Dir: Olivia Wilde. Starring: Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Olivia Wilde, Gemma Chan, KiKi Layne, Nick Kroll, Kate Berlant. 122 mins
There has long been a sense of morbid anticipation around Don’t Worry Darling, with Olivia Wilde’s sci-fi thriller generating large amounts of negative buzz in the run-up to its release. Its star Florence Pugh appeared to distance herself from the project amid rumours of a falling out between herself and Wilde. Shia LaBeouf disputed Wilde’s claims that he was fired from the production and released a video of the director that seemingly proved his story. Gossip columnists have also been in a frenzy about Wilde’s relationship with pop idol Harry Styles, who took over LaBeouf’s role. And that’s before we even got to “Spitgate” – or a viral, rapidly disputed clip which appeared to show Styles spitting on co-star Chris Pine at the movie’s Venice Film Festival premiere earlier this month. Of course he didn’t – and both parties denied such a thing had occurred – but it wasn’t surprising that people believed he did, considering the factual drama surrounding the film.
