Olivia Wilde has said she would like to direct a future Fast and Furious film, describing the prospect as a job she cannot imagine doing better. Speaking at an in-conversation event at the BFI on London's Southbank on Sunday night, the 42-year-old actress and filmmaker discussed her influences for her 2022 thriller Don't Worry Darling, which ranged from Alfred Hitchcock to 1930s Busby Berkeley musicals, and revealed her enthusiasm for car chases.
Wilde's pitch for the franchise
'The car chases were fun as I love cars and would be very happy just shooting car chases forever,' she told the audience, including Metro. 'I'm really trying to get a job directing like The Fast and the Furious 25, just because I don't think you need plot, you just get to drag and crash cars. I can't imagine a better job.'
She returned to the idea during the Q&A section of the evening when asked about her plans for the next stage of her career and any genres she would like to work in. Wilde said she was keen to return to psychological thrillers because she felt she had 'learnt a lot and would like to try my hand at [it again]'.
'I'm fascinated by them and then, again… I mean, Fast and the Furious! I really think – just give me a chance and I can do it! I really believe in it,' she laughed. 'So we'll see, fingers crossed,' she added, to encouragement from the room.
Franchise background and Wilde's recent work
The main Fast and Furious series has 10 titles plus one spin-off, with the upcoming twelfth film lined up as the first in a potential three-movie conclusion. Franchise stars include Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham and Gal Gadot, while past directors include Justin Lin, Rob Cohen and Louis Leterrier.
Wilde is currently shooting her next movie, the Christmas comedy Naughty, in London, which she described as her 'love letter' to the late Rob Reiner. In 2026, she directed and acted in The Invite, played a dominatrix in Gregg Araki's I Want Your Sex, and appeared in Tony Gilroy's musician-based drama Behemoth!, starring Pedro Pascal.
Reflecting on this year's reception, Wilde called it 'wild' and explained how her approach to directing has changed since her 2019 debut, Booksmart. 'I feel like the shift that I made was to focus entirely on the experience I wanted to have, without any expectation or self-consciousness or fear of result,' she said. 'When you release yourself from what you hope the response to something might be, I think you approach it with a kind of fearlessness that's very liberating.'
Directing herself on The Invite
Wilde said she had never planned to direct herself as an actor, and only did so in Don't Worry Darling 'out of necessity as we ran out of money and no one else [would] do it for free'. She added that she has 'never set out to direct myself' and that it was 'never the reason' for becoming a director.
With The Invite, she admitted she 'would never have cast herself' as Angela, but the cast – Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton – told her that 'you are the only one who can play the role and we're going to make you do it'. She described the experience as terrifying and said it allowed her to witness the performances from the inside, adding: 'I think I had to be tapped into it on a visceral level to understand it.'
