Olivia Wilde would rather be ‘controversial than boring’

Experienced actress and director Olivia Wilde she said she doesn’t ask for your approval when she chooses a project to work on.

Appearing at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Wilde, who has been in the industry since she was 20, told the audience that while she wasn’t looking for acceptance or love from the viewer, she tackled projects with an element of uncertainty.

Wilde said she “naturally gravitated towards roles that had little risk,” which ultimately influenced the types of projects she was asked to participate in. by the Deadline.

Wilde’s career was launched by the short-lived controversial TV series “Skin” in 2003.

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She went on to guest star as Alex Kelly on television’s hottest teen drama, “OC”, in 2004, playing a bisexual bartender who also dates Adam Brody and Mischa Burton’s characters on the show. Wilde was eventually written off the show because her story with the latter sparked public discourse.

But Wilde was undeterred. As a result, the 40-year-old says she’s pitched projects that people “know I’m not going to be afraid of,” she said. “And I think part of that is being willing not to be accepted, being willing not to be celebrated by everybody, being willing not to be loved by everybody.”

“I think the big problem in our business — all over the world, I guess it’s the same — is when you mix filmmaking or acting with fame or with big acceptance, you immediately cut off any opportunity for any kind of risky business,” she continued. . “And that’s why I think it was important for me to never focus on being accepted or loved,” she said.

Wilde’s directorial debut came in 2019 with Booksmart, a coming-of-age film that resonated well with the masses, though her next feature, “Don’t worry dear,” In 2022, it was more controversial, riddled with scandals on and off the film set. The film starred actress Florence Pugh and pop star Harry Styles, whom Wilde continued to date.

Going a step further, Wilde said that she would rather be called “controversial” or have her work hated than conformed to: “I would rather be controversial rather boring. You never want to make a movie as a director that people are like, ‘Eh, I don’t know, I didn’t feel anything.’ I’d rather people hate it than feel nothing.”

“It was important to me to never become too focused on being accepted or loved.

— Olivia Wilde

Looking ahead, Wilde will prioritize work that is “more challenging than the last thing I did,” she revealed. “Otherwise I feel bored.” I think my biggest fear is probably like being an artist and just getting lazy.”