“It might lead to something else”: The silver lining to the role Olivia Wilde was “too old” to play
Olivia Wilde has had one of the most unorthodox star trajectories in recent memory, as she was able to rebound from some failed projects by proving herself as a talented director.
Although she has railed against sexism in the industry, she also had the unfortunate luck of appearing in reviled films such as Third Person, The Change-Up, and Cowboys & Aliens, but then, she was also able to silence her doubters with her directorial debut, Booksmart, a raunchy high school comedy that felt like “Superbad for a new generation”.
Although her second film, Don’t Worry Darling, was marred by significant controversy, both on the personal front and from cast issues, Wilde certainly made bold choices with her unusual psychological thriller, which is worthy of some form of praise.
She recently directed the comedy The Invite, which sold to A24 after being positively reviewed at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and in discussing her directing process, she has cited Martin Scorsese as a major influence. Ironically, it was a failed audition for a Scorsese film that inspired Wilde to get into directing in the first place.
Wilde revealed that she had auditioned to play Naomi Lapaglia, the wife of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort, in Scorsese’s 2013 masterpiece The Wolf of Wall Street, joking that she had been initially told that she was too “sophisticated” for the role, when in reality she was considered “too old”. Despite losing out, Wilde said that she had no animosity towards Margot Robbie, who ultimately landed the part of Naomi.
“She’s perfect, she kicked so much ass in the movie,” Wilde said, “I have some ability to cut off emotionally. The second I don’t get a role, it’s dead to me”.
Wilde’s audition had nonetheless left a strong impression on Scorsese, who cast her as the pilot for his HBO project Vinyl, the series, which was co-produced by Mick Jagger and showrun by The Sopranos writer Terence Winter, took place during the dawn of contemporary record labels in the 1970s. Wilde would later refer to it as her “dream job”, stating, “It shows that if you don’t get something, job interview, whatever you do for a living, it might lead to something else”.
Vinyl was a curious departure for HBO that was seemingly set up for success, given that Scorsese and Winter had worked together to make Boardwalk Empire, one of the best and most popular dramas in the network’s history. However, the stars didn’t align in quite the same way for it; the subject material had a hard time connecting with younger viewers, especially since Vinyl made references to fictional musicians and labels, as opposed to the real names that fans of the era might have been familiar with.
The show’s cancellation was shocking, given how much talent and money had been behind the pilot. That being said, the early ending freed up Wilde’s schedule in order to give her time to begin developing her first feature without the commitment of shooting another season.
It also appears that both Wilde and Scorsese seem to have a good sense-of-humor about the situation, as they both appeared as satirical versions of themselves in the first season of the Apple TV comedy The Studio, which was produced and stars mutual friend Seth Rogen.
