Madison - Octobre 2011

Cover story: Olivia Wilde

Shoot: Norman Jean Roy 2010 - Vanity Fair
Scans: Madison - octobre 2011

In fact, if you find yourself at the cinema in the next few weeks, you might see Wilde in one of her new films: body-switch comedy The Change-Up or the action-adventure Cowboys & Aliens. She also has an intriguing line-up on the way – from Butter, in which she’ll play, yes, a talented butter carver, to Blackbird, a crime thriller in which she and Eric Bana play siblings on the run. It’s safe to say Wilde is firmly establishing herself as Hollywood’s newest It girl.

But hold all the career talk for just a second. Let’s go back to that face. The most arresting feature has to be those aquamarine cat’s eyes. Though it could also be her porcelain skin. No, wait – it’s the cheekbones! Or is it the bee-stung lips? The rocking body? Oh, who are we kidding? It’s the whole package. Olivia Wilde is an all-around beautiful woman.

But it would be a mistake to underestimate her, to assume she’s just another gorgeous face in a sea of vapid starlets. The last thing Wilde wants is to be defined by her looks alone, and with good reason. “It’s not enough to be young and pretty in this business,” says Wilde, when we meet at Beverly Hills’ Four Seasons Hotel in LA. “Looks are temporary – and what’s amazing is how quickly you are not young in Hollywood. I’m 27 and already being told I am too old to play certain roles! When I was 23, I was already playing a doctor on ‘House’, and I am sure there were many older actresses who wanted to slit my throat! But Reese Witherspoon said a wise thing: ‘Funny doesn’t sag.’ So I am looking for roles that require more.”

She’s done pretty well so far. Which is saying something, as we all know Hollywood can be a notoriously tough nut to crack – its streets are littered with the shattered dreams of hopefuls who never got their big break. Wilde credits mum Leslie, a journalist and 60 Minutes producer, with giving her the confidence to avoid that fate. “Maybe it’s insanity, but I’ve always felt sure I would be able to make this my career and that I never had a reason to give up. That started with my mother. She wasn’t a ‘stage mum’ by any means. She wouldn’t let me act until I finished school. But she told me, ‘Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you can’t do it.’”

This self-empowerment is sexy. And quite a few people have noticed. Whether she likes it or not, Wilde has become a men’s-mag idol, so adored that she once landed the number one spot on Maxim’s annual Hot 100 list. All of these silly polls, being named the hottest woman on the planet… how does that make her feel? “It’s a weird kind of pressure,” confides Wilde, who laughs often and chats like a long-lost girlfriend. “When people see you in a bikini, they expect that you’re going to be this inhumanly hot thing! Of course it’s flattering when someone says nice things about you, but I hate having to defend a title I never asked for. Just because someone said I was the sexiest woman, I don’t want to feel like I always have to be sexy. I don’t live up to any sort of ideal. I don’t try to.”

Today, Olivia is casual in a white Alexander McQueen floral-skull tee, Dolce & Gabbana heels and black Alexander Wang pants. “My fashion tip is always be comfortable. That’s the most important thing. You can see it when someone’s not – they may have an amazing dress on, but they look miserable. A style icon like Kate Moss looks effortless and comfortable in whatever she’s wearing. That sets her apart from people who look like they have been stuffed into a sausage casing!”

Given her figure, it’s doubtful such comparisons would be made about Wilde, who insists she doesn’t have a magic answer for staying fit. For starters, Wilde does not eat meat, and says she simply keeps her eating habits in moderation. “Extreme fad diets are terrifying. You’ve got to find that balance, and most of the time it’s portion size. Nobody realises you can be eating healthily, but if it’s giant tubs of salad… imagine how much you are consuming and how much salad dressing – it’s worse than if you’d had a sandwich. But my vice is chocolate. And bread. I love chocolate croissants. Paris is a very dangerous place for me!”

