The seemingly straightforward ploy zigzags of course, punctuated by drugs, lust, and heartache more authentic and poignant than most teen films muster. She hatches a plan: The pair will make an appearance at their first high school party to prove they are, in fact, “smart and fun,” thereby accomplishing “what took them four years … in one night.” Type-A Molly has a crisis of faith when she learns that their peers, who she was certain were academic slackers, got into the same high-ranking colleges she and Amy did, despite partying. The film, which premiered to rave reviews at the South by Southwest festival in Texas in March, follows high-achieving, socially conscious best friends Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) through their last day of high school. For Wilde, it had to speak to today’s issues that face women, such as the wave of restrictive abortion laws being passed in various states. “That’s how I fell in love with filmmaking, and I just wanted to make my first film a homage to the films that brought me into this business and made me want to be a storyteller.”īut it couldn’t just be funny. “I fell in love with movies because of the high school canon … all those incredible generational anthems,” said Wilde, 35, citing Amy Heckerling’s “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Clueless,” and John Hughes’ “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” as favorites. As an activist for social justice, she jumped at the chance to combine the teen comedies she loved growing up with the message she espouses with her directorial debut “Booksmart,” which opened Friday. Wilde is a great film beauty, but was never just another pretty face.

For Olivia Wilde, the challenge of combining high-school hijinks with a serious statement on “the war on women” was too good to resist.

Olivia wilde young