I’m Worried About “Don’t Worry Darling”

SPOILERS AHEAD

American director and actress Olivia Wilde’s new movie Don’t Worry Darling has hit theaters just a few days ago on September 23rd, 2022. This psychological thriller sees a 1950’s all-American couple Alice and Jack (played by Florence Pugh and Harry Styles respectively) live out their seemingly idyllic and perfect lives in the idealized town of Victory, California. Everyday Jack and the men of Victory go out to Victory Headquarters located in the surrounding desert to work and Alice along with all the other women lead lives of luxury at home. However, a wedge begins to drive itself between Alice and Jack as Alice becomes more and more infatuated with the company Victory and its shady dealings in the desert. Alice begins to find cracks in her perfect reality through hallucinations and the ramblings of a woman named Margaret who the rest of the community has shunned. The charming and mysterious founder of Victory, Frank (Chris Pine), is hot on Alice’s tail, desperate to keep the truth hidden from her and everyone else. In order to find out the sinister motivation behind Victory and all that it stands for, Alice must defy and reject everything she’s been conditioned to accept.

Now, I’m writing this on September 26th, 2022, and the film has only managed to gross $30 million, 5 million shy of its $35 million budget. In economic terms, the movie is flopping. Actually, Rotten Tomatoes has given the movie a rating of only 38%, so the movie is kind of flopping on all fronts. Oh- and- all of its cast members hate each other!

Okay so I was definitely exaggerating a bit. They all don’t completely hate each other. In fact, Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles have been together since 2021. (Watching your boyfriend make out with another actress right in front of you must be tough but I guess Wilde is managing pretty well). Anyway, in order to get to really excavate matters between cast members, we’ll have to go back in time quite a bit.

Long, long ago, in a Hollywood far, far away, American actor and heartthrob Shia LaBeouf was initially supposed to take on the role of Jack. Obviously, that didn’t work out. Why? Well, both Wilde and LaBeouf had something to say about that. Wilde claimed that she fired LaBeouf after he presented toxic and aggressive behavior toward the crew on set, most notably toward star Florence Pugh. Basically, she was protecting her cast and crew from his unsettling demeanor.

LaBeouf, who initially didn’t say anything, later came out claiming that he quit the movie because he felt that actors were not given enough time to prepare for the role.

Fans initially sided with Wilde, praising her for being such a good director for protecting Pugh. However, everything backfired when LaBeouf released a video sent from Wilde to him.

At this point in time, the proverbial doo-doo hits the fan. In the video, Wilde is in the car filming herself while driving. Wilde says that she’s not ready to give up on LaBeouf yet and that she still wants him to be Jack (probably because she doesn’t want to watch her boyfriend make out with someone else). She also mentions that the whole ordeal might ‘be a bit of a wakeup call for Miss Flo.’ Yes. She actually called Florence Pugh ‘Miss Flo.’ Pugh’s stylist Rebecca Corbin-Murray clapped back by posting photos from the movie premiere and captioning it ‘Miss Flo’ on her Instagram. Fans, including myself, adored Pugh’s rebellion against Wilde.

When asked if she had heard anything about this drama, Lafayette junior Gracie Gregory had this say, “Obviously Harry Styles is right. Harry Styles is always the best!”

Lafayette Junior and avid fan Lexi King, when asked who she supports said, “I mean, I feel like I have to support Florence in this case. I don’t know, I love Harry, but I gotta stick to my girl!”

One more person who had something to say was Lafayette Junior Brandon Portillo. “Let me tap into my soul- don’t write that this is off the record! (Just joking!) I think the whole situation is unprofessional. During the shooting of a movie, a director should not be in a relationship with one of the main cast members. Also, #JusticeForFlorence.”

Pugh, at the premiere of Don’t Worry Darling at the Venice Film Festival, seemed friendly with her fellow cast but still kept a good distance away. Surprisingly, Harry Styles stayed far away from Wilde. Whether or not this is due to personal reasons or to try to diffuse the drama is unknown. It was at this event as well that Styles was accused of spitting on Chris Pine who played the antagonist Frank. Styles has gone on to jokingly deny and dismiss the rumors, while Pine has made no statement so far.

Olivia Wilde truly is in hot water and I think she knows it. From her movie flopping, to blatantly disrespecting Pugh by calling her an inappropriate pet name, Wilde’s reputation has certainly taken a blow. Whether Wilde will be able to recover is anyone’s guess.