Wilde enjoys risk-taking, evidenced by the fact that when she visited Australia at 16, she tried skydiving in Cairns and, less extreme on the danger scale, scuba-diving on the Great Barrier Reef. “It was thrilling. I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was,” she says. The actress also delights in performing her own stunts, as she did when she filmed her role as a butt-kicking frontierswoman in Cowboys & Aliens, a genre-smashing lark about an alien invasion in Arizona, circa 1873. “I flew 40 feet [12 metres] into the air off a galloping horse on a bungee cord attached to my back! It was the wildest experience of my life.”

This free-spirited streak saw her wed Tao Ruspoli, a documentary filmmaker, flamenco guitar player and (as gossips have noted) an Italian prince, when she was 19. The pair recently called it quits after seven years. Wilde isn’t afraid to discuss what comes next. “I think I am striving for the ultimate love. I may be too much of a romantic, which may leave you endlessly unsatisfied, but I believe in it completely. And I know one day I will find it.”

Of course, that may not happen in Hollywood. “I don’t know how you find one! I have pretty high standards. They have to be smart. And interested, rather than interesting. Some people are not interested in anything or anyone else and that’s boring. And for me, a sense of humour is paramount: if they don’t make me laugh, it doesn’t matter how pretty they are.”

Not surprisingly, she appreciates the Aussie jocosity. “Eric Bana is one of the funniest people I have ever met. I worked with him and Jesse Spencer [on House] – both great guys from Melbourne, so I’d love to go there, along with Sydney and Perth. Hopefully I’ll do a movie in Australia and get to explore.”

Just as long as the movie role’s smart, of course. “I don’t get offered dumb roles because people know I won’t take them,” says Wilde, who dabbles in political activism. (She received a personal phone call from US President Barack Obama to thank her for volunteering on his campaign.) “I think my character in The Change-Up is an accurate portrayal of a modern woman because she’s good at her job [and] she’s a wild cat; she’s sexy, she likes to drink Scotch and get tattoos, she’s sweet and loves to laugh. That’s what women are actually like. I am a professional, but also sexually liberated and confident, and able to have fun. That balance is what most women strive for and hope to find.”

 

Interview: Olivia Wilde
 
22 septembre 2011
En anglais et en français
 

You’ve worked with Ryan Reynolds, Justin Timberlake, Hugh Laurie…all handsome guys, sure, but they also have great careers and are widely respected. What have you learnt from them?
They develop a lot of their own material: both Ryan and Justin and a lot of the other people I have worked with develop and produce their own movies and expand their repertoire constantly. I think that is really the key for success in this business, so it’s something I have taken into account and I am starting to do this year.

- Vous avez travaillé avec Ryan Reynolds, Justin Timberlake, Hugh Laurie… tous des beaux mecs, certainement, mais ils ont également de grandes carrières et sont largement respectés. Qu'avez-vous appris d'eux ?
Ils développent beaucoup de leur propre matériel: Ryan et Justin tous deux et beaucoup d'autres personnes avec qui j'ai travaillé développent et produisent leurs propres films et augmentent leur répertoire constamment. Je pense que c'est vraiment la clé du succès dans ce business, ainsi c'est quelque chose que j'ai pris en considération et je commence à le faire cette année.


Your role in The Change-Up really capitalises on the fact that you’re beautiful and funny – it’s clear you wanted to take this chance. Is comedy something you were seeking out for a while?
I think you look through the history of actresses, and who are those who have aged well? It’s those who can pull off comedy. As you get older and go through more life experiences, you have more material. I look at someone who I really respect, like Carrie Fisher…

- Votre rôle dans le film The Change-up profite vraiment du fait que vous êtes belle et drôle - il est clair que vous ayez voulu prendre ce risque. La comédie est quelque chose que vous cherchiez pendant quelque temps ?
Je pense que vous devez regarder dans l'histoire des actrices, et qui sont celles qui ont bien vieilli ? C'est celles qui peuvent se mettre à la comédie. Pendant que vous vieillissez et passez par plus d'expériences dans la vie, vous avez plus de bagages. Je pense à quelqu'un que je respecte vraiment, comme Carrie Fisher…


Have you seen her one-woman show?
Yes, I was just going to quote it! I am going to paraphrase terribly, but one of my favourite lines was to the effect of, “My life better be funny because if it’s not funny, it’s just true – and that’s not acceptable.” I love her perspective on the difficulties of life, that it’s all just material. [Look at] Bette Davis, in All About Eve – she has this incredible weight and saltiness because of everything she had been through as an actress. She was only 40 and she was considered over-the-hill and done! All of that turmoil coloured her performance and made it the performance of her career. That’s the thing about comedy and learning to do it well – you will only get better at it. If you focus and rely on being the ingénue, you have a very limited career. Why would I want to take a role that relies on nothing but looks and youth? That’s boring and actually dangerous, I think.

