'House star' Olivia Wilde talks fame, 'Fix' and her Irish pride

“If you think of films like ‘Once,’ starring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, it’s similar to ‘Fix’ because that film was a labor of love and it was made for nearly nothing and look at how it exploded. I think that’s good because they cared so much and it was also based on a real story,” Wilde tells the Irish Voice.

“‘Once’ was a huge inspiration to us when we were making ‘Fix.’ It was a very simple story about people connecting, and music was a huge part of it as well. They’re the little movies that can!”

Wilde, a native of New York whose father is the celebrated Irish journalist Andrew Cockburn, and whose mother Leslie is an award winning writer and filmmaker, takes fierce pride in her heritage and is very upfront about her plans to pursue projects in Ireland.

“It’s no mistake that many of our best actors happen to be Irish,” she says. “It’s the way they train there, and I am honored to be considered among the Irish acting community even though I’m American.

“I really love that people connect me to that community. It’s such an honor because I have such respect for them.”

In case anyone is in doubt about her heritage, she spells it out succinctly. “I’m Irish. I’m an Irish citizen. Right now I’m trying to put together an Irish film.

“I really want to make a film in Ireland, and I really want to work with Irish actors. And acting on the stage of the Irish national theatre, the Abbey, would be my dream.

“I went to the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin and I just fell in love with the way Irish people approach theater, approach the arts. So it really is my dream to go back there and do a film and do a play and really join the artistic community there. It’s my ultimate dream.”

With “Fix” Wilde got to work closely with her husband, a film director known for his hard-hitting urban documentaries. That closeness between them allowed her to give a much more focused performance. It also freed her up to take risks she wouldn’t ordinarily have.

“It was fun working with my husband because when you know someone so well you have a really quick line of communication. I found that that made everything run really smoothly,” she says.

“Also, when you love someone hopefully it means that you really trust them and the best thing is to be able to trust your director -- that’s an ideal for an actor. So I thought it was actually really great.”

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Nster.com