Director, actress and producer Olivia Wilde was in the spotlight today at the Red Sea Film Festival, taking a look back at her career and sharing insight into how she chooses projects, while warning against conflating art and acceptance, and advocating for women to be given more opportunities to step behind the camera.

Wilde, who started out as an assistant casting director and moved into acting on such series as The O.C. and House, and has now been acting in films for 20 years, made her feature directing debut with 2019’s Booksmart, following it up with 2022’s Don’t Worry Darling. She’s next attached to direct Avengelyne, a feature adaptation of the 1990s comic book character, and Universal’s Christmas comedy Naughty, both of which will be produced by Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap. She’ll also star in Gregg Araki’s thriller I Want Your Sex.

And yet, the hyphenate told Red Sea attendees,...