The drama surrounding Don’t Worry Darling continues. Apparently, Florence Pugh was mad director Olivia Wilde kept “disappearing” to canoodle with her boyfriend, Harry Styles, on set.
Puck News reported tensions came to a head at one point, in which Florence expressed her displeasure with Olivia’s behavior during filming. “Pugh, in particular, was angered by the absences, according to these sources, and one source personally witnessed a tense conversation about this issue between the two,” the site’s reporter Matthew Belloni contended in an article published on August 27.
Don’t Worry Darling is Olivia’s second foray into directing a feature-length film, with her debut Booksmart released in 2019. But Don’t Worry Darling’s release has been largely overshadowed by rumors of a feud between Olivia and Florence, one of its lead actors. Early in the film’s coverage, fans observed Florence’s promotion of Don’t Worry Darling was almost non-existent, while Olivia was posting regularly about it across her social media accounts. Some even zeroed in on the fact that Florence hadn’t “liked” any of Olivia’s social media activity related to the film.
The two women also seem to have differing opinions on the importance of the movie’s sex scenes. While Olivia told Vogue in December 2021 she aims to shine a light on how rarely audiences see “female hunger, and specifically this type of female pleasure,” Florence feels the movie’s marketing has been too focused on sex. “When it’s reduced to your sex scenes, or to watch the most famous man in the world go down on someone, it’s not why we do it. It’s not why I’m in this industry,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in August. “Obviously, the nature of hiring the most famous pop star in the world, you’re going to have conversations like that. That’s just not what I’m going to be discussing because [Don’t Worry Darling] bigger and better than that.”
Olivia’s casting of her real-life boyfriend, Harry (who she met on the set of Don’t Worry Darling), in the upcoming movie has also supposedly raised a few eyebrows. Rumor has it Olivia began her relationship with the former One Direction star while she was still in a relationship with her then-fiancé, Ted Lasso creator and actor Jason Sudeikis, with whom she shares two children, Otis, 8, and Daisy, 5. Their affair reportedly made Florence uncomfortable, a Page Six story reported in July. “I can tell you for a fact that Flo seeing Olivia and Harry all over each other on set did not go down well as Olivia was still with Jason when she first hooked up with Harry,” the source said. Florence’s ex-boyfriend, Zach Braff, who she dated for three years, is good friends with Jason.
Don’t Worry Darling will premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 5 and hit theaters on September 23. It’ll be available to stream on HBO Max on November 7.
Image: Getty Images. Design: Sasha Purdy/STYLECASTER.