Olivia Wilde\u2019s feature directorial debut, Booksmart, was a warmly received comedy back in 2019. She took a swing, opening it wide in the summer, and it did not pay off at the box office but the people who saw the movie loved the movie. And it was a promising start for her as a director. Then, three years later, Don\u2019t Worry Darling.<\/p>\n
The Don\u2019t Worry Darling gossip eclipsed the actual film. It\u2019s not a great film but it\u2019s also not terrible, it\u2019s just that all the noise around it, at the time, overshadowed the project. Looking back, though, the DWD drama seems almost innocent in comparison to all the sh-t that\u2019s blown up since. Still, Olivia’s public image took a hit from the mess, fueled by Harry Styles fans who were motivated by their disdain for their relationship to amplify what they perceived to be Olivia\u2019s shortcomings. So, yes, while it was legit that Florence Pugh wasn\u2019t f-cking with her, the online hate that was mobilising towards Olivia from that toxic corner of Harry\u2019s fandom made the story that much bigger. And then \u201cSpitgate\u201d happened, when social media became convinced that Chris Pine spat on Harry at the DWD Venice premiere. Plus of course all the accusations coming from Olivia and Jason Sudeikis\u2019s former nanny which gave us the salad dressing. It was a LOT. And it was, under those circumstances, impossible for Olivia and Harry to stay together. Once they broke up, that particular faction of Harry\u2019s fans redirected their energy elsewhere, like Taylor Russell. Olivia then retreated, it\u2019s been a quiet-ish couple of years, at least from a front-facing perspective, but she\u2019s been working the whole time. Her episode of The Studio last year was excellent and self-deprecating, as she played \u201cherself\u201d, a director sabotaging her own work, perhaps in a round-about way addressing the speculation that she abandoned her duties on DWD because she was too horny for Harry.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, though, horny might be a way to describe her comeback. She was at Sundance this weekend with two projects \u2013 for a role in Gregg Araki\u2019s film I Want Your Sex and for directing her third film, The Invite, in which she also co-stars alongside Penelope Cruz, Seth Rogen, and Edward Norton. The Invite was cowritten by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, about two couples at a dinner party that may or may not turn into an orgy. It\u2019s a comedy that meditates on monogamy and commitment, and the reviews so far have been outstanding, it received a standing ovation at the screening, and now\u2026<\/p>\n
New from Sundance: There was an old-fashioned all-night bidding war overnight for Olivia Wilde\u2019s THE INVITE\u2026.and it\u2019s not over. Distributors still jockeying, so this one will sell for a lot.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Matthew Belloni (@MattBelloni) January 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n
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