It’s an Olivia Wilde summer, and the star is not slowing down anytime soon.
In between stirring up awards buzz for her film The Invite and leading Gregg Araki’s new movie I Want Your Sex, Wilde is also gearing up for her next directing vehicle, Naughty. It was announced on Tuesday that Jennifer Aniston and Peter Dinklage would be starring in the holiday comedy, and that evening Wilde opened up about the project while on the red carpet for the Araki film.
“I can’t believe it. This is a project we’ve been working on for years; it’s a passion project and I fought and fought and fought to get this made. I feel so grateful that we get to make it because it is a movie that aims to be in the spirit of Rob Reiner, a comedy that has a tremendous amount of heart at its core,” Wilde told The Hollywood Reporter.
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She added that, like The Invite, it will juggle both the comedy and the tragedy, “but it’s also a much bigger endeavor and is something that is way bigger than anything I’ve ever taken on. I feel very honored in this day and age to be able to direct an original theatrical comedy for a studio at this level. Universal is putting a tremendous amount of trust in me and the ability to be able to direct Jen and Peter, among a host of other incredible actors who are hopefully coming on board; I just couldn’t be more excited.”
Naughty is currently in pre-production, and follows Mallory (Aniston), who is embroiled in a custody battle with her ex. Her last hope is to track down Santa Claus (Dinklage) and get him to testify in the divorce hearing. It will be Wilde’s fourth film in the directing chair, following 2019’s Booksmart, 2022’s Don’t Worry Darling and this year’s The Invite, and is set for theatrical release on Nov. 5, 2027.