Olivia Wilde didn’t have any scenes with Charli XCX in Gregg Araki’s “I Want Your Sex.” However, the “Brat” singer did receive quite the cheeky gift from Wilde.
“I left it on her chair because I knew she was coming in right after me,” Wilde told me Tuesday at the Baby2Baby Holiday Event at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. “I got her my favorite mug, a Bella Freud mug that says, ‘Hello, Cunty,’ and then I filled it with her favorite cigarettes and put a little rose in the middle of it. She loved it. She carried it around with her.”
“I Want Your Sex” stars Wilde as a renowned art world firebrand who coerces a young man named Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) into being her sexual muse. What starts as a fantasy for the aspiring artist soon devolves into a spiraling nightmare. Details about Charli’s role have remained under wraps.
Wilde also gushed over Araki. “He’s such a force,” she said. “He’s so singular and authentic. I’ve never met someone less Hollywood. He is a filmmaker for all the right reasons. He is a freak in the best possible way. I’m so inspired by him. I feel in many ways that movie reminded me of why I do this.”
Wilde previously told Variety that she watched Charli’s audition tape. Calling the audition “incredible,” Wilde recalled, “I [texted] her, ‘Of course, you’re also a brilliant actress.’”
“I Want Your Sex” wrapped principal photography in late October. “Congrats to the boss man Gregg Araki, the brilliant Cooper Hoffman, the entire kick-ass cast, and our incredible crew on wrapping this wild movie,” Wilde captioned a photo of herself on set at the time. “I love you guys ♥️.”
Wilde is a longtime supporter of Baby2Baby, which provides children living in poverty across the U.S. with diapers, formula, clothing and basic necessities. About 500 Los Angeles children in first- through third-grades attended the holiday event, which featured the distribution of new toys and clothing as well as some playtime on the BMO soccer field. Wilde helped kids pick out their toys.
“One of the things that makes this organization really special is that these kids aren’t being given discarded items,” she said. “They are having the chance to choose from a bevy of brand new items that will be theirs. They are delighted by the selection. They get to have this agency. It’s not just being handed something. It’s the process of handing them a bag and saying. ‘It’s your choice,’ and asking them what their interests are. These toys range from educational LEGO sets for space and car building to Barbie stuff. I love that the experience of watching each kid kind of think about, ‘What am I into,’ and then getting to make that selection.”
