Seth Rogen and Edward Norton Explain Why They Loved Olivia Wilde’s Process on ‘The Invite’: ‘That Would Be Some Directors’ Nightmare’

All of Park City is buzzing about “The Invite,” Olivia Wilde‘s loose remake of the Spanish film “The People Upstairs” that sees two married couples hit a breaking point over the course of a dinner party. While the film was written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, the script was a collaborative process that saw the four actors (Wilde stars alongside Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penélope Cruz) develop their characters through a rehearsal process and shoot the film in sequence as if it was a play.

During the festival, Wilde, Rogen, and Norton stopped by the IndieWire Studio, presented by Dropbox, to break down the unconventional process that produced their breakout hit.

“I wanted to work with Olivia, I’m a huge fan of hers,” Rogen said of his initial attraction to the project. “And she described a process that I found to be incredibly appealing, where we would workshop the script and rehearse and shoot it in order all in one location. She was very nurturing of evolution within the film.”

Norton praised Wilde for embracing the collaborative process, noting that many directors wouldn’t be brave enough to embrace such an ambiguous situation.

“The rehearsal was not so much a rehearsal as an infusion,” Norton said. “It was Olivia extracting from the four of us the idea of who these people would specifically be, our version of them. It’s very unusual to be invited to create the chemistry of your characters… I think that would be some directors’ nightmare.”

Wilde explained that the film had many influences, including Mike Nichols and Nora Ephron, but the collaborative writing process and spontaneous shoot was partially inspired by the films of John Cassavetes.

“I think our approach was aiming for a Cassavetes-type experience of real collaboration,” she said. “The camera will find you, we have this extraordinary crew led by Adam Newport-Berra who’s the most extraordinary cinematographer. And this crew was so along for the ride with us, so emotionally invested in the story, that they were just prepared to catch what everyone was doing. It just felt led by performance in a very Cassavetes-like way.”  

Watch IndieWire’s complete conversation with Wilde, Rogen, and Norton above.