Olivia Wilde Eyes Oscars History as Actor-Director for ‘The Invite’

The actor-turned-director is hardly a new Hollywood phenomenon, but women who wear both hats have rarely received the same invites to the Oscars.

Men have earned 20 Oscar acting nominations for films they directed, with eight also landing directing and acting nods for the same film. No woman has achieved either feat, but Olivia Wilde could be the first.

With “The Invite,” Wilde’s third feature as a director, she has made the strongest case yet for her work behind the camera and has given herself an acting role that could put her in the Oscar history books. In a year overflowing with big-budget contenders, including Christopher Nolan’s mythological epic “The Odyssey,” Los Javis’ Spanish-language drama “La Bola Negra” and Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming “Dune: Part Three,” Wilde’s film has remained a buzzy crowd-pleaser. General audiences have turned out, and industry voters continue to pack awards screenings even with the film available to watch at home. “The Invite” is quickly emerging as A24’s strongest awards bet of the season.

Adapted by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack from Cesc Gay’s 2020 Spanish film “The People Upstairs,” the film follows Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Wilde) as they invite their upstairs neighbors, Hawk (Edward Norton) and Pina (Penélope Cruz), over for dinner. What begins as a friendly evening turns into something neither couple is prepared for.

It’s worth noting, Wilde also enters a directing race with few women seeming to be in major contention. On Variety’s most recently published best director prediction charts (on Oct. 8), she appears alongside only two other female filmmakers in the top 30: Siân Heder for “Being Heumann” and Beth de Araújo for “Josephine.”

This isn’t anything new to Hollywood.

Male stars have long turned their on-camera success into opportunities behind…