- Avez-vous vu son one-woman show ?
Oui, j'allais justement le citer ! Je vais paraphraser terriblement, mais une de mes lignes préférées était à l'effet de, « Ma vie est mieux quand elle est drôle parce que si ce n'est pas drôle, c'est simplement vrai - et ce n'est pas acceptable. » J'aime sa perspective sur les difficultés de la vie, c'est juste de l'expérience. [Regardez] Bette Davis, dans All About Eve - elle a ce poids incroyable et cette salure en raison de tout ce qu'elle a traversé en tant qu'actrice. Elle avait seulement 40 ans et elle a été considérée comme étant finie ! Toute cette agitation a coloré sa représentation et l'a aidé à faire la performance de sa carrière. C'est la chose au sujet de la comédie et apprendre à bien la faire - vous ne pouvez qu'être meilleur. Si vous vous concentrez et comptez sur le fait d'être l'ingénue, vous avez une carrière très limitée. Pourquoi est-ce que je voudrais prendre un rôle qui se fonde sur rien hormis le physique et la jeunesse ? C'est ennuyeux et réellement dangereux, je pense.


How does that make you feel when someone tells you that you are too old for a role?
That’s when I think of Carrie Fisher and laugh. That’s when you just have to laugh.

- Comment est-ce que vous réagissait quand quelqu'un vous dit que vous êtes trop vieille pour un rôle ?
C'est le moment où je pense à Carrie Fisher et au rire. C'est le moment où vous devez juste rire.


What do you want to tackle next?
I directed a short comedy this summer, which I also produced and wrote, that’s in the tone of Bridesmaids. I loved that movie. I wrote this before I saw it, but I’m very much inspired by how far they went with that movie. I think the fact it did so well proves audiences are not afraid of seeing women in the raunchy, inappropriate circumstances that men find themselves in. I am also producing the movie and I wrote it. I also produced Sun City Picture House, which was at TriBeCa Film Festival this year – it was a short documentary that Maria Bello and I produced about the building of a movie theatre in a refugee camp in Haiti. Documentaries are a great love of mine, but producing them is new to me. So those are three new areas: screenwriting, directing and producing.

- Que voulez-vous faire après ?
J'ai dirigé un court-métrage de genre comédie cet été, que j'ai également produit et écrit, qui est dans le ton du film Bridesmaids (Mes Meilleurs amies en France). J'ai aimé ce film. J'ai écrit ceci avant de l'avoir vu, mais je suis tout d'abord inspiré par jusqu'où ils sont allé avec ce film. Je pense que le fait qu'ils l'ai tellement bien fait prouve que le public n'a pas peur de voir des femmes dans des situations lascives et inadéquates dans lesquelles les hommes se trouvent eux-mêmes. Je produis également le film et je l'ai écrit. J'ai également produit  Sun City Picture House, qui était au festival du film de TriBeCa cette année - c'était un documentaire court que Maria Bello et moi avons produit au sujet de la construction d'un cinéma dans un camp de réfugiés à Haïti. Les documentaires sont un grand amour pour moi, mais leur production est nouvelle pour moi. Ainsi tels sont trois nouveaux secteurs : la scénarisation, réalisation et production.


What about all this attention given your body? Do you feel pressure?
It’s pressure and it’s arbitrary and it’s strange. Any time someone uses a superlative to describe you, a lot of people are going to disagree.

- Que dites-vous de toute cette attention donnée à votre corps ? Sentez-vous la pression ?
C'est de la pression et c'est arbitraire et étrange. Quand quelqu'un emploie un superlatif pour vous décrire, beaucoup de personnes vont être en désaccord.


