Olivia Wilde claims Greta Gerwig 'walked so she could run' as female director

Olivia Wilde believes Greta Gerwig "walked so she could run" as a female actress-turned-director.

The former O.C. actress, who is currently promoting her third directorial feature, believes she would have never been allowed to make her first movie Booksmart if Gerwig hadn't achieved success with her solo directorial debut, Lady Bird, in 2017.

"Greta Gerwig had just made Lady Bird and I had watched her make this triumphant transition from acting to directing. It was no surprise to anybody because she was just that good and that smart. I was so aware that without Greta doing Lady Bird, I was not doing Booksmart. She walked so I could run," she praised on the Call Her Daddy podcast.

"I still feel that with her. Man, she keeps elevating and it's like, thank you for continuing... she's like blazing the path. There's women before her, of course, but it allows you to connect with, like, OK, I want to make this work because I want other women and also other actresses to see this as a possibility to make this pivot."

After making Lady Bird, Gerwig directed a new version of Little Women in 2019 and enjoyed blockbuster success with Barbie, which was the highest-grossing movie of 2023. She is currently working on the big-budget fantasy film, Narnia: The Magician's Nephew.

Since Barbie's success, Wilde noted that studio executives can no longer claim that female-directed films don't make money.

"That is a game-changer; it just diffuses any argument made by any studio, shareholder, anybody that like, 'Should we be investing in female films?' We sure as f**k should! That one made a bill!" she declared.

Wilde, who followed up 2019's Booksmart with 2022's Don't Worry Darling and this year's The Invite, admitted she felt excited to shift into a new career she could "grow old in" but felt pressure to make a successful debut feature.

"I felt a pressure that was like, 'If we pull this off, if I can do this, it will be good for the larger female director community and more of us will get our movies greenlit if this works,'" she shared.

The Invite is in cinemas now.