Good Hang with Amy Poehler

Maya Hawke

November 4, 2025

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

  • Maya Hawke and Amy Poehler bonded over their shared experience playing Joy and Anxiety in *Inside Out 2*, leading Hawke to learn the importance of giving her own anxiety a "comfy chair" rather than shutting it out. 
  • Willa Fitzgerald, who played Meg in *Little Women* with Hawke, highlighted Hawke's innate "lust for life" and infinite curiosity, which she believes was nurtured by her parents' artistic environment. 
  • Hawke views her acting and music careers as different lamps plugged into the same power source of creativity, though she finds music and performing live significantly more terrifying than acting. 

Segments

Willa Fitzgerald Interview Introduction
Copied to clipboard!
(00:00:32)
  • Key Takeaway: Willa Fitzgerald joined the ‘Good Hang with Amy Poehler’ episode to ask Maya Hawke a question about the origins of her creativity.
  • Summary: Amy Poehler introduced friend and fellow actress Willa Fitzgerald, who was calling in from Hungary, to pose a question to Maya Hawke. Fitzgerald is currently starring in the Netflix medical show Pulse and previously worked with Hawke on Little Women in 2017. The purpose of her appearance was to ask a question on behalf of the host before the main interview began.
Little Women Connection and Meg Character
Copied to clipboard!
(00:01:57)
  • Key Takeaway: Willa Fitzgerald’s personal mission playing Meg in Little Women was to bring humanity and relatability to a character often perceived as too perfect.
  • Summary: Fitzgerald and Hawke met in Ireland in 2017 while filming Little Women, where Hawke played Jo and Fitzgerald played Meg. Fitzgerald aimed to elucidate why Meg should be understood as a relatable character, especially given her classically gendered life choices which can alienate modern audiences. Their friendship formed through shared excitement about the project and connecting on artistic levels while staying near Dublin.
Contrasting Personalities and Pulse Show
Copied to clipboard!
(00:03:54)
  • Key Takeaway: Fitzgerald views herself as cautious while seeing Hawke as possessing a fearless ’lust for life’ and infinite curiosity.
  • Summary: Fitzgerald described herself as cautious, contrasting with Hawke’s adventurous spirit and verve in navigating the world. Fitzgerald revealed that Hawke encouraged her to take the role on the medical show Pulse because Hawke is a big fan of Grey’s Anatomy. Fitzgerald enjoyed the ‘purest expression of the childhood fantasy of being an actor’ while working on the medical drama, including studying medical pamphlets and watching surgery videos.
Question on Innate Creativity
Copied to clipboard!
(00:07:16)
  • Key Takeaway: Willa Fitzgerald posed a question asking if Maya Hawke’s lust for life and interest in the world is innate or cultivated by her environment.
  • Summary: Fitzgerald’s question sought to explore the nature versus nurture aspect of Hawke’s creativity, specifically asking if her worldview was innate or developed through her upbringing. Poehler praised the question for moving beyond reductive ’nepo baby’ discussions to focus on how artists introduce their children to art and the impact of growing up as a New York City kid. The segment concluded with Poehler congratulating Fitzgerald on Pulse.
Post-Premiere Joy and Anxiety Discussion
Copied to clipboard!
(00:08:58)
  • Key Takeaway: Maya Hawke finds that people feel deeply seen by her character Anxiety in Inside Out 2, often requesting personalized voice recordings to help friends or family cope with difficult times.
  • Summary: Hawke noted that the response to Inside Out 2 was uniquely positive, making her feel seen and willing to use the Anxiety voice for supportive messages, unlike other roles where she might tire of the character’s persona. Both actresses agreed that creating a film that is both a massive commercial success and genuinely good for the world is a rare achievement. Hawke learned that inviting anxiety into conversation, rather than shutting it out, is the way to calm it down.
Anxiety, Joy, and Making Space
Copied to clipboard!
(00:14:01)
  • Key Takeaway: A small gesture from Anxiety to Joy in Inside Out 2 symbolized the necessary act of making room for each other during difficult times, urging listeners to disconnect from digital bombardment.
  • Summary: The moment where Anxiety signals Joy back onto the core symbolized the need for small gestures of inclusion during chaotic times. The segment emphasized the importance of getting off phones, which bombard users with conflicting content like humor and apocalypse videos, to instead sit with each other and make space for real connection. Hawke shared that she is often called an ‘old soul,’ which she attributes to the ‘miracle window’ of her 20s offering freedom before major responsibilities.
Growing Up as a New York City Kid
Copied to clipboard!
(00:17:25)
  • Key Takeaway: Hawke’s childhood in New York City involved taking the subway to the East Village specifically to bum Marlborough Golds from intellectual types, illustrating her early independence.
  • Summary: Hawke loved growing up in NYC due to the constant exposure to diverse people and activities like visiting museums, which allowed her to explore many interests, including dead insects and rocks. She recalled an adult moment in high school when she realized she could skip math class and take the subway across town to acquire her preferred brand of cigarettes. Hawke only committed to acting in 11th grade after realizing she was good at it and found community within the theater world, despite initial fears due to her parents’ careers.
Stranger Things Series Wrap Experience
Copied to clipboard!
(00:31:01)
  • Key Takeaway: The series wrap for Stranger Things was profoundly emotional, teaching Hawke a new way to act by allowing her personal emotion to connect with her character’s emotion.
  • Summary: Hawke described series wrap as a significant moment, noting that the Duffer Brothers wrote scenes with beautiful connective tissue for the final day of shooting. This experience fundamentally changed how she acts by allowing her own life emotions to wire directly into the character’s emotion, leading to a day of crashing waves of tears. She views the Upside Down as a metaphor for the difficult emotions of the teenage years, like depression and anxiety, which the characters navigate through community and bravery.
Multi-Talented Artist: Music vs. Acting
Copied to clipboard!
(00:35:26)
  • Key Takeaway: While Hawke sees acting and music as connected expressions of storytelling, she is a much more trained and confident actor than musician, finding live performance and songwriting terrifying.
  • Summary: Hawke stated she has no favorite artistic outlet, viewing them as different lamps on the same power source of creativity. However, she feels grounded and comfortable in acting, whereas performing music live and writing lyrics terrifies her. Her fantasy is less about performing and more about the collaborative dream of writing a song with another artist.
Joy Sources and Fantasy Escapism
Copied to clipboard!
(00:43:34)
  • Key Takeaway: Hawke’s current source of joy and escapism is reading the Fourth Wing fantasy book series, which features dragon college and intense training sequences.
  • Summary: To combat anxiety, Hawke finds joy in escapism, specifically mentioning the Fourth Wing series, which she describes as romantic fantasy involving dragon riders at a war college. She also enjoys comedy TV shows like The Studio, appreciating the absurdity and the allegories in fantasy literature about unlikely communities banding together to overthrow fascist regimes.