Olivia Wilde Says It’s Getting Harder to Find Faces That Move

Olivia Wilde is calling out the impossible standard Hollywood places on women’s faces: look smooth, look natural and still be able to move. In a recent interview with Vogue, the 42-year-old actress and director opened up about that tension, sharing how familiar it feels from both sides of the camera.

“It’s interesting because, as a director, I now am constantly searching for actresses who can still move their faces, and it’s not easy,” she told the outlet. She seemed to be referring to the “frozen” look that can happen when neurotoxins limit more facial movement than intended.

Still, Wilde made it clear she understands the pressure behind those choices. “I am a product of the same machine,” she continued. “I am under the same pressures. I get it.” She has also experienced the other side of that scrutiny: “I’ve had the thing of people being like, ‘She looks old and dead and awful.’ And you’re like, ‘F—k! How do you win? It’s impossible.’”

Though Wilde’s interview is just days old, the conversation isn’t new. More than a decade ago, Kate Winslet raised a similar concern about the effects of neurotoxins on facial expression. “It goes against my morals, the way that my parents brought me up, and what I consider to be natural beauty. I will never give in,” she told The Telegraph in 2011. “I am an actress; I don’t want to freeze the expression of my face.”

What’s worth noting, though, is that neurotoxin injections do not always result in a “frozen” look, and suggesting that they always do can be misleading. “A patient can avoid getting the ‘frozen look’ by choosing an injector with adequate training and experience with injecting neuromodulators,” Miami plastic surgeon G. Jackie Yee, MD, previously told NewBeauty. “Each state has different laws and rules as to who is legally allowed to purchase and inject FDA-approved neurotoxins.”

“If someone has previously been treated with neurotoxins, I always ask what their experience was pertaining to pain, duration, muscle contraction, the frozen look, brow heaviness, brow lifting, wrinkle correction and wrinkle worsening,” Dr. Yee continued. “I think communication between patients and their injectors is one of the most important aspects to ensuring the outcome is a success.”