hang open. But depending on what character I'm playing, because I feel like jaw tension and mouth tension is so important to express what kind of person you are. And some people have a very tight mouth, you know? They really work on keeping their, their "mm", and they don't smile with their "mm", um, you know?

• 1:02:24Speaker 01

  They're really like, um, and some people are like, "Oh, hey, so good to see you, man", like, "Oh, I'm just having a good day out here", you know? And so like, where, where you leave that, I think, is really important. And, uh, and I was really upset about being told that I should close my mouth or to look prettier, because I was playing a character that was like distinctly unselfconscious. Like, that, that was a trait of the character, that they didn't care about looking pretty and they were unselfconscious, and so it was clearly just like a desire of the aesthetic of the thing, and I was annoyed about it.

• 1:02:57Josh Horowitz?

  Did you make it known you were annoyed, or you just?

• 1:02:59Speaker 01

  I mean, you've talked to me for thirty minutes, what do you think?

• 1:03:02Josh Horowitz?

  You did, you did, you said something.

• 1:03:06Josh Horowitz?

  And finally, in the spirit of happy sad confused, an actor that always makes you happy. You see them on screen, you're happier.

• 1:03:13Speaker 01

  Alice in Jany.

• 1:03:14Josh Horowitz?

  Good one, okay. West Wing on the mind?

• 1:03:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, I just connected the dots. But, but Always.

• 1:03:19Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, movie that makes you sad, Always?

• 1:03:23Speaker 01

  Uh, Family Stone.

• 1:03:25Josh Horowitz?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:03:25Speaker 01

  Happy sad, happy sad, but I don't like watching movies that make you sad, sad, sad. I will if they've been like nominated for awards and everyone tells me that I have to. But I really, I, I'll take happy sad, but I don't want to be sad, sad, sad, sad, sad.

• 1:03:41Josh Horowitz?

  And finally, a food that makes you confused. You don't get it.

• 1:03:44Speaker 01

  Whoa.

• 1:03:45Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:45Speaker 01

  Fun. Um, food that makes me confused. I mean, food doesn't befuddle me that often.

• 1:03:52Josh Horowitz?

  You see this on a menu. Like, why would anybody find that appealing?

• 1:03:56Speaker 01

  Like weird parts of animals, like, but I get, like, those are also just cultural. Like, it's not, like, it doesn't have to be confusing to me. Like, how, how could they possibly eat the chicken neck of those weirdos? Like, they do. Like, I don't, I eat the chicken leg. Like, that's not...

• 1:04:12Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, that's no weirder.

• 1:04:13Speaker 01

  We're all talking about the chicken. Uh, so I don't know what makes me confu... I really, I'm just not befuddled by food. I just, I love food. I love trying new things. When, not, things don't gross me out that easily. I'm not easily grossed out. And I, and sometimes I don't like things, but I'm excited to try it and, and to understand a new experience. Um, so, maybe I'll think of something in a minute.

• 1:04:39Josh Horowitz?

  No, don't. You say yes to life. You say yes to food. Maya Hawke.

• 1:04:43Speaker 01

  I say yes to food.

• 1:04:44Josh Horowitz?

  We love that about you, among other things. Uh, we also love this movie. Look at that segue. Inside Out 2. I, I don't need to say this, but you can spread the good word if you want. If there's someone on the planet that doesn't know about this movie, where have they been? It's an amazing, it's a beautiful piece of work, as Pixar always delivers. And congratulations on joining the Pixar family. This is a special one.

• 1:05:04Speaker 01

  God, I'd love to get to stay a part of it. Thank you.

• 1:05:06Josh Horowitz?

  I'm sure you will. Uh, thanks, guys, so much for coming out tonight.

• 1:05:09Speaker 01

  Thank you all.

• 1:05:10Josh Horowitz?

  Maya Hawke, everybody. We're seeing her on Off Broadway very soon, right? Okay, good.

• 1:05:16Speaker 01

  It's Off Broadway, but yes.

• 1:05:26Speaker 02

  And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh.

• 1:05:45Speaker 06

  What if the imaginary world you created as a child became real and wanted you back? That's the mystery at the heart of sagas of sundry Darkling Gate, a cinematic Call of Cthulhu actual play series where Jane Austen's social drama collides with cosmic horror. The year is 1816, the year without a summer. Three siblings and their companion are Drawn to a gloomy country estate beside an ancient forest in the English countryside. In its darkened halls, memories of the fanciful Wonderland created by their dead brother begin manifesting in increasingly terrifying ways.

• 1:06:21Speaker 02

  Expect ballroom courtships, dangerous family secrets, strange relics, occult rituals, and horrors no human mind was ever meant to comprehend.

• 1:06:30Speaker 00

  If you like Gothic mysteries, Regency romance, immersive role-playing, horror that follows you long after the story ends, step through the Darkling Gate.

• 1:06:41Speaker 06

  Watch on Geek and Sundry's YouTube channel, or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.