Back in 2012, I got the opportunity to chat withOlivia Wildeabout her second documentary short film serving as executive producer,Baseball in the Time of Cholera. Every since, she’s continued to rack up producing credits including one for the movieMeadowland, a devastating exploration of dealing with loss that marked prolific cinematographerReed Morano’s feature directorial debut. The point is, Wilde is making interesting choices and gaining a ton of experience along the way and, it turns out, that’s all served her well because her feature directorial debut,Booksmart, is phenomenal.
Beanie FeldsteinandKaitlyn Deverlead the ensemble as Molly and Amy respectively. They’re high school overachievers bound for prestigious colleges who have basically forgone having a social life in order to focus on their studies and ensure a bright future. The day before graduation, however, they come to the realization that they could have had the best of both worlds and opt to live it up this one last night and finally party with their peers.
I hadn’t seen the film when Wilde, Feldstein, Dever,Billie Lourdand screenwriterKatie Silbermanswung by the Collider Studio at SXSW but I was still super excited about the conversation because of how much faith I have in all of them. However, now that I’ve seen and completely fallen in love with the film, I’m downright ecstatic to share the chat and shine a bigger spotlight onBooksmart, which I can’t recommend enough when it hits theaters on May 24th. you’re able to give the full interview a watching using the video embed at the top of this article and, if you’d like, there’s a handy breakdown of the conversation below.
I’d also like to take a moment to give special thanks to our Collider Studio partner, A-List Communications. At the Supper Suite venue in Austin, libations were flowing courtesy of El Tesoro Tequila, Blue Moon Belgian White, and Hint Water. Without these fine folks, we wouldn’t be able to share conversations about movies likeBooksmartwith all of you, so another big thank you to our partners for their support.
Kaitlyn Dever, Katie Silberman, Olivia Wilde, Beanie Feldstein, Billie Lourd:
