In the era of incessant sequels and superhero IP, it’s refreshing that a film with a modest $20ish million budget can dominate the zeitgeist. Of course, in the case of Olivia Wilde’s psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling, it hasn’t exactly been for the intended reasons. The movie, which stars Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, and Chris Pine, played at the illustrious Venice Film Festival, and though it received a lengthy standing ovation, there was plenty of rumored chaos afoot, the result of a crescendoing PR mess that’s been building for weeks.
While much of the drama surrounding the film’s Venice appearance has involved subliminal social media messages and slights with plausible deniability, the internet has fixated on one particular clip, Zaprudering it with staggering precision. Some think that Styles spat on Pine while returning to his seat at the festival–the perceived evidence being a brief sound in the video that could be loogie-hocking (or quite literally anything else), and the way Pine abruptly stops applauding and gives an incredulous smirk. This would, again, allegedly, be in reaction to Pine’s 10,000 yard stare during a particularly rough Harry Styles comment during the press conference, which launched countless memes. Pine has since denied, in a statement provided to Variety through his rep, that any such bizarre event happened.
Much of the controversy around Don’t Worry Darling began in late August, when Wilde told Variety she had fired Shia LaBeouf as the male lead because his “combative energy” was not conducive to the kind of “safe, trusting environment” she wanted to foster on set. LaBeouf denied that was why he didn’t stick with the film, telling Variety he left of his own volition due to conflicts over rehearsal time. LaBeouf also shared a video Wilde sent him in which she sought to get him back involved with the movie and refers to Pugh as “Miss Flo.” Pugh does use the nickname “Flo,” but the context here makes the moniker come off condescendingly. (In the time since leaving Don’t Worry Darling, LaBeouf was sued by ex-girlfriend FKA Twigs over allegations of physical and emotional abuse.)
Rumors of tension between Pugh and Wilde had already been brewing, after fans interpreted Pugh’s lack of social media posts about Don’t Worry Darling as indifference to the film. She even seemingly pushed back against some of Wilde’s comments about her creative intent behind the camera. In an interview with Vogue, Wilde highlighted the film’s female oral sex scene as a highlight, saying she wants audiences to “realize how rarely they see female hunger, and specifically this type of female pleasure.” Pugh, shortly after, told Harper’s Bazaar, “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.”
At their Venice press conference on September 5, the moderator stymied a reporter’s attempt to get Wilde to address the LaBeouf controversy. The director was asked about rumored tensions with Pugh, to which she said, “As for all the endless tabloid gossip out there, the Internet feeds itself. I don’t feel the need to contribute; I think it’s sufficiently self-nourished,” per Variety. Wilde also praised Pugh, calling her “amazing in the film,” and saying she was “honored” to work with the young Academy Award nominee.
Pugh did not attend the press conference, allegedly due to a late-arriving flight–she’s currently shooting Dune 2 in Budapest–but that only led to more speculation about her purported dissatisfaction with Wilde and the film. The rumored drama even spread to their respective teams: Pugh’s stylist captioned an Instagram post of the actresses’ “Miss Flo,” while Wilde’s offered a cryptic, “There’s always more to the story…” on hers.
When Pugh did arrive in Venice, she instantly set the internet alight with an eye-catching purple Valentino outfit and an Aperol spritz in hand, looking like she was levitating above the drama surrounding the project. In her own red carpet interview, Pugh was asked what she found “inspiring” about working on Don’t Worry Darling, and said, “I think it’s very very inspiring to see a woman push back and say ‘no’, and question everything. It’s very exciting to see a woman do that on and off camera,” per the Independent.
Don’t Worry Darling focuses on a young married couple in the ‘50s, played by Pugh and Styles. When they move to an eerily utopian town in California for Styles’ work, Pugh begins to unravel a dangerous mystery that runs through the whole community. While the headline machine keeps churning, reviews for the movie are trickling in, with many pointedly praising Pugh’s performance and the film’s eerie visuals, while others critiqued the plot and offered more mixed-to-positive responses to Styles’ first leading role.