“Was that my best-ever look? No.”

Olivia Wilde addresses comparisons to Lord of the Rings’ Gollum after viral interview: ‘I’m not dead’

"Was that my best-ever look? No."

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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May 3, 2026 8:22 p.m. ET

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Olivia Wilde and Gollum in 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'. Credit:

Miikka Skaffari/Getty;Warner Bros.

- Olivia Wilde has responded to comparisons of her to Gollum from *The* *Lord of the Rings *after a recent interview captured her at an unflattering angle.

- "Listen, that is a fish-eye lens," Wilde joked in an Instagram story post on Sunday. "I admit — is that my best angle? Was that my best-ever look? No."

- The interview was conducted on Friday at the San Francisco International Film Festival premiere of her new film, *The Invite*, by local outlet *SFGate*.

Olivia Wilde is making light of an interview that has gone viral for capturing her at an unflattering angle.

"Care to address recent rumors you're a resurrected corpse?" Wilde's brother, Charlie Cockburn, asked her in a video shared to her Instagram stories on Sunday. At the top of the video, Wilde pinned a particularly unglamorous shot of her from the interview next to a shot of Gollum, the motion-capture-animated creature from *The Lord of the Rings** *franchise.

"Listen, that is a fish-eye lens," Wilde laughed, looking cozy bundled in a hoodie and buried beneath multiple blankets. "I admit: Is that my best angle? Was that my best-ever look? No."

Olivia Wilde reacts to being compared to 'Lord of the Rings' character Gollum.

Olivia Wilde/Instagram

"It's startling. It's a startling image," Wilde laughed, echoing her brother's own giggles. "It was a fish-eye lens and not the best. I don't know why I was so close to the camera. I didn't have to be!"

Wilde finally summed her visage from the interview up as "not the truth," before facetiously asking Charlie, "Do you have any more questions? I'm not dead."

The interview in question occurred on Friday, at the San Francisco International Film Festival premiere of her new film, *The Invite*. Speaking with *SFGate*, Wilde enthused about how critical the San Francisco setting was for the cheeky new film she stars in and directed, based on a script by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones.

"I do love the city, and it's so telling when a script sets a very specific location," she said. "It really does make sense that this particular group is from here."

The comment section nevertheless flooded with jokes pointing out how uncomfortably close the camera got to the star, with some adding jokes like, "She looks as if she had found the one ring."

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*The Invite* costars Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton, with Rogen playing Wilde's beau and the latter actors portraying another couple.

The film is Wilde's first directorial effort since 2022's surreal thriller *Don't Worry Darling*. Wilde teared up at the uproarious reaction *The Invite* received when it premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where Norton praised "the grace and wisdom with which Olivia gave that performance and directed us."

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