So far, Olivia Wilde has only directed one feature film in her career, the acclaimed coming-of-age comedy “Booksmart.” However, in that short amount of time, she’s already figured out some key lessons from the world of filmmaking, including her recently-revealed “no assholes policy.”
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Speaking to fellow filmmaker Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”) bout the craft (via Variety), Wilde explained the genesis of the “no assholes policy” and some of the worst directing advice she’s ever heard. For those not familiar, the “no assholes policy” was revealed weeks ago when Wilde made headlines for replacing Shia LaBeouf and replacing him with Harry Styles on her upcoming film, “Don’t Worry Darling.” At the time, it was reported that LaBeouf had scheduling issues that led to his departure, but another report said there was friction on set with Wilde coming in to make a change (aka, he was fired).
“The no assholes policy; it puts everybody on the same level,” said Wilde. “I also noticed as an actress for years how the hierarchy of the set separated the actors from the crew in this very strange way that serves no one… I think actors would actually like to know more about what’s happening there when you’re pulling my focus? What is that lens change? But the idea of, don’t bother the actors and keep them separate, and don’t look at them. I think it makes everyone quite anxious.”
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She added, “I always liken it to a construction site. You bring these people into this construction site, and then say, ‘Hold the work for a moment!’ And everyone’s just kind of like waiting for the acting to be done so you can go back to building. The actors are like, ‘I’m sorry that I’m acting. I’m so sorry.’ If we just restructured it, so everyone was working together, I guess that’s why when you train in theater, you learn everyone’s job. Everyone knows what the whole process is. Everyone is crew. Everyone’s on the same level; everyone matters the same. It’s very hard with COVID, because they’re actually literally separated into zones.”
In addition to this well-publicized policy, Wilde also described an exchange with another “very established” actor-director that shaped how she approached filmmaking. Not in the best way, though.
“Someone, who’s a very established actor and director in this industry, gave me really terrible advice that was helpful, because I just knew I had to do the opposite,” she explained. “They said, ‘Listen, the way to get respect on a set, you have to have three arguments a day. Three big arguments that reinstate your power, remind everyone who’s in charge, be the predator.’ That is the opposite of my process. And I want none of that.”
Wilde continued, “If anything, I think we’d all benefit to sort of remove the hero narrative from that structure, and to acknowledge that a director is a sum of all these parts, that we have the opportunity to delegate to all these incredible people that we’ve asked to come on board.”
As mentioned, Wilde is currently in production on her next film, described as a psychological thriller, titled “Don’t Worry Darling.” In addition to Styles, the film stars Florence Pugh, Chris Pine, Gemma Chan, Kiki Layne, Nick Kroll, Douglas Smith, Timothy Simons, and Kate Berlant.