Wilde laughs off nudity

Olivia Wilde says stripping down in her new movie was a “really silly” moment.

The Tron actress stars in Paul Haggis’ The Third Person, about a short story writer involved in an affair with a married man.

One scene shows her character knocking on Liam Neeson’s hotel room door while wearing nothing more than a bathrobe, which he asks her to take off just before he shuts the door, sending her character scurrying down the hallway fully nude.

But Olivia insists the scene was so ridiculous she felt zero anxiety about filming it.

“This scene was a really silly, funny [one]… the stress sort of evaporated. It had nothing to do with being sexy,” she explained to the New York Post’s PageSix at the Cinema Society premiere.

Olivia, 30, has meanwhile heaped praise on the movie’s writer and director Paul. In a recent interview with Variety, the star credits the filmmaker with being one of the few who allows women to take risks with their characters.

“He’s the only male writer in Hollywood doing that,” she insisted. “He has a lot of respect for women and writes them well.”

Giving actresses that kind of dynamic range is intensely important for the star, who has worked on her share of action films and big budget movies.

But she’s said she believes a major shift is coming at Hollywood studios in the wake of so many successful female-driven films.

“This is what the studios need to realise, and are realising, with the success of Hunger Games, Twilight and The Fault in our Stars,” she said. “It’s so clear that audiences will flock to see female-driven films. It’s not a niche market. We aren’t a minority. I think [the perception] is changing.”