Don’t worry about all that “Don’t Worry Darling” drama, Olivia Wilde insisted Wednesday night during an appearance on “The Late Show.”
The director of the psychological thriller starring Harry Styles and Florence Pugh has seen her sophomore flick dominate the headlines not for its thoughts on feminism but rather for behind-the-scenes nonsense, from an apparent feud with Pugh to Styles appearing to spit on co-star Chris Pine at the Venice Film Festival.
The “House” alum, though, says it’s all been blown way out of proportion.
“People will look for drama anywhere they can,” Wilde told “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert, specifically about viral speculation that Styles hocked a loogie, but also likely a more all-encompassing statement.
Pine’s team, similarly, has denied any such phlegm-related fiasco, calling it “a ridiculous story, a complete fabrication and the result of an odd online illusion that is clearly deceiving and allows for foolish speculation.”
As for any kind of feud with Pugh, over either rumored pay disparities between the young leads or favoritism on set after Wilde began dating Styles, the director chalked it up to sexism.
“I have nothing but respect for Florence’s talent. She’s fantastic. She’s on the set of her movie ‘Dune’ right now, and there’s nothing cooler than a busy actress. I have nothing against her in for any reason,” Wilde said before pointing out that a male director would never have to face down questions like this.
“People would actually be talking about the movie itself. They’re praised for being tyrannical. They can be investigated time and time again, it still doesn’t overtake conversations of their actual talent or about the film themselves. This is something we’ve come to expect. It is just very different standards that are created for women and men in the world at large.”
Wilde, as she has done for the entire “Don’t Worry Darling” press tour, danced around confirming that she fired Shia LaBeouf, who has insisted that he quit the movie. Instead, she said, she had to choose between him and Pugh.
“Once it became clear that it was not a tenable working relationship, I was given an ultimatum,” she told Colbert. “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.”
Wilde was seemingly referring to abuse allegations leveled against LaBeouf by ex-girlfriend FKA twigs, who has since sued him for sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress.
LaBeouf, however, has been adamant that he not only was the one to leave the movie, but that Wilde begged him to come back, claiming he quit “due to lack of rehearsal time.”
“I feel like I’m not ready to give up on this yet, and I, too, am heartbroken and I want to figure this out,” Wilde said in a video from August 2020 that LaBeouf sent to Variety last month.
“You know, I think this might be a bit of a wake-up call for Miss Flo, and I want to know if you’re open to giving this a shot with me, with us. If she really commits, if she really puts her mind and heart into it at this point and if you guys can make peace — and I respect your point of view, I respect hers — but if you guys can do it, what do you think? Is there hope? Will you let me know?”
On Wednesday, Wilde called it a “question of semantics.”
“We had to replace Shia. He is a fantastic actor but it wasn’t going to work. And when he gave me the ultimatum of him or Florence, I chose Florence,” she said. “And that was him feeling like he was stepping away and me feeling like we were moving on without him.”
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