If you’ve been on the internet long enough these past few weeks, you know there was something suspicious going on with the filming and release of the Don’t Worry Darling movie. From the nickname “Miss Flo” being thrown around, to the mention of Harry Styles spitting on Chris Pine, here’s a recap of all the drama involving this movie and its cast.
- Shia Labeouf being recasted for Harry Styles
It all started when the news that Florence Pugh and Shia Labeouf’s casting as starring roles for Olivia Wilde’s new movie came out during April of 2019. Everyone was excited and started posting about the news. Fast forward to September of 2020, and things started to get bad. Although the news that THE Harry Styles would now be playing the role of Jackー the role that had originally been assigned to Shiaーwas amazing, everyone couldn’t help but ask themselves why. What exactly happened on set that resulted in this sudden change of plans? Apparently, Olivia had talked to Variety Magazine about the issue and stated in an interview that she fired Shia Labeouf from the production because he was being violent and unprofessional on set. Let’s all remember that around this time, FKA Twigs, Labeouf’s ex-partner, had also come forward with claims that Labeouf physically, mentally, and sexually abused her. So, it was just messy and… complicated. Nonetheless, Shia was not having it, and publicly stated that he quit the production voluntarily. He then proceeded to provide evidence of emails exchanged between the director and him, including a video where Wilde begs him for a second chance and uses the nickname “Miss Flo” in a negative way to refer to Florence Pugh and how she wasn’t cooperating with them.
Apart from the drama regarding the film’s casting, let’s talk about the drama related to what actually happened between Harry Styles and Wilde herself. Well, if you’ve been a fan of Olivia’s work in the past and you’ve paid close attention to red carpet events and such, you’d know that she was in a relationship with Jason Sedakis. They had been together for years and had two children together. Unfortunately, they decided to split in November 2020, after Harry Styles entered the picture and started working with her… By January 2021, Olivia and Harry were seen holding hands at a friend’s wedding. Yes, I’m talking about the famous photos that took the internet by storm and left us all feeling very confused. Was this a publicity stunt? Are they actually together? Do they really love each other? Honestly, regardless if it was real or not, the pair were practically inseparable since then. They went everywhere together and were often photographed holding hands or hugging each other.
- Miss Flo
To say that Florence Pugh was disappointed with Olivia Wilde and the promotion done for this movie is an understatement. After being referred to as Miss Flo, instead of being called by her proper name, she had to endure the fact that her work in the movie was mostly reduced to her sex scenes with Harry Styles. I mean, you have to admit, most of the tiktoks you see about this film are about that one scene of Jack going down on Alice, and no one seems to mention how Florence Pugh literally carried the movie (no shade intended).
As a result, she really didn’t promote this movie that much on her socials as compared to her other projects. Also, she did not participate in many press conferences or interviews. She often used the excuse of scheduling conflicts with filming Dune, but we had seen her co-star Timothee Chalamet promoting his other movie, Bones and All, while Dune was being shot, so… something smells kinda fishy.
As a last jab to Olivia, she made one Instagram post right when filming was done thanking all the behind the scenes crew. She made no mention of