Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite” made it to the Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland, and the actress is over the moon.
“I’m in shock. This is overwhelming and exciting,” she said to the audience at Piazza Grande, that boasts of some of the world’s largest cinema screens.
“This is the European premiere of ‘The Invite’ and it’s the first time – and probably the only time – it will be seen on a screen this big. I can’t tell you how much this means. I’m so grateful that you came tonight,” she said.
Wilde revealed that she had to fight for the film to be released theatrically. “I 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,” she said during a press conference at the film festival.
“If you don’t fight for it, they ‘bribe’ 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’t take lightly.”
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Wilde also said the film was a “love 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 Agnès Varda.”
“They introduced us to the idea of independent cinema allowing for real vulnerability.”
The film stars Wilde along with Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton as two couples who meet for a dinner party, only for one relationship to implode.
“This film is the most incredible experience of my life because it was the most collaborative project,” she noted.
“It was workshopped by the cast and our incredible screenwriters, and it’s a remake of an extraordinary Spanish film [‘Sentimental’], which was also interpreted as Swiss-German, French, Italian and South Korean versions. It’s an international story, and what you will watch tonight is our offering and our interpretation. It’s our attempt to be as honest with the audience as we possibly could. For me, it was the highlight of my career.”