Autumn de Wilde's secret for directing your first film at 49? Keep whiskey in your cane
When her arthritis got so bad that she needed a cane, Autumn de Wilde didn't just pick one up at the pharmacy. She went to a 19th century Victorian umbrella shop in London and told the shopkeeper: "I need your weirdest cane."
"Check this out," she said, unscrewing the top of the French walking stick, supposedly modeled after one once owned by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Inside was a thin vial containing Japanese whiskey, bookended by a couple of shot glasses. "These need a little wash, because we've partaken recently. It actually only holds a shot, which is so disappointing. I thought it was so much more when I bought it."
The idea of following standard protocol is anathema to De Wilde. Every day, she dresses in a uniform - some version of a suit with a broad-brimmed felt hat. (She says her style is a mix of Paddington Bear and Oscar Wilde.) Her friends refer to her as "the rock 'n' roll Martha Stewart" because at parties, she gifts everyone with handmade favors. Once, after spending two sleepless nights creating 150 paper robot
