Olivia Wilde’s upcoming directorial effort Don’t Worry Darling has had a turbulent roller coaster of attention. The film would generate good early buzz before any footage was shown due to the list of talent behind it and talk of the film’s intentions of displaying steamy sexuality between co-stars Florence Pugh and Harry Styles. After the audience’s curiosity would peak, that’s when the attention it had garnered would take a turn.
Don’t Worry Darling is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival, and there are already many questions people will want to ask at the press conference even before seeing one second of the finished film. The drama surrounding the movie is potentially more interesting than the drama in the movie itself. According to THR, Wilde and the two leads are set to make appearances at the festival and will undoubtedly have to field some difficult questions as behind-the-scenes controversies overshadow the film.
Things started to go sour back in April when Wilde was presenting a first look of the movie at CinemaCon. While on stage, Wilde was blindsided when she was served with divorce papers from ex-husband Jason Sudeikis. Then, it was revealed that Pugh would only make one promotional appearance for the film, which happens to be at this festival. Many have speculated that this is because Pugh had had a falling out with Wilde over her disgust with the alleged on-set affair Wilde had with Styles which brought tension behind the scenes, especially since Sudeikis would visit with their kids. Pugh also has not promoted the movie on her social media.
Recently, Wilde was quoted as saying that she had fired actor Shia LaBeouf from the film due to him making Pugh “feel unsafe” and gave his part to Styles. LaBeouf would rebuff. According to Shia, he quit the film, and not long after, a video message Wilde sent to Shia begging him to stay on the movie had gotten leaked online.
Currently, no one has seen the film. The burning question is how the stars are planning to handle this controversy that looms over it. There is no doubt Wilde, in particular, is working on her PR now that she was caught giving a deceptive statement and had gathered negative reactions to her treatment of her former marriage. Popcorn anyone?
Don’t Worry Darling opens on September 23.