Harry Styles has left fans completely baffled as he appeared to spit on co-star Chris Pine while on stage at the Venice Film Festival on Monday.
The former One Direction singer, 28, was at the festival alongside his director girlfriend Olivia Wilde to promote their much-anticipated film Don't Worry Darling. While the cast and crew took their seats on stage at the film's premiere, eagle-eyed fans spotted the bizarre moment Harry appeared to spit on his colleague while taking his seat.
Star Trek actor Chris, 42, is already seated and applauding as Harry makes a spitting motion towards him, causing Chris to freeze and look at his lap in disbelief. A spitting sound can also clearly be heard in the audio from the clip, which was shared on Twitter.
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Whether an inside joke or not remains to be seen, as Chris, although obviously confused, is seemingly amused by the odd exchange. Fans of the pop megastar were also puzzled, as one wrote: “#HarryStyles appears to spit on Chris Pine I won't sleep until I know the truth.”
#HarryStyles appears to spit on Chris Pine i won't sleep until i know the truth pic.twitter.com/wLXjIHTYgU
— JZMaclin (@Mac70J)
Another said: “I have watched and analyzed this several times on a forensic level.
“Either a perfect sequence of innocent actions that sparked theories, or actual nefarious activity. I am still lost."
“After 400 rewatches I still can't decide,” a third said.
The production of Don’t Worry Darling has been fraught with controversy in recent weeks, as rumours began circulating of a feud between director Olivia and star Florence Pugh, who was absent from a Q&A earlier on Monday. Olivia was forced to hit back at the claims, as she explained the reason for Florence’s absence – though she attended the premier later that day – was due to scheduling conflicts as she has been in Budapest filming Dune 2.
Speaking at a press conference, Olivia said: “Florence is a force; we are so grateful she is able to make it tonight despite being in production. As for all the endless tabloid gossip and noise out there, the internet feeds itself.
“I don’t feel I need to contribute to it. It’s sufficiently well-nourished.”
Earlier in the film’s production, Shia LaBeouf – who was originally cast in the role now played by Harry – was allegedly fired from the project, a claim which was later rebuked. Olivia was said to have fired Shia due to tension between him and Florence and he was dopped in order to help her “feel safe” on set.
However, the actor shared a series of text messages between him and Florence which appeared to contradict this, as he told her he had to “drop out” of the project during the pre-production process. Hitting back at this narrative, Shia said in an email to US entertainment new website Looper: “The narrative circulating is false and traducing.”
In addition, a source from Warner Bros. told the news site Shia’s separation from the film was a mutual decision as the actor was not gelling with Olivia and the rest of the cast. Don’t Worry Darling is due to hit cinemas on September 23.
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