Hailee Steinfeld on Hawkeye, training with her dad and why she’s a Kylie Minogue megafan

Hailee Steinfeld reveals how her own dad whipped her into shape ahead of her first Marvel role and why she was “so excited” to meet “icon” Kylie Minogue.

Hailee Steinfeld says she doesn’t regret engaging her father to whip her into shape for her new Marvel TV show Hawkeye – but there were definitely times when she had second thoughts.

The Oscar-nominated actor and singer knew she was going to have to be freakishly fit to play Kate Bishop, a martial arts expert and archer extraordinaire who is first starstruck by and then teams up with Jeremy Renner’s much loved secret agent Clint Barton – aka Hawkeye – as he confronts enemies from his shady Avengers past. So given her father Peter is a personal trainer, where better to start than close to home?

“Here’s the thing with my dad,” Steinfeld says with a laugh. “All I had to do was tell him exactly what I wanted to achieve and he just clocked in.

“I wouldn’t say I regretted anything, but I was definitely wondering where my dad went when we were in those training sessions because he really pushed me.”

Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop in a scene from Hawkeye.

Steinfeld, 24, was just starting her acting career when Iron Man came out in 2008 and she says she’s wanted to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe ever since.

She described landing the role of Kate in the six-part series, which is part of the Phase Four of the record-breaking superhero franchise, as “surreal”, given that it now puts her in the same world as Thor, Spider-Man, the Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther, with the potential to rub shoulders with all those characters and more.

“I have always left the theatre feeling that I wanted to be in something like that,” she says. “Something so big and so epic, but that has levels and depth to it. There are so many storylines and intricately woven details throughout the MCU that constantly surprise you and excite you and I have always been really fascinated by how it’s all done.”

In the 13 years since Robert Downey Jr made his debut as Tony Stark, the MCU has expanded exponentially, with 26 films up to last month’s Eternals, and an ever broadening suite of TV tie-ins, of which Hawkeye is the fifth.

Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop and Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye in Hawkeye.

Steinfeld’s career has exploded at a similar rate. From her 2010 breakthrough role in the Coen brothers’ western True Grit, for which she was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar at the age of 13, she’s starred in the Pitch Perfect franchise, acclaimed teen comedy-drama The Edge Of Seventeen, big-budget Transformers spin-off Bumblebee and in three series of Apple TV+’s comedy Dickinson, in which she plays the title role of revered American poet, Emily Dickinson, as well as executive producing.

The beginning of Hawkeye coincides with the end of award-winning Dickinson – the final series started last month and will wrap up just before Christmas – and Steinfeld says it’s been bittersweet farewelling a show that has been so close to her heart.

She sees similarities between the 19th century poet and the aspiring Avenger – and says that both characters have helped her bring out the best in herself.

“It’s wild, the timing of things – this coming out just as that’s ending,” she says. “But I am so proud of the work we did on that show … Emily and Kate are both heroines in their own right. They both have a sense of fearlessness and fierceness to them.”

Hailee Steinfeld with brother Griffin (left), mother Cheri and personal trainer father Peter Steinfeld at Apple TV+'s Season 3 premiere of Dickinson in Los Angeles. Picture: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Hawkeye, which takes place after the events of Avengers: Endgame and focuses on a slightly befuddled Barton trying to make sense of his part in saving the universe and the attention that comes with being an Avenger, has a sly sense of fun about the nature of celebrity and fandom. When Kate encounters her hero Barton in festive season New York and ends up working alongside him, her first reaction is giddy, starstruck enthusiasm. Steinfeld can relate.

“It’s crazy what I do,” she says. “I had moments on set – like when I saw Jeremy in costume as Clint Barton I was like, ‘This is crazy … this is real … this is what I do for work’. It’s so wild – I get to go to fancy events and meet people that I have admired for a long time and it’s amazing to be able to call them my peers.”

Steinfeld had another such moment just this month, when she appeared on the same UK chat show as Kylie Minogue. As a dance-pop singer who has had chart success with songs including Love Myself and Let Me Go, Steinfeld says the evergreen Aussie artist has been a huge influence and was thrilled to be able to tell her so.

“I was so excited,” she gushes. “Kylie Minogue … I mean, she’s an icon and … I think she’s incredible. Her style, her poise, her music, the lyrics, the visuals – there is a whole lot there that I really do admire and she is so lovely.”

Hawkeye is available today on Disney+. New episodes of Dickinson air each Friday on AppleTV+.

Originally published as Hailee Steinfeld on Hawkeye, training with her dad and why she’s a Kylie Minogue megafan