Summary
Overview
Olivia Wilde joins Armchair Expert to discuss her latest directorial work, The Invite, a chamber piece exploring marriage and relationships. The conversation spans her unconventional upbringing with journalist parents, her evolution from actress to director, navigating Hollywood controversies, and her deep collaboration with Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penelope Cruz on a film inspired by Esther Perel's relationship philosophy.
Growing Up Between Worlds: An Unconventional Childhood
Olivia discusses her unique upbringing splitting time between the U.S. and Ireland with war correspondent parents. Her mother Leslie was a pioneering journalist at 60 Minutes and Frontline, while her father came from a socialist Irish family of journalists. This nomadic, intellectually stimulating but often absent-parent childhood shaped her into someone who always felt like an outsider, whether in Ireland, at boarding school, or eventually in Los Angeles.
- Olivia's parents were both war correspondents who would meet in Baghdad wearing bulletproof vests
- Her mother Leslie was one of the first 570 female graduates at Yale in 1974
- The family name Cockburn (pronounced Coburn) was character-building as a child
- She spent every school break in Ireland, feeling equally Irish and American
- Her parents created a salon-like atmosphere at home, bringing their work into family life
" My parents, when I was little, were war correspondents working in the most dangerous places in the world. They'd both go to Baghdad on either the same job or on separate jobs. And they'd go on separate planes and then, like, stay in separate hotels and meet in the middle of the night. "
" I used to crawl under the dining room table and like lay down under the dining room table during their dinner parties and just listen to the hum and like listen to their conversations and think that they didn't know I was there although of course they did "
The Rebellious Years: Boarding School and Early Acting
At 13, Olivia was sent to boarding school after becoming "uncontrollable" in Washington D.C., sneaking out to concerts at the 9:30 Club and getting tattoos. The boarding school had an exceptional theater program that became her sanctuary. She then worked as a casting intern for Mally Finn, learning that actors who made bold choices got the jobs, a lesson that would shape her directing philosophy years later.
- She was sent to boarding school at 13 for being a "terror" who wouldn't respect curfews
- Working as a casting intern taught her that actors who made specific choices always got the role
- Her boss Mally Finn told her to change out of her wool turtleneck before auditions
- A casting director told her she had a "pie face," which she took as devastating criticism
- She got her first pilot on her first audition, then quickly landed The OC
" I was getting tattoos at 13. I was a terror. They sent me to boarding school because I was a terror. "
" The person who got the role was the one who made the choice. Someone who came in and with a choice, a choice that risked being the wrong choice, but a perspective on the scene. "
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