Before Maya Hawke rose to her own Hollywood stardom, appearing in Stranger Things, she had a small role in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. With her mother, Uma Thurman, knowing a thing or two about working with the director, she gave her daughter some advice based on a longstanding speculation.
“Keep your shoes on,” revealed Hawke when she appeared on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast about what her mother, who had appeared in three Tarantino movies, warned her about.
Thurman’s tongue-in-cheek warning pokes fun at the speculation of the director’s well-known fondness for filming women’s feet, turning motherly wisdom into a moment of Hollywood humor.
Even Poehler couldn’t hold back her laughs while repeating Thurman’s words, and ultimately said it was “perfect advice” to give.
It’s been a longstanding rumor of Tarantino’s apparent fetish that has been fueled by multiple scenes in some of his most iconic films. Fans may recall the “wiggle your big toe” scene in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 with a close-up shot of Thurman’s feet after her character wakes up from a coma, paralyzed.
Pulp Fiction also has close-up shots of Thurman’s bare feet after she kicks off her shoes for the dance scene, and when reclining on the couch. Zoë Bell and Vanessa Ferlito’s feet were also highlighted in Death Proof, as well as there being scenes in Jackie Brown.
When it comes to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, where Hawke played one of the Flower Girls, Margot Robbie’s feet are filmed in the movie theater scene. Margaret Qualley’s feet are also filmed in her car scene with Brad Pitt.
Tarantino hasn’t shied away from his known fascination with feet, telling GQ in 2021, “There’s a lot of feet in a lot of good directors’ movies. That’s just good direction. Like, before me, the person foot fetishism was defined by was Luis Buñuel, another film director. And Hitchcock was accused of it, and Sofia Coppola has been accused of it.”
This story was originally reported by Parade on Nov 5, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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