For over a year, rumors of the on-set drama with Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry Darling” have been amusing to behold. The biggest takeaway, for me, was that Wilde’s affair with her star, Harry Styles, had her disappear from the set, and that none other than Florence Pugh took over directing reigns.
A producer wrote to me this weekend that it wasn’t actually Pugh who directed the film, but rather DP Matthew Libatique:
“On the days Wilde disappeared, Florence [Pugh] and Matthew [Libatique] were in charge but I’d say it was more Matthew who kept the shoot rolling. They couldn’t really afford to have the movie shut down so he tried to follow Olivia’s vision as much as he could. Once Olivia got back on set, as if nothing had happened, that’s when Pugh lost it on her.”
A September 2022 report had mentioned this “loud” disagreement between Pugh and Wilde, very late into the production. This had to do with Wilde’s “disappearing” act, which was also when no one could locate Styles. One person described Wilde as “unpresent”.
Pugh grew tired of waiting and asking where her filmmaker was to the point where she and just took over and continued filming. Everyone had their script pages, they knew what scene they were shooting, Libatique and the first assistant director also planned the shots Wilde wanted (storyboarding!)
Then, all of a sudden, Wilde would just “breeze in and take over.” Yikes. She didn’t even acknowledge Pugh and Libatique’s hard work in keeping everything on track. Unprofessional behavior on the part of Wilde? You bet.
Notice how Pugh has never denied any of these rumors. If this was fake news, then Pugh would have surely set the record straight. I’m still waiting for her to do that (and she probably won’t). She even refused to promote the film, skipping the film’s press conference at Venice.
“Don’t Worry Darling” has a 38% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics hated it. It’s not as bad of a movie as they claim it to be, nor is it as good as it should be. Of course, no surprise, The New Yorker’s Richard Brody is a big fan.