Ethan Hawke Film Made in KY Has a Distributor and Will Be Released in 2024

From the spring of 2022 through the 2023 winter months, Kentucky was hopping as a Hollywood backdrop.

Filmmakers were and are taking advantage of a tax credit far too good to pass up; getting a movie in under budget supersedes everything. And that is what the Kentucky Entertainment Incentive helps to accomplish...SAVING MONEY.

Ethan Hawke Film Wildcat Was Shot in Kentucky Last Winter

In November of '22, Ethan Hawke arrived in Kentucky to scout locations for a new film entitled--appropriately enough--Wildcat. But tap the brakes. While that's a fitting name for ANY movie shot in the Commonwealth, this period piece has nothing to do with basketball. No it's about Georgia-born novelist and short story writer Flannery O'Connor as she tries to get her first novel Wise Blood published. The film stars Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Laura Linney, Emmy nominee and Georgetown KY resident Steve Zahn, and Hawke's daughter Maya Hawke (Stranger Things) as Flannery O'Connor. Here's an early look.

Kentucky Filming Locations for Ethan Hawke's Wildcat

Wildcat was filmed in Shelbyville, Frankfort, and in the St. James Court area of Louisville. Scenes at the latter location were shot last January.

Filmed in Kentucky, Wildcat Will Be Released Sometime in 2024

Well now, the wait is over...for those who want to see the movie, those who want to see familiar Kentucky locations, or both. Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired the rights to Wildcat and will put it into limited release on May 3rd, 2024 when it will open in New York City and Los Angeles. Deadline says that a national rollout will follow, but THAT date has yet to be determined.

While filming, Ethan Hawke fell in love with Kentucky and was a big hit everywhere he went. Here he is with Shelby County's judge executive:

Here he is with Steve Zahn shooting in one of the most beautiful sections of Louisville. I've been there many times.

He also made time for some fans in Frankfort...and someone's thumb, it looks like.

We wish Ethan Hawke and his crew success with the film and certainly hope his newfound affinity for the Bluegrass State brings him back here for more.