UPDATE: Shia LaBeouf has denied that he was fired from Don’t Worry, Darling by Olivia Wilde, instead saying that he chose to drop out of the project due to a lack of rehearsal time. He provided Variety with text, video, and email to back up his version of the story, and you can read about those HERE. In the email he writes, “firing me never took place, Olivia. And while I fully understand the attractiveness of pushing that story because of the current social landscape, the social currency that brings. It is not the truth.”
More on this to come, but in the meantime Don’t Worry Darling is still set to debut at the Venice Film Festival next week,
The original article follows:
Back in April of 2020, it was announced that Shia LaBeouf (Fury) would be starring alongside Florence Pugh (Midsommar) in director Olivia Wilde’s psychological thriller Don’t Worry, Darling. Then in September of that year, it was said that LaBeouf had to drop out of the project due to “scheduling conflicts” and would be replaced by recording artist Harry Styles (Dunkirk). But as it turns out, there were no scheduling conflicts. In a new interview with Variety, Wilde admitted that she fired LaBeouf.
Wilde said,
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. … A lot came to light after this happened that really troubled me, in terms of his behavior. I find myself just really wishing him health and evolution because I believe in restorative justice. But for our film, what we really needed was an energy that was incredibly supportive. Particularly with a movie like this, I knew that I was going to be asking Florence to be in very vulnerable situations, and my priority was making her feel safe and making her feel supported.”
Written by Carey and Shane Van Dyke, with rewrites by Wilde and Katie Silberman, Don’t Worry, Darling is set “in an isolated, utopian community in the 1950s California desert”. It’s about what happens when “a 1950s housewife living with her husband in a utopian experimental community begins to worry that his glamorous company may be hiding disturbing secrets.” Here’s the lengthy official synopsis:
Alice and Jack are lucky to be living in the idealized community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families. The 1950s societal optimism espoused by their CEO, Frank —equal parts corporate visionary and motivational life coach— anchors every aspect of daily life in the tight-knit desert utopia.
While the husbands spend every day inside the Victory Project Headquarters, working on the “development of progressive materials,” their wives —including Frank’s elegant partner, Shelley —get to spend their time enjoying the beauty, luxury, and debauchery of their community. Life is perfect, with every resident’s needs met by the company. All they ask in return is discretion and unquestioning commitment to the Victory cause.
But when cracks in their idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice can’t help questioning exactly what they’re doing in Victory and why. Just how much is Alice willing to lose to expose what’s really going on in this paradise?
Pugh plays Alice, with Styles as her picture-perfect husband Jack, who happens to be hiding a dark secret from her. Chris Pine plays Frank, “the revered leader of a mysterious worksite where all the men work just outside of town”. Gemma Chan is Frank’s elegant partner Shelley. KiKi Layne and Nick Kroll are also in the Don’t Worry, Darling cast, and Wilde reserved a “key supporting role” for herself. Pine has described the story as “so compelling and so fun and so dark and twisted.”
Wilde and Silberman produced Don’t Worry, Darling with Roy Lee and Miri Yoon of Vertigo Entertainment. Catherine Hardwicke executive produced alongside the Van Dykes. Richard Brener, Daria Cercek, and Celia Khong oversaw the project for New Line Cinema.
Are you looking forward to Don’t Worry, Darling? What do you think of Shia LaBeouf being fired and replaced by Harry Styles? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
Don’t Worry, Darling is getting a theatrical release on September 23rd.