Olivia Wilde is heading straight from awards buzz for The Invite into her next project, confirming that Universal has greenlit her holiday comedy Naughty with Jennifer Aniston and Peter Dinklage set to star.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet for Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex, in which she stars, Wilde described Naughty as a long delayed passion project finally coming together.
“I can’t believe it. This is a project we’ve been working on for years; it’s a passion project and I fought and fought and fought to get this made,” she said.
“I feel so grateful that we get to make it because it is a movie that aims to be in the spirit of Rob Reiner, a comedy that has a tremendous amount of heart at its core.”
She added that, while it shares some DNA with The Invite‘s blend of comedy and tragedy, the new film represents a significant step up in scale: “It’s also a much bigger endeavor and is something that is way bigger than anything I’ve ever taken on. I feel very honoured in this day and age to be able to direct an original theatrical comedy for a studio at this level.”
Naughty follows Mallory, played by Aniston, a single mother whose only hope of securing custody of her son from her ex is to track down Santa Claus, played by Dinklage, and convince him to testify on her behalf at her divorce hearing.
Written by Jimmy Warden, the screenwriter behind Cocaine Bear, the project has been described in earlier reporting as blending the ensemble energy of Bridesmaids with the darker comic sensibilities of Bad Santa and Young Adult.
Naughty is dated for theatrical release on 5 November 2027.
