SXSWORLD

1 2 SXS W O R L D | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 9 | SXSW.COM Olivia Wilde has wanted to direct movies at least as far back as 2003, when she began acting at age 19. "When I was on set, I found myself drawn to the cameras," she says, recalling the desire to explore the cathartic experience of acting from the other side of the lens. Wilde then took every opportunity to give herself what she calls "the film school education I never had." In the ensuing years, she directed a short film and a pair of music videos, and produced a handful of projects in which she also starred. After years of attending SXSW Film as an actress, Wilde is thrilled to return this year as the director of the feature film Booksmart, a high school comedy about two best friends who decide to spend the evening before graduation cram- ming four years of partying into one wild night. "My dream since we were shooting this movie was to premiere at SXSW, so this is a huge deal for me." Wilde explains. "I remember feeling like it was this great sort of life moment of knowing that I was really proud of something that I had achieved," she recalls about her past visits to the festival. "SXSW has this significant place in my life as a marker of evolution." "We're in that crazy stage where the egg is just hatching," says Wilde, who is equal parts nervous and ecstatic about the upcoming World Premiere of Booksmart. "It's been this private project for so long, and now we're about to birth it into the world." In addition to debuting Booksmart, Wilde will also be appearing at SXSW as a Film Keynote. "It's incredible," she says. "For the first time in my career I feel that I've earned the right to impart my wisdom upon an audience." The most important lesson Wilde learned while making her first fea- ture? "You can't have everything that you want," she says. "You have to be a sort of reckless dreamer in order to be a director, but you also have to understand the reality of the restrictions involved," and, more importantly, "you have to embrace those restrictions." The process of working through and around these limitations, Wilde says, is "how you're going to discover other awesome things that you just Olivia Wilde Wants Us to Take a Closer Look By Britt Hayes Olivia Wilde (second from right) on the Booksmart set with stars Kaitlyn Dever (left) and Beanie Feldstein (second from left), and writer/producer Katie Silberman (right). Photo by Katie Ballaine

• Cover