Olivia Wilde: 'Social media will ruin the art of filmmaking'

Olivia Wilde has warned that social media may damage the art of filmmaking by making directors too focused on their public image.

The Booksmart and Don't Worry Darling director became the focus of intense online scrutiny herself after embarking on a relationship with pop star and actor Harry Styles when they worked together on the latter movie.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actress turned filmmaker warned that the scrutiny of social media will lead to the death of riskier artistic choices in cinema - as filmmakers will be worried online backlashes will damage their image.

"Directors have to decide at a certain point do you want to be a celebrity or an artist," she said at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

"Because of social media, it's becoming even more combined to something that is quite dangerous for the art form," the 40-year-old explained.

"When you conflate filmmaking or acting with large scale acceptance, you immediately cut off every opportunity to do any risky work. So it was important to me to never become overly focused on being accepted or loved," Wilde advised.

The star went on to say that at the moment she is particularly interested in world cinema as it is, "not dominated by social media and clichés."