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Florence Pugh and Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry Darling” was meant to be Wilde’s triumphant directorial follow up to her debut “Booksmart“. A star studded drama led by one of Hollywood’s brightest and most talented rising actresses, the Oscar nominated, Pugh.
Instead, the film has been mired in a never ending series of controversies, stemming from none other than Wilde herself due to her conflicting statements both in public and in private, which have then been made public.
To begin with, fans of Florence Pugh noticed that the actress had not been engaging with many of the social media posts being made about the film by Wilde. This then led to the first bout of speculation at a possible distance or conflict between director and star. As it is not uncommon for stars and directors to interact on social media as part of promotion for their project. And Pugh, in particular, who has always had a good on set reputation, and who up until now, had usually promoted her upcoming projects, had been noticeably silent in regards to “Don’t Worry Darling”.
Then reports started surfacing, attributed to an on-set insider for the movie, alleging that Wilde and her lead/co-star/boyfriend Harry Styles, who stars as the male lead of the movie playing the husband of Pugh’s Alice, were regularly seen on-set being “all over each other“. Which the insider then alleged did not go down well with Pugh as Wilde was, allegedly, still in a relationship with fellow actor and father of her children, Jason Sudeikis.
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In addition to this, it has also been alleged that Wilde’s constant praising of Styles and his performance in the movie on her social media channels in the days just before and after production wrapped on the movie did not sit well with members of the production. As they felt that Styles, who is still a fledgling actor with only a handful of small acting roles to his name, was being singled out over his co-stars, Pugh, Chris Pine, Gemma Chan, and Nick Kroll, who are all established and celebrated Hollywood stars.
This was then followed in the time after by, arguably, a PR course correct by Wilde, with every subsequent social media post she would make praising Pugh heavily for her performance and work ethic with comments like:
“Watching this woman work was such a f***ing thrill! Cannot wait to show you more. @ florencepugh @ dontworrydarling” – Olivia Wilde on her Instagram – July 2021
“I can’t say how honoured I am to have her as our lead. She’s amazing in the film.” – Olivia Wilde speaking at a press conference for Don’t Worry Darling at the 79th Venice International Film Festival – September 2022
Then, courting further controversy around the movie, Wilde announced in August 2022 as part of her cover story for Variety that she fired the movie’s original male star, Shia LaBeouf, after it was previously stated in the press that LaBeouf had to leave the production due to scheduling conflicts. Wilde was quoted as saying:
“I say this as someone who is such an admirer of his work. His process was not conducive to the ethos that I demand in my productions. He has a process that, in some ways, seems to require a combative energy, and I don’t personally believe that is conducive to the best performances. I believe that creating a safe, trusting environment is the best way to get people to do their best work. Ultimately, my responsibility is to the production and to the cast to protect them. That was my job.”
It wasn’t long though before LaBeouf publicly fired back at this statement, confirming firstly that he Did leave due to scheduling conflicts and then dropping the bombshell that Wilde actually begged him to stay on the production, completely contrary to her statement above. Then, to back up his statement further, LaBeouf released to Variety, text messages sent to him by Wilde which read:
“Thanks for letting me in on your thought process. I know that isn’t fun. Doesn’t feel good to say no to someone, and I respect your honesty. I’m honored you were willing to go there with me, for me to tell a story with you. I’m gutted because it could have been something special. I want to make clear how much it means to me that you trust me. That’s a gift I’ll take with me.”
He then followed this with a video message sent to him by Wilde while she was driving, wherein she states:
““I feel like I’m not ready to give up on this yet, and I, too, am heartbroken and I want to figure this out,” she says in the video. “You know, I think this might be a bit of a wake-up call for Miss Flo, and I want to know if you’re open to giving this a shot with me, with us. If she really commits, if she really puts her mind and heart into it at this point and if you guys can make peace — and I respect your point of view, I respect hers — but if you guys can do it, what do you think? Is there hope? Will you let me know?””
While I can’t include it here, I will say that this video has also made its way online should any of you reading, wish to view it for yourselves.
In addition to these controversies, there has also been controversy over the repeated discussion and heavy emphasis being placed on the movie’s sexual scenes, especially in the trailer. Something that, again, has been fuelled by Wilde herself, who has repeatedly said that she wants it to be a focal point in discussions of the movie.
This opinion, and fuelling of this discussion by Wilde, can be argued as being another sticking point in her professional relationship with Pugh, who, during her feature interview for Harper’s Bazaar in August 2022 frustratedly stated that:
“When it’s reduced to your sex scenes, or to watch the most famous man in the world go down on someone, it’s not why we do it. It’s not why I’m in this industry,”
“Obviously, the nature of hiring the most famous pop star in the world, you’re going to have conversations like that. That’s just not what I’m going to be discussing because [this movie is] bigger and better than that. And the people who made it are bigger and better than that.”
This then brings us up to date, with the film now set to debut at the prestigious 79th Venice International Film Festival, with rumours persisting that due to the conflict between Wilde and Pugh, Pugh will be doing a very limited press engagement for the film.
With Pugh then not being in attendance at the movie’s press conference at the festival, with air flight times being cited as the reason. As Pugh was flying in from the set of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Part Two.
However, during the ensuing press conference, many people, both journalists and general public, have noticed and commented on the fact that co-star Chris Pine, during a speech from Styles about the movie and his own performance in it, can be seen to be very silent and distant, with the veteran actor arguably doing his best to metaphorically bite his tongue about the comments from his fledgling actor co-star.
After this, Pugh then arrived in Venice and attended the red carpet with her fellow stars and director of the movie, but is very noticeably distanced from Wilde, rather than standing side by side with her as director and star so often do for premieres.
Don’t Worry Darling is due for release globally between 22nd September 2022 and 28th September 2022 depending on which country you reside in.
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