Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546154
n A24's The Invite, frustrated San Francisco couple Joe (Seth Rogan) and Angela (Olivia Wilde) are caught off guard when they host a din- ner party with the free-spirited couple that lives upstairs. Piña (Penélope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton) reveal they are swingers — which explains all the noise Joe's been hearing — and what was once planned as a simple get-to- gether to show off recently-completed renovations to their apartment, turns into a much more complex and unpre- dictable evening. Olivia Wilde directed the feature, adding to a resume that includes Booksmart and Don't Worry Darling. She recently spoke with Post to share details about her work on the project, which was shot on film over 21 days and then edited by Yorgos Mavropsaridis, the long-time collaborator of filmmak- er Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things, Bugonia). Here, she talks about her desire to shoot on film and what she's learned as a director over the past decade. Olivia, you shot for 21 days and the film is set in San Francisco. Where did you actually shoot? "We were at Sunset Las Palmas [Studios] in Los Angeles, which is a really interesting space. There's a lot of history there. It is a pink studio. It is the one people might know from the opening credits of The Player, when he's driving in through the gates. "It also happens to be the stages where the original I Love Lucy pilot was filmed, and parts of When Harry Met Sally, and some really great mov- ies. I had never worked there — none of us had — and it was great because I was able to have my production office right next to the stage where we were building this set, so I got to watch (production designer) Jade Healy create this set before my eyes. And it went up extraordinarily quickly because we were an indie movie pulling this together in eight weeks "You're right! We shot on that stage for 21 days and then we popped up to San Francisco for two days on-location to get some of the footage you see in the opening credits." How far back does your involvement go? Was it 2025 for the 2026 release? "My participation started the end of 2024, and then we shot it in 2025. But the original film that it's based on came out several years ago in Spain and that was called Sentimental in Spain, and in America, it was called The People Upstairs. As you can probably tell, it's baked into the DNA of the movie that it's based on a play, and that's kind of why it has that single-location style, and yet we really wanted to make it feel as cinematic as possible. "I fought hard to shoot on film for all the obvious reasons. It looks better. It'll never not look better. And the experience of shooting on film completely transforms the way a film is made — the perfor- mances you get. It's very different in terms of the process. We all shot on film for so much of our careers and accept- ed this transition into digital, but I don't think people understand how much that changed the actual process — the vibe on-set — the energy on-set. It completely changes that, so I felt very lucky to be able to bring back the energy of film shot on 35, because it's really magical." There are budgetary considerations when it comes to shooting on film, as well as the pressure of getting everything right. How did that affect the process? "It's interesting because that element of risk, I think, is why it's so exciting and why the whole thing is so magical. You don't know what you've got until you get the dailies back. The process of getting the dailies back means you're sending your film to the lab, which is a process that takes such an extreme amount of skill. There are several points during the film processing process — the devel- opment process — where the film itself could be destroyed. But the fact is, these technicians working in the labs are so good at their jobs that we take for grant- ed that this film will be developed beauti- fully. And then what we receive when we watch dailies is this kind of Christmas present — this surprise, where we finally get to see what we actually shot." What lab were you working with? "FotoKem, because they were in LA. We shot with Kodak film and Kodak was incredibly helpful. They are real partners to filmmakers. We were first going to develop at Kodak, but then we switched to FotoKem. Just in terms of process, it was easier for us." Adam Newport-Berra was your cinematographer and Yorgos Mavropsaridis edited the film. How were you able to get him away from his frequent partner, director Yorgos Lanthimos? "Isn't that amazing? He had just finished Bugonia, and I spoke to him and I was so incredibly floored when he agreed to come and work with me. I really revere his work, so when he said yes, I thought, 'Okay, this is yet another partner in this THE INVITE BY MARC LOFTUS OLIVIA WILDE ADDS TO HER DIRECTORIAL RESUME WITH THIS DARK COMEDY FROM A24 I FILMMAKING www.postmagazine.com 10 POST JULY/AUG 2026 Olivia Wilde, during production