Olivia Wilde showed up to Sundance playing a character that can be summarized as: a provocative artist who hires a young man as her sexual muse.
The internet lit itself on fire before most people could even see a frame.
I Want Your Sex, Gregg Araki’s new film starring Wilde and Cooper Hoffman, premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 23. The title is doing exactly what it was built to do: travel faster than the movie.
Because it’s not subtle. It’s not trying to be subtle. It’s a title designed for screenshot culture, the kind that lands as a quote-tweet and starts a fight in the replies while everyone’s still asking the same question: “Wait, what is this movie actually about?”
What Actually Happens in the Movie
Cooper Hoffman plays Elliot, a fresh-faced new hire who lands a job with artist and provocateur Erika Tracy (Wilde). The setup hints at Elliot’s fantasies kicking in quickly once Erika taps him as her ‘sexual muse’. Then the premise tees up the tension. Being someone’s muse isn’t the same thing as having power.
Araki co-wrote the film with Karley Sciortino, and the official setup points toward a story that spirals into sex, obsession, power, betrayal, and murder. That is not a subtle cocktail either.
At the premiere Q&A, Wilde framed the whole thing around chemistry, saying she felt an immediate connection when she met Hoffman. Her quote was blunt and extremely meme-ready: “The second I met Cooper, I was like, ‘huh, I love you.’”
The cast is also built for festival chatter: Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders, Daveed Diggs, and Charli XCX are on the call sheet, which is a very specific kind of Sundance flex.
Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman in I Want Your Sex. Credit: Lacey Terrell, Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Why the Title Is a Conversation Grenade
The funniest part is that most of the internet hasn’t reacted to the movie yet. It’s reacting to the title’s vibe.
I Want Your Sex sounds like a dare. Or a threat. Or a message you would screenshot and send to your group chat with one word: “????”
So the discourse arrives right on schedule.
Some people hear “sexual muse” and file it under arthouse provocation. Others hear it and immediately start running a mental checklist. Age gaps. Power dynamics. Consent. Is the premise critique, or is it indulgence wearing critique as a trench coat?
And then there’s the third group, the one Sundance can always rely on. The people who recognize the real product here.
It’s not the film. It’s the argument about the film.
Sundance movies trend before most people can buy a ticket. A title drops, a logline spreads, and suddenly the movie becomes an online morality play. The audience is not watching the movie. The audience is watching each other react to the movie’s idea.
Sundance premieres now come with a second screening, the one happening online. Credit: César, via Wikimedia Commons.
Critics Already Picked Sides, Which Is the Whole Point
Early reviews are already splitting into two very Sundance camps.
One camp says Araki’s back and having fun. TheWrap calls it “frequently uproarious,” “sexy,” “silly,” and “sinister,” with Wilde and Hoffman as a strong comedic pairing.
The other camp likes Wilde’s performance more than the movie around her. The Guardian describes Wilde as “electric,” but argues the film is ultimately more suggestive than daring, and notes that, as of its Sundance premiere, it was still seeking distribution.
Both takes can be true, and neither changes the current reality: the title did the marketing before the film could.
What Sundance Actually Premiered
Araki and Sciortino wrote a movie about sex, power, and obsession. They named it I Want Your Sex and cast Olivia Wilde as the artist holding the leverage.
Sundance didn’t just premiere a film. It premiered a premise that can be summarized in one sentence and debated for two weeks. The explosion is still going.
Are you actually curious to see the movie, or are you just here for the argument?