LOS ANGELES — If you're a director with a movie about to open in two days, it's safe to say you don't want to be answering questions on a late-night talk show about whether one of your stars spat on another. Just ask Olivia Wilde.
By the time Wilde's 1950s-set psychological thriller "Don't Worry Darling" finally hit theaters last week, its marketing campaign had become an exercise in disaster management. For months leading up to its release, the internet churned with feverish gossip about an alleged on-set feud between Wilde and Florence Pugh; a dispute over the circumstances of Shia LaBeouf's exit from the project; rumors about Wilde's romance with star Harry Styles; and, yes, forensic analysis of a viral video that some believed showed Styles expectorating on Chris Pine at the film's Venice premiere.
After all that Sturm und Drang, "Don't Worry Darling" opened in first place at the domestic box office with $19.2 million — a solid showing, particularly given the less-than-glowing reviews. All's well that ends well, right?