And then you can’t have a tiny piece of cellulite anywhere?
Yeah, exactly. And then it’s like, “Oh God, I wish no-one ever said nice things about me because then I wouldn’t have to live up to them.” But I have good people to look up to who seem to have dealt with all that quite well.

- Et alors vous ne pouvez pas avoir un morceau minuscule de cellulites n'importe où ?
Ouais, exactement. Et alors c'est, « oh Dieu, je souhaite que personne n'ait jamais dites des choses gentilles à mon sujet parce qu'alors je ne devrais pas vivre sans elles. » Mais j'ai de bonnes personnes sur qui prendre modèle qui semblent avoir très bien fait face au sujet.


What about our readers who have trouble dealing with diet or exercise plans? Any advice for them?
There are so many activities that can be fun: I remember when I was doing Tron: Legacy, I got really into boxing. You’re completely focused, time flies, you get an incredible workout and I think it’s important for women to learn a certain amount of self-defence. I think it’s also about finding something that lets you also experience a type of therapy.

- Que diriez-vous à nos lecteurs qui ont des problèmes pour faire un régime ou de l'exercice ? Un conseil pour eux ?
Il y a tant d'activités qui peuvent être amusantes: Je me rappelle quand je faisais Tron: Legacy, je suis vraiment entré dans la boxe. Vous êtes complètement focalisé, le temps vole, vous obtenez une séance d'entraînement incroyable et je pense qu'il est important que les femmes apprennent une autodéfense. Je pense qu'il est également bien de trouver quelque chose qui vouspermet d'expérimenter un type de thérapie.


You recently worked with Eric Bana.
Yeah. I cannot believe how funny he is and at the same time how intensely dramatic he can be for a role. It’s astounding! We did a movie together this year called Blackbird. He’s just terrifying in it.

- Vous avez récemment travaillé avec Eric Bana.
Ouais. Je ne peux pas croire à quel point il est drôle et en même temps si intensément dramatique il peut être pour un rôle. C'est stupéfiant ! Nous avons fait un film ensemble cette année appelé Blackbird. Il est simplement terrifiant dedans.


A lot of readers probably first encountered you when you had a guest run on The O.C. That was such an iconic show – what did it teach you about fame? And would you ever participate in a reunion?
Oh my God! How funny would a reunion be? We’re all so old! First of all, when I agreed to do a few episodes on the show, I did it because the creator was a friend of mine and I knew I was going to be able to be with a lot of live bands – that was my character’s job, she looked after live bands. So I loved it. I had no idea it was going to be that much of a phenomenon, and when people started recognising me, I realised the reach. They still do, to this day! I learned you’ve got to be proud of whatever you put out there, because you have no idea how long it will last or how it might affect people’s lives. You never know…it could be a kid in Kuala Lumpur who is watching and really taking the lesson seriously.

- Beaucoup de lecteurs vous ont vu probablement la première fois quand vous avez été une invitée dans la série The O.C (Newport beach). C'était une séries TV si iconique - qu'est ce que cela vous a enseigné au sujet de la renommée ? Et participeriez-vous à une réunion ?
Oh mon Dieu ! Qu'est-ce que cela pourrait être drôle une réunion ? Nous sommes tous si vieux ! Tout d'abord, quand j'ai accepté de faire quelques épisodes de la série, je l'ai fait parce que le créateur était un ami à moi et j'ai su que j'allais pouvoir être avec beaucoup de groupes en live - ce qui était le travail de mon personnage, elle recherche des groupes de musique. C'est pourquoi j'ai adoré. Je n'avais pas la moindre idée que cela allait être un si grand phénomène, et quand les gens ont commencé à me reconnaître, j'ai réalisé la portée. Ils le font toujours, à ce jour ! J'ai appris que vous devez être fier de ce qui vous a amené à ça, parce que vous n'avez aucune idée de combien de temps cela durera ou comment cela pourrait affecter la vie des gens. Vous ne savez jamais que… ce pourrait être un enfant à Kuala Lumpur qui regarde et prend vraiment la leçon au sérieux.

 

Source: www.madisonmag.com.au

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