Don't Worry Darling, Olivia Wilde's hotly anticipated thriller, might as well be titled Did Harry Styles Spit on Chris Pine? The film, once hailed as a possible Oscar contender, has quickly devolved into a controversy of epic proportions.
In the lead-up to the movie's Venice Film Festival premiere, Shia LaBeouf— the latest Hollywood abuser (alleged) to embark on a redemption tour — refuted Wilde's claims that she fired him from the cast. According to LaBeouf, he quit the production due to lack of rehearsal time.
Between both parties' opposing stories, as well as Wilde's recent assertion that she is "such an admirer" of LaBeouf's work, gave the internet a lot to unpack. But things were about to get a lot messier, thanks to a video of Wilde that surfaced online.
The clip in question shows the director asking LaBeouf to stay on and work things out with "Miss Flo," AKA Florence Pugh, who was uncomfortable about working with an alleged abuser (understandable!). In the video, Wilde essentially paints Pugh as difficult — but in an interview with Variety, Wilde said that her decision to fire LaBeouf was to ensure a "safe, trusting environment" for her cast.
By now, we know that things didn't work out for Miss Livia, who later re-cast Harry Styles in LaBeouf's role. Pugh has remained noticeably absent from most of the film's press tour.
The drama didn't end there. On Monday, onlookers quickly shifted their focus from Wilde, Pugh, and LaBeouf to Styles and Chris Pine.
At a press conference for the film, Pine was captured quietly raging while Styles proclaimed that his favorite part of the movie is that "it feels like a movie." Pine was photographed at a second junket "astral projecting," per Twitter.
Then came the moment that sent the internet on fire: at a screening, Styles appeared to spit on Pine's lap, launching rumors of their beef into the stratosphere. Crushing our drama-filled dreams, a rep for Pine told Variety: "This is a ridiculous story — a complete fabrication and the result of an odd online illusion that is clearly deceiving and allows for foolish speculation... Just to be clear, Harry Styles did not spit on Chris Pine."
Got it? Harry Styles did not spit on Chris Pine.
Don't Worry Darling has garnered lukewarm reviews (and a 41 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), but the drama surrounding its premiere deserves nothing but applause.
