It’s 2025, damn near 2026, and we’re back to talking about the perceived association between feet fetishism and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino.
This time around, we’re doing so thanks to some playfully delivered remarks from Stranger Things star Maya Hawke. The actress, daughter to Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, appeared in Tarantino’s acclaimed Manson-era period piece Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 2019, joining a cast led by truly inspired performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.
Asked on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast if her mother had any advice for her prior to jumping into Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Hawke swiftly offered a decidedly headlines-friendly response. Hawke’s mother Uma, notably, has starred in multiple Tarantino classics, Pulp Fiction among them.
“Keep your shoes on,” Hawke, who has also worked with other notable directors including Bradley Cooper (Maestro) and Wes Anderson (Asteroid City), told Poehler with a laugh.
The feet issue has been a long-running slice of commentary in connection with Tarantino’s work, with the director himself previously telling British GQ that he doesn’t take such commentary “seriously,” pointing to the presence of “a lot of feet” in other acclaimed filmmakers’ work.
As for Hawke, she’ll soon be seen in the final season of Netflix’s worldwide mega-hit Stranger Things. Speaking on the emotional experience of saying goodbye to her character Robin during her interview with Poehler, the actress recalled the tears-inducing experience of wrapping production.
“I actually think I learned something about acting that day and being present in your own emotion as a person and the emotion of the character and allowing those two wires to connect,” she said. “My life has been changed as an actor. The way that I act has changed since that series wrap day and it was so emotional. I cried all day long, from beginning to end, in these kind of crashing waves. I just love everybody on that show so much. It’s shaped me so much and we’ve been on such a long, complicated journey together.”
Netflix recently shared a trailer for the show's final season. Catch it below.