BOOKSMART Celebrates Screen Queens

There are numerous reasons to celebrate this weekend's release of Booksmart: It's a heartfelt and hilarious entry in the teen comedy genre; a film that explores friendship with a diverse and delightful cast; and it marks the feature directorial debut of Olivia Wilde, an actress whose work we've admired for years, from her early days on The O.C. to her roles in Drinking Buddies and Vinyl (gone too soon!). Wilde follows in the righteous footsteps of several actresses who made the transition to directing – a number that will hopefully continue to grow as Hollywood rectifies its industry-wide gender parity. \

To celebrate Wilde's film, we're honoring some of our favorite women who made the leap from working in front of the camera to operating it in this special video: 

Wilde joins an illustrious group of talented actresses who became directors over several decades in Hollywood. That list includes Ida Lupino, who was one of the only female directors working in Hollywood in the 1950s. And Barbra Streisand, the multi-hyphenate powerhouse who ascended to new levels of greatness when she directed Yentl and won a Golden Globe for her efforts. There's also Jodie Foster, who made the leap to the director's chair with a formidable acting resumé under her belt and whose directing credits include Little Man Tate, The Beaver, and Black Mirror. And then there's Wilde's contemporaries, like Julie Delpy, the star of Richard Linklater's Before trilogy, who directed a pair of fantastic indies co-starring Adam Goldberg and Chris Rock (2 Days in Paris and 2 Days in New York, respectively); and Lake Bell, the hilarious and talented writer and actress who delivered a hell of a directorial debut with In a World... 

It's a great club to join, and we're thrilled to see Wilde enter the fold with Booksmart. Featuring fantastic performances from Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever, along with a stellar supporting ensemble that inclues Billie Lourd, Skyler Gisondo, Jessica Williams, and (many) more, Booksmart is an instant teen comedy classic and a hilarious female coming-of-age story. Go see it this weekend and show your support for Screen Queens!