Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite” Premieres to Ovation Amid ICE Protest at Sundance

Olivia Wilde’s new film “The Invite” premiered to a standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, but it was the “ICE OUT” pin on her dress—and her searing comments about federal immigration enforcement—that turned the red carpet into a political flashpoint.theguardian +1

The dinner-party comedy, directed by and starring Wilde alongside Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, debuted at the Eccles Center Theater in Park City as part of the 2026 festival, drawing raves from critics who called it a sharp, funny marital dramedy and a “winner” for the director.theguardian +2 Yet the celebration unfolded under the shadow of unrest in Minneapolis after two high‑profile killings by immigration and border agents this month.latimes

A Standing Ovation, Then a Rebuke of ICE

“The Invite,” co-written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack and shot in San Francisco in May 2025, follows two couples whose dinner spirals into revelations about sex, marriage and monogamy.sfgate +2 Reviewers at outlets including The Guardian, IndieWire and The Hollywood Reporter praised the A‑list ensemble and described the film as a crackling, sometimes darker relationship comedy, with some calling it a “return to form” for Wilde as a director after the scrutiny surrounding “Don’t Worry Darling.”theguardian +3

After the screening, the film received an extended standing ovation that left Wilde visibly emotional onstage, with People and Entertainment Weekly reporting that she wiped away tears as the Eccles crowd cheered.people +1 That reception, at Sundance’s final edition in Park City before the festival moves to Boulder in 2027, positioned “The Invite” as one of this year’s breakout titles.people +2

Pins, Protests and a Festival on Edge

Hours before the premiere, news broke that 37‑year‑old protester Alex Pretti had been shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis on January 24, less than three weeks after Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer in the same city on January 7.latimes In Park City, Wilde appeared on the red carpet wearing an “ICE OUT” pin and later told reporters she was “appalled and sickened,” adding, “People are being murdered… I don’t want to normalize seeing people being murdered on the internet. It’s hideous.”foxnews +1 She acknowledged the limits of the gesture, saying that “in a tiny way, wearing a pin does nothing but at least we’re able to show support.”latimes

Wilde was not alone. Natalie Portman, at Sundance with “The Gallerist,” also wore “ICE OUT” and “Be Good” pins, the latter referencing Renee Nicole Good, and said the “brutality of ICE… has to stop immediately.”latimes +1 Edward Norton, who co‑stars in “The Invite,” used a festival Q&A to denounce what he called “an illegal army… being mounted against U.S. citizens.”hollywoodreporter Small anti‑ICE marches threaded through Park City’s Main Street, while festival organizers navigated heightened tensions after Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost said he was punched at a festival party Friday night.latimes +1

Conservative-leaning outlets cast the pins as another example of Hollywood activism and questioned whether symbolic protests at a film festival have real impact.foxnews Within Sundance’s independent film community, however, many artists argued that ignoring the Minneapolis killings would be unconscionable, framing the festival as a rare platform where national anger and cinematic storytelling could collide.latimes +1

The Bigger Picture

The “ICE OUT” pins at Sundance underlined a widening gap between on‑the‑ground protests in Minneapolis and the rarefied space of a premier indie festival, raising questions about what it means to celebrate art amid state violence. For Wilde, whose film was being hailed as both commercially viable and creatively assured, the choice to weld a career‑defining premiere to a pointed political stance suggested that, at least this year, Sundance’s most closely watched red carpet was also a protest line.