Fans went into a frenzy over the first trailer for Olivia Wilde’s forthcoming psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling, starring Harry Styles and Florence Pugh as married couple Alice and Jack.
Viewers were particularly enraptured by a brief, racy glimpse at Jack performing oral sex on Alice.
However, in a new interview with Associated Press, Wilde has claimed that the trailer originally included more of the provocative scene, but was cut down by the audience rating board.
“There’s a lot that had to be taken out of the trailer,” she said. “The MPA [Motion Picture Association] came down hard on me and the trailer at the last second and I had to cut some shots, which I was upset about because I thought they it took it up another notch.”
“But of course, we still live in a really puritanical society,” she added. “I do think the lack of eroticism in American film is kind of new.”
Wilde also argued that female pleasure is censored more than male pleasure in cinema, saying: “People are upset with me already over this. I think it’s a testament to the film. We want to be provocative. The idea is not to make you feel safe.”
Contrary to her director, Pugh expressed a lack of interest in being asked about romantic scenes with Styles in a recent interview.
“When it’s reduced to your sex scenes, or to watch the most famous man in the world go down on someone, it’s not why we do it. It’s not why I’m in this industry,” she told Harper’s Bazaar.
“Obviously, the nature of hiring the most famous pop star in the world, you’re going to have conversations like that,” added Pugh. “That’s just not what I’m going to be discussing because [this movie is] bigger and better than that. And the people who made it are bigger and better than that.”
Styles – who is currently dating Wilde – joined the cast of Don’t Worry Darling in December 2020, replacing Shia LaBeouf.
While Wilde had maintained that she fired LaBeouf in 2020 in order to create a “safe, trusting environment” on set, LaBeouf has denied this, sending Variety a video he says he received from Wilde, which shows her asking him not to quit the project.
Don’t Worry Darling is scheduled to release in cinemas on 23 September.
