{"id":2502372,"date":"2026-07-15T00:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2502372"},"modified":"2026-07-15T00:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:40:16","slug":"olivia-wilde-shares-sam-rockwells-ingenious-trick-for-nailing-auditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/olivia-wilde-shares-sam-rockwells-ingenious-trick-for-nailing-auditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Wilde shares Sam Rockwell\u2019s ingenious trick for nailing auditions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\" data-body-type=\"bodyblocks\">\n<h3 class=\"mb-4 text-lg font-bold\">Key Points<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"mb-4\">\n<li class=\"ml-4 safari:ml-6 list-disc\">\n<div>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Sam Rockwell&#8217;s <em>Cowboys &amp; Aliens<\/em> costar Olivia Wilde said she worked for a casting director as a teen and heard impressive stories about Rockewell&#8217;s auditions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 safari:ml-6 list-disc\">\n<div>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">When Wilde and Rockwell eventually worked together, he revealed his secret to acing auditions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 safari:ml-6 list-disc\">\n<div>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Rockwell would pretend he hadn&#8217;t received the correct lines for his character and was learning them on the spot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">That <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Sam Rockwell;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/person\/sam-rockwell\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Sam Rockwell<\/a> is a sly one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Just ask <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Olivia Wilde;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/person\/olivia-wilde\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Olivia Wilde<\/a>, who worked with the actor on the 2011 sci-fi Western <em>Cowboys &amp; Aliens<\/em> and was shocked to learn his brilliant trick for nailing auditions before he became a big star.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">During a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:recent appearance on the;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smartless.com\/episodes\/episode\/31b32322\/olivia-wilde\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">recent appearance on the <\/a><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:SmartLess;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smartless.com\/episodes\/episode\/31b32322\/olivia-wilde\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><em>SmartLess<\/em><\/a><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:podcast;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smartless.com\/episodes\/episode\/31b32322\/olivia-wilde\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"> podcast<\/a>, Wilde recalled how it all went down. She was more than familiar with Rockwell&#8217;s work, in part because she had worked as an assistant to the late casting director Mali Finn as a teenager.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;While I was working there, there was the legend of the Sam Rockwell audition,&#8221; Wilde explained. &#8220;She would tell us, &#8216;The best audition I&#8217;ve ever seen was Sam Rockwell auditioning for <em>The Green Mile<\/em>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-primary p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-primary\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" class=\"flex-none size-4 -scale-x-100 text-primary lg:size-6 [&amp;_path]:fill-current\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M3.1 3.1V11h1.8V6.314l5.392 5.393 1.415-1.414L6.313 4.9H11V3.1zm17.8 17.8V13h-1.8v4.686l-5.393-5.393-1.415 1.414 5.393 5.393H13v1.8z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-primary hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p><i>Sam Rockwell in &#8216;The Green Mile&#8217;<br \/>Credit: Warner Brothers\/ Everett<\/i><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Rockwell portrayed sadistic death row inmate &#8220;Wild Bill&#8221; Wharton in the 1994 drama, opposite Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;He came in, and it was the last day of the director&#8217;s sessions, the last possible day you could audition, and he had been given the wrong scenes,&#8221; Wilde recounted. &#8220;And this man, Sam Rockwell, he didn&#8217;t even pause, he said, &#8216;Well, give me the correct scenes and I&#8217;ll go learn them really quickly.&#8217; And they said, &#8216;That&#8217;s impossible, Sam. It&#8217;s 10 pages of dialogue, you can&#8217;t possibly, no one could do it.&#8217; And he was like, &#8216;Just give me a chance, I don&#8217;t want to miss this opportunity.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><strong><em>Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our <\/em><\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:EW Dispatch newsletter;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/ew-dispatch-newsletter-11812417\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><strong><em>EW Dispatch newsletter<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">So they gave him the correct lines \u2014 supposedly for the first time \u2014 and five minutes. &#8220;He comes back in, and he nails it,&#8221; Wilde said. &#8220;And they were floored, and he got the role.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">But Wilde learned the truth years later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I&#8217;m working with Sam and I&#8217;m sitting next to him in the makeup chair and I was like, &#8216;Sam, it&#8217;s so nice to meet you, what an honor. I have to tell you I always heard this story when I was an assistant and it just really inspired me,'&#8221; Wilde remembered telling him. &#8220;And he goes, &#8216;Ha! Oh yeah, that was, like, a thing I used to do. That worked every time.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Wilde was stunned. &#8220;I was like, &#8216;Are you f\u2011\u2011\u2011ing kidding me!?&#8217; I revered his ability to flash-memorize,&#8221; the actress said. &#8220;He knew \u2014 he had the correct sides, it was a whole performance. And it&#8217;s so genius because it lowers their expectations. Then if you even say half the things right they&#8217;re like, &#8216;Goddam, this man learned this in five minutes. He deserves an Oscar.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><em>Entertainment Weekly<\/em> has reached out to a representative for Rockwell for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">But the actor doesn&#8217;t need any tricks to land a role these days. Rockwell has worked steadily in movies such as 2017&#8217;s<em> Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri<\/em>, for which he won an Oscar, and 2002&#8217;s <em>Confessions of a Dangerous Mind<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Watch Wilde&#8217;s full <em>SmartLess<\/em> appearance above.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read the original article on <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Entertainment Weekly;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/olivia-wilde-reveals-sam-rockwell-ingenious-trick-for-nailing-auditions-12019486\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Entertainment Weekly<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Points Sam Rockwell&#8217;s Cowboys &amp; Aliens costar Olivia Wilde said she worked for a casting director as a teen and heard impressive stories about Rockewell&#8217;s auditions. When Wilde and Rockwell eventually worked together, he revealed his secret to acing auditions. Rockwell would pretend he hadn&#8217;t received the correct lines for his character and was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2502373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[359444,51068],"class_list":["post-2502372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-olivia-wilde","tag-sam-rockwell"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Olivia-Wilde-shares-Sam-Rockwells-ingenious-trick-for-nailing-auditions.com2Fen2Fentertainment_weekly_7852F6fb11f6ad571bf12b79029bfa98c99d4.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2502372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2502372"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2502372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2502374,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2502372\/revisions\/2502374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2502373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2502372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2502372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2502372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}