We’ve been worrying about Don’t Worry Darling for a while now. The rumor mill has been rampant with reports of an alleged feud between Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh, and it has dominated the narrative around the film. Many have been speaking out on the plethora of situations and, more recently, one crew member has now stepped up to address claims about drama occurring on the set.
After the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival, social media was buzzing over all the rumors surrounding the alleged feud. On top of those rumors, there has been lots of speculation regarding Wilde’s relationship with co-star and pop star Harry Styles, and we’ve also seen the rise of conspiracy theories about wilds things like whether Styles spit on Chris Pine, another one of the film’s stars (both stars have said this did not happen). Now, the film’s cinematographer, Matthew Libatique has told the THR podcast Behind the Screen (opens in new tab) that the BTS rumors do not reflect his experience:
This was probably the most harmonious set I’ve ever been on. Olivia built a team that believed in her and she believed in each and everybody on the set. … When I hear that there are rumors of acrimony on the set, I reject it. It wasn’t apparent at all.
Along with Matthew Libatique, Olivia Wilde said she is “proud” of the movie and can’t wait to share it. Wilde also denied the drama when she addressed Pugh skipping press, calling it “endless tabloid gossip and noise.” The director also confirmed that Pugh couldn’t make it to other press events due to production on Dune 2.
Lots of the alleged drama has just recently surfaced, but people have speculated that it all started on set quite a while ago. For a long time, there was a rumor regarding Wilde leaving her ex-partner Jason Sudeikis for Harry Styles. Wilde later called this rumor “complete horseshit,” saying her relationship with the Ted Lasso star ended long before she started seeing Styles. Matthew Libatique also said he did not witness any drama on the set:
Whatever happened, it happened way after I left and started doing something else. I was never witness to anything and I didn’t feel anything. You know, you get a feeling that there might be something going on, and I didn’t feel anything.
While we do know a lot about Don’t Worry Darling, there are the many other rumors that can’t be confirmed. One big one from pre-production involved Shia LaBeouf, who was originally cast in the role that the One Direction star plays – while Olivia Wilde said she fired him, LaBeouf said that he quit. Before that, Florence Pugh and Wilde shared opposing views about how sex is shown in the film.
If what the director and her cinematographer say is true, then we might all be overthinking it, and there is quite possibly no drama. But of course, there’s probably no way that we’ll ever know for sure just what went down.
Don’t Worry Darling is set to hit theaters on September 23 as part of the 2022 schedule of new movie releases. We’ll see if it hit the mark or if we really did have to worry, darling.