{"id":991499,"date":"2026-08-09T18:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T18:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/991499\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T18:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T18:13:11","slug":"olivia-wilde-calls-the-invite-the-highlight-of-her-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/991499\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Wilde Calls ‘The Invite’ the Highlight of Her Career"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOlivia Wilde<\/a> brought \u201cThe Invite<\/a>\u201d to Locarno.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m in shock. This is overwhelming and exciting,\u201d she told the audience at Piazza Grande, which reportedly has one of the world\u2019s largest cinema screens.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis is the European premiere of \u2018The Invite\u2019 and it\u2019s the first time \u2013 and probably the only time \u2013 it will be seen on a screen this big. I can\u2019t tell you how much this means. I\u2019m so grateful that you came tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYoun can watch the video here: <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier that day, Wilde had admitted that she had fought for the film to be released theatrically.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI have the benefit of hearing from audiences and hearing how cathartic they have found it to laugh at some of these things and to laugh with strangers,\u201d she said during a press conference at the fest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf you don\u2019t fight for it, they \u2018bribe\u2019 you to not take theatrical. But we were really lucky that our financier gave me the opportunity to make this decision, which is something I don\u2019t take lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe gamble paid off \u2013\u00a0Variety\u00a0reported that \u201cThe Invite\u201d has become a \u201crare hit summer comedy.\u201d<\/a> Owen Gleiberman praised the film in his review<\/a>, calling it a \u201cbravura dinner-party dramedy that\u2019s like \u2018Who\u2019s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?\u2019 redone as vintage Woody Allen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWilde also said the film was a \u201clove letter to so many of the filmmakers that made us want to do this. People like Cassavetes, Mike Nichols, Mazursky, Woody Allen, Billy Wilder, Nora Ephron and Agn\u00e8s Varda.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey introduced us to the idea of independent cinema allowing for real vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt stars Wilde, Seth Rogen, Pen\u00e9lope Cruz and Edward Norton as two couples who meet for a dinner party, only for one relationship to implode.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis film is the most incredible experience of my life because it was the most collaborative project,\u201d she noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was workshopped by the cast and our incredible screenwriters, and it\u2019s a remake of an extraordinary Spanish film [\u2018Sentimental\u2019], which was also interpreted as Swiss-German, French, Italian and South Korean versions. It\u2019s an international story, and what you will watch tonight is our offering and our interpretation. It\u2019s our attempt to be as honest with the audience as we possibly could. For me, it was the highlight of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile the story goes into some dark places, humor plays a significant role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFirst and foremost, it\u2019s a comedy,\u201d stated Wilde.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEven the most tragic things in life, and the way we ultimately overcome them, is by recognizing they didn\u2019t just happen to us. There\u2019s something about understanding the universal experience that removes shame and allows things to be funny \u2014 and survivable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt might be about heartbreak, but it\u2019s still \u201csupposed to be a good time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI hope you guys are not too hot and that you can laugh together. The most rewarding thing about this has been hearing audiences laugh together, and maybe cry. You are allowed to cry if you want to. But it is designed to be something that will bring you joy,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI can\u2019t tell you how much we laughed when we were making it. It was the most hilarious experience. We have to find the hilarity inside the tragic. It\u2019s the only way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Olivia Wilde brought \u201cThe Invite\u201d to Locarno. \u201cI\u2019m in shock. This is overwhelming and exciting,\u201d she told the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":991500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[185,171,74856,202775,237987,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-991499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-locarno-film-festival","tag-olivia-wilde","tag-the-invite","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117066911503101117","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=991499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/991500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=991499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=991499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=991499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}