Coming from a family of Irish-American journalists and political activists, the actor Olivia Wilde feels filled with a sense of responsibility, she tells Tara Brady
IF IT'S Friday it must be Paris. As Tron: Legacyis released around the world, with the marketing machine fixed in overdrive, these are busy times for the film's ascendant young star, Olivia Wilde. At 26, she wasn't even born when the original 1982 film first hit cinemas. She had some catching up to do.
"I was aware of Tron," she says. "Everybody is aware of Tron.It's one of those movies on Family Guyor The Simpsons. It's part of the cultural fabric. But I had never watched it in its entirety until I got the part. I've now seen it about 12 times. It's an extraordinary, groundbreaking movie in so many ways. I feel and I trust that we've done it justice."
With a production budget in excess of $200 million (€150 million), there are hopes the belated 3D sequel will replicate some of the box-office success of Avatar;James Cameron's CG epic was released on the same date last year and went on to smash records to the tune of $2,779,501,669.
Wilde is aware of the stakes and the sums. “It was a big responsibility and a lot of work,” she says. “There was an insane amount of training involved for the stunts and, yes, getting into that suit was not easy. But I embraced it. Now watching it I am so glad that I worked so hard. I was able to do my own stunts up there. Well, to an extent anyway.”
Born into a family of prominent Irish-American political activists and journalists (her grandfather was former Irish Timescolumnist Claud Cockburn), Olivia Jane Cockburn, as it says on her birth certificate, is no stranger to the big leagues. Growing up on the fringes of the Washington scene – father Andrew is a reporter; mother Leslie is a producer on the current-affairs TV programme 60 Minutes– the young Olivia was once shooed to bed by Mick Jagger for eavesdropping on his conversation with Richard Holbrooke from under the family table.
“I think that kind of upbringing has filled me with a sense of responsibility,” she says. “We were raised to be politically aware. I have a family that has dedicated itself to social justice and bringing truth to light. My sister is a civil-rights lawyer, and she tries to find a clear way every day. And, as an actress, I try to help the world whatever way I can. I don’t treat the job lightly. It gives me an opportunity to find creative ways to encourage youth participation. There are really interesting ways of doing that. I genuinely believe there is a shift in what young people believe to be cool. Participation is cool. Apathy is no longer okay.”
Wilde was a vocal campaigner for Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign and is on the board of Artists for Peace and Justice; the organisation provides education and health services in Haiti and economically deprived districts in southern California.
“It is wrong for politicians to say young people don’t care,” Wilde says. “I am part of a generation that finds activism compelling and defining. Obama’s success proves that people can change things. It’s not just about voting any more. There are a great many philanthropic organisations that are youth led and run. That’s something new. Think of Invisible Children, which is out there dealing with the war in northern Rwanda. For all the political gloom wonderful things are happening. And that sort of inspiring ingenuity is a product of this generation.”
Away from the soapbox, Wilde has proved a deft performer on the silver screen, too, with recurrent roles in The OC, Houseand The Black Donnellys.Between contractual obligations she has fashioned a blossoming TV career by appearing opposite Jack Black in Year One, Emile Hirsch in Alpha Dogand Russell Crowe in The Next Three Days. The latter, the latest bid for Oscar glory from Crash'sdirector, Paul Haggis, will open here next month.
She attributes these and indeed all of her thespian successes to a stint at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin. “My time spent studying acting in Dublin was hugely important to my work,” she says. “There is a certain humility that goes with the acting business in Dublin that I could not have learned elsewhere. I aspire to be an artist, but more than that I aspire to being an Irish artist.”
Wilde is fiercely proud of her heritage. “Waterford is my favourite place to be. Growing up, we spent our summers in Ardmore. Every time I go back I stop in and say hello in every shop, and they all remember me. It’s wonderful. It made me different.
“I have a survival instinct. I can head into the storm wearing a smile. I can persevere. I feel that deep down in my DNA there’s an Irish print and it comes out in my taste for everything: literature, weather, food. Plus I can swim in really cold temperatures. I hope that qualifies me to make an Irish film soon. I’d be there right now if I wasn’t working.”
Sure enough, Wilde maintains dual citizenship in the United States and the Republic of Ireland and, sure enough, she borrowed her stage name from a notable Irish playwright.
“It’s a strange practice,” she says. “Who knows why Woody Allen chose Woody Allen? I do know Sigourney Weaver chose her name after Gatsby. And I suppose people choose their identities based on what inspires them. I certainly did.
"Oscar had a huge effect on me as a person and as an Irishman. I was doing The Importance of Being Earnestat the time. I was playing Gwendolyn, and I felt so in awe of Wilde as an artist and as a person who persevered in the face of such adversity. He never sacrificed his individuality despite being put in a hard-labour camp."
Meeting Hollywood’s fastest rising starlet, it’s impossible not to think of Grace Kelly, with whom Wilde shares Hibernian ancestry and delicate, prepossessing features. Like Kelly, Wilde is a princess. In 2003, on the back of a whirlwind romance, she married Prince Tao Ruspoli, an Italian documentary maker and flamenco guitarist. The happy occasion unfolded on the back of a Virginia school bus with a pair of impromptu witnesses. Even Wilde can’t believe they’re still together.
“My mother said the sweetest thing,” she says, giggling. “She said it was an optimistic thing to do in pessimistic times. We both thought, Surely this won’t last. We eloped after just six months, and because it was this spontaneous, non-traditional romantic act we didn’t put any pressure on ourselves. If it doesn’t work then it doesn’t work. Nobody expected it to work anyway, and that light-heartedness, that continual surprise, that helped.
“I think that sometimes people feel that they are sacrificing the exciting part of life when they get married. That should never happen.
“I don’t claim to have the ultimate secret, but I’ve watched my parents collaborate on everything. Like them, we collaborate and we also give each other space to grow. I suspect our success is really based on continuing to develop our own independent lives. And after eight years we’ve developed into people who love each other even more.”
The other significant gentleman in her life is Hugh Laurie, her House co-star. Wilde signed up for the world’s favourite drama at the end of season three. Four series on and the alchemy between Laurie’s morose physician and Wilde’s enigmatic, bisexual understudy Remy “Thirteen” Hadley has become a cornerstone of the show. But with an increasing volume of offers from Hollywood for Wilde, and Thirteen’s diagnosis with Huntington’s disease, can this TV partnership survive?
“I’ll be back on the show this year,” she says. “Huntington’s is an interesting device. It’s a ticking time bomb. A lot of people don’t show symptoms for ages. So having that and having a character who is dying but who devotes her life to saving others is a really useful device. It’s a great part too. She’s completely defined by intellect.
“And the show has been so gracious in allowing me to go and make films. That’s not usual in this business. This has been a really transformative year, and it means a lot to me as an actor.”
Tron: Legacyis on general release
