Don’t Worry Darling finally premiered at the Venice Film Festival; however, the film has been overshadowed by all the controversy surrounding the cast formed by Florence Pugh, Chris Pine, and Harry Styles, the latter two starred at the moment that has already gone viral.
The incident occurred during the presentation of the film directed by Olivia Wilde (Styles’ girlfriend), in which Harry stood up to receive recognition from the audience who cheered him, and when he returned to his place, you can see that something off happens between Styles and Chris Pine who was sitting next to Olivia Wilde.
Although the video is not very clear about what happened, it quickly went viral since people are convinced that Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine’s hand, who immediately reacts with a funny face. Now, whether he spit on him or not, the face of both celebrities denotes discomfort with each other.
The clip was uploaded on different social platforms, where users commented on Styles’ attitude, who seems to be disliked by his colleagues. On the other hand, some defended the singer arguing that these are only rumors and that he is an excellent and professional artist.
The controversies behind Don’t Worry Darling
This was just the straw that broke the camel’s back for this film, as far as acknowledging Wilde, the film has been embroiled in several controversies. The first came when Shia LaBeouf was fired from the lead role, which was later taken by Harry Styles. According to the director, her boyfriend was first chosen for the character, but due to scheduling issues, he could not fulfill, which is why they selected the Transformers actor.
Wilde later told Variety magazine that she decided to fire LaBeouf because she did not like the way he worked: “I say this as someone who is a great admirer of your work,” she said. “His process was not conducive to the spirit I demand in my productions. He has a process that, somehow, seems to require combative energy, and I don’t think it’s conducive to the best performances.”
Months later LaBeouf presented evidence that he resigned because he was on bad terms with Florence Pugh. Here comes the other controversy since the English actress has refused to promote this film in which she has the main lead. She didn’t even show up to the press conference at the Venice Film Festival.
Although Pugh hasn’t addressed any possible issue within the production or the team, it is speculated that she has a very bad relationship with Wilde because she is not happy with the relationship she has with Styles. Besides, the actress confessed in an interview that she was annoyed that the whole film revolves around the British actor. She even pointed out to the media, how the interest is only focused on the sex scenes she has with Styles, instead of the work that the whole team has been doing for months.
Finally, Harry has been criticized for some unfortunate comments he made about how “he didn’t know what he was doing when he was acting,” and when he was questioned about the movie, he gave a very unintelligent answer.
All in all, it seems that all the drama has affected the reputation of the film as it was just announced that the critics gave Don’t Worry Darling a terrible score of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Story originally published in Spanish in Cultura Colectiva