Olivia Wilde Hit Bottom. Here's How She Bounced Back.

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Olivia Wilde (0:34)

You know, I used to go around being like, I don't have any regrets. I regret nothing. And it's like, you get to a point where you're like, yeah, I regret things.

David Marchese (0:44)

I'm David Marchese, and today I'm in London to talk to Olivia Wilde.

Wilde is having a big year. The Invite, the third movie she's directed, is a grown up comedy about a couple on the rocks and their sexy neighbors upstairs.

Olivia Wilde (0:58)

I think that in a relationship, it is not the aggressive rage, it is the indifference that is truly terrifying.

David Marchese (1:07)

The movie is funny, sharp, and affecting, and it feels like a reset after Wilde's previous film, Don't Worry, Darling, generated a ton of tabloid attention.

Olivia Wilde (1:17)

I think that every story needs a villain, and I was cast as said villain.

David Marchese (1:22)

She had recently split from her longtime partner, Jason Sudeikis, and was then in a relationship with Harry Styles, who also starred in Don't Worry, Darling.

Four years later, Wilde has not only pushed past all that with The Invite, she's also delivered memorable roles in two other films. Director Greg Araki's I Want Your Sex.

Olivia Wilde (1:40)

As a younger actress, you don't think that you're going to turn 40 and play a dominatrix.

David Marchese (1:47)

And the upcoming Behemoth. So how did Wilde not only survive an extremely difficult career moment, but also come out stronger from it?

Olivia Wilde (1:55)

It is by far the most difficult, painful decision I've ever made in my life.

David Marchese (2:02)

Here's my conversation with Olivia Wilde.

Olivia, hi. Hi. Thank you for being here.

Olivia Wilde (2:10)

My pleasure.

David Marchese (2:11)

I just want to say at the beginning, earlier today when we were setting up, the very lovely crew were debating whether or not the couple at the end of the invite stayed together or not.

Olivia Wilde (2:26)

That's great. That's my favorite argument to hear about.

David Marchese (2:29)

Wait, so they did, right?

Olivia Wilde (2:31)

Oh, interesting.

David Marchese (2:32)

No, the couple stayed together.

Olivia Wilde (2:33)

But it's interesting that that's your position.

David Marchese (2:36)

Yeah.

Olivia Wilde (2:37)

I will tell you, when we shot the film, I felt very strongly that they did not stay together. And Seth had the opposite opinion. He was sure that they stayed together forever. And as we've now watched the film with a bunch of audiences, I've started to actually shift. Like, my feeling about the story has been affected by the conversations I've had with audiences afterwards, where I'm like, you know, you might be right. There's hope for them.

I think I've just kind of softened.

David Marchese (3:10)

But I really like a happy ending. So can you please confirm for me that they-

Olivia Wilde (3:13)

Okay, yes, they stay together forever and ever and ever. They should make it work. They can make it work.

David Marchese (3:19)

Yeah. You know, I was also thinking about the three roles you played this year. And in The Invite and I Want Your Sex and Behemoth, which I just saw last week. And all the characters to me were very, they're like kind of very tightly wound in a way.

And I just wondered if now being a director changed how you saw yourself as an actor or like what you... Yeah, so tell me about that, how so?

Olivia Wilde (3:51)

I think that being a director freed me up to not feel this kind of pressure to be the ideal ingenue growing into the idealized female character in any film. As an actress, I felt, I think, probably wary of playing characters who could be thought of as kind of undesirable, unlikable. And then something about not needing acting to be my profession, but rather doing it for fun, because my job very much feels like it is directing. I think that now I choose roles from a much more curious place of, of a playful place that is allowing me to play people who I think I'm not overly concerned with whether they are someone I would necessarily want to be. But you're so right, I hadn't put together that these three characters are like extremely high-strung in different ways. Yeah. My character in I Want Your Sex sort of felt like she was on the opposite end of the spectrum of femininity as my character in The Invite. And it, and they're both movies dealing with the idea of sex and sexuality and desire and eroticism from two completely different perspectives.