Olivia Wilde has addressed Shia LaBeouf’s departure from her film Don’t Worry Darling.
In early September, LaBeouf denied Wilde’s claims that he had been fired from the psychological thriller to make his co-star Florence Pugh feel “safe”, saying that he had actually quit the film.
A video call between him and the director was leaked that showed Wilde asking him to stay on the project.
When asked by US late night host Stephen Colbert to clarify whether LaBeouf willingly left or was fired from the film, Wilde said that she had tried to mediate between LaBeouf and Pugh.
“Once it became clear that it was not a tenable working relationship, I was given an ultimatum,” she said.
“I chose my actress, which I’m very happy I did. At the time, was I bummed that we weren’t able to make it work? Sure.
“Did information about him come to light later that made me confident we made the right decision? Absolutely.”
The “information” alluded to by Wilde are allegations of “relentless abuse” made against LaBeouf in 2020 by his former girlfriend, the musician FKA twigs. These include allegations of sexual battery, assault, and infliction of emotional distress.
LaBeouf later denied causing twigs “any injury or loss”, saying that she was not “entitled to any relief or damages whatsoever”.
In the new interview, Colbert then asked Wilde to clarify why LaBeouf claimed he had quit, to which Wilde replied: “We had to replace Shia. He is a fantastic actor but it wasn’t going to work. When he gave me the ultimatum of him or Florence, I chose Florence, and that was him feeling he was stepping away and me feeling we were moving on without him.”
She added: “It wasn’t going to move forward in the way he wanted it to and so he had to leave.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Wilde addressed the rumour surrounding LaBeouf’s replacement in the film, her boyfriend Harry Styles, “spitting” on Chris Pine at the Venice Film Festival.
The movie’s cinematographer recently discussed the rumours of tensions on the set of the film.
Read a full timeline of all the behind-the-scenes drama from Don’t Worry Darling here.
Don’t Worry Darling is out in UK cinemas on Friday 23 September.
