Olivia Wilde left Penélope Cruz nearly speechless after revealing to her the name of a rumored Hollywood swinger.
The pair co-star alongside Seth Rogen and Edward Norton in Wilde’s newest directed feature film, The Invite, which centers on a couple whose relationship is thrown into chaos when they are propositioned by their enigmatic neighbors to swap partners during a dinner party.
Promoting the film on the latest episode of Allure’s “Truth Serum” YouTube series, the actors took turns asking each other prewritten questions provided by the outlet.
“Are swingers in Hollywood a real thing?” Wilde, 42, read off one card.
“What the f*** do I know?” the Spanish actor and mother of two, 52, responded with a gasp. “I mean, all I do is school, football, dance, work, kids, work — that’s my life.”
open image in gallery“It doesn’t have to be you,” Wilde clarified, “but are swingers a real thing?”
“If they exist, they don’t tell me about it,” insisted Cruz, who has been married to fellow Spanish star Javier Bardem since 2010. “I mean, I don’t know stories about that, but if you know, you better tell me because I like knowing everything. And I don’t repeat it.”
“I have only heard of one,” Wilde revealed, covering her mouth with the question card to whisper a name.
open image in galleryThrowing her hand up in disbelief, the Oscar-winning Vicky Cristina Barcelona actor reminded her co-star: “You have a microphone there, you have another one here.”
The Don’t Worry Darling director noted that it’s not something she’s seen with her “own eyes,” acknowledging that “there’s of course going to be rumors about everybody and everything.”
Wilde noted, however, that back in old Hollywood, they “had a lot of swinging parties.”
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Cruz reiterated that she didn’t know of any real-life Hollywood swingers herself, but would like to know.
“So let’s invest some of our time in finding out if that’s true,” she quipped, with Wilde agreeing that she was “open to that. I like that mission.”
The Invite, out in U.S. theaters July 10, is already generating major Oscar buzz, as critics are raving about its “zest” and “savage” humor.
It marks Wilde’s third-directed feature film, and comes four years after her divisive sci-fi thriller Don’t Worry Darling and seven years after her directorial debut, the critically acclaimed comedy-drama Booksmart (2019).
Speaking to The Independent in a new interview about the movie, Wilde declared that “relationships don’t have to be embarrassing.”
“But they’re no longer required,” she argued. “A boyfriend is no longer required, which I think is a good evolution.”