Making her directorial debut with the coming-of-age filmBooksmartallowedOlivia Wildeto see herself in a new light in Hollywood.
During a candid interview withThe New York Times, Wilde confessed that getting behind the camera helped her shed the pressure she feels to live up to “everyone’s version of a perfect woman.”
“I don’t have to carry that,” said Wilde. “It is remarkable that I am 35 years old and this is the first job I’ve ever had that wasn’t entirely dependent on and connected to my looks. It grosses me out to acknowledge it, but I’ve been thinking a lot about it.”
Wilde made her feature film debut in the 2004 rom-comThe Girl Next Door. She’s also appeared in other films likeAlpha Dog,The Next Three Days,Tron: Legacy,Cowboys & Aliens,HerandLife Itself,and on the small screen in dramas likeThe O.C.,HouseandVinyl.
Though she toldThe Timesshe isn’t walking away from acting or disavowing roles she’s had in the past (“I used to dismissThe O.C.I’d be like, ‘I did a teen soap — what an embarrassment.’ And now I think, ah, that was really formative and I’m lucky I got to do that”), Wilde said she feels as though the process of directingBooksmarthas allowed her to see herself in a new light.
“I was there only because of my brain and my heart. And the sense of fulfillment that comes from that is really massive,” she said. “It’s a profound shift for me.”
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“Was it ever truly purely me, or was it always something that was fraught with a sense of superficiality, of being judged from the outside in an external way?” she asked herself, of previous roles. “I don’t know.”
Wilde — who shares son Otis, 5, and daughter Daisy, 2, with fiancé Jason Sudeikis — also described using her opportunity as a director to right some wrongs she’d experienced in her career.
She toldThe Timesabout directing a love scene between Kaitlyn Dever and another actor. “I was so excited to explain to everyone what I thought a closed set should mean,” Wilde recalled. “There aren’t 100 people in the room. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done a love scene where I’ve been like, ‘But surelythat guydoesn’t need to be there?’ ”
Booksmartopens May 24.
source: people.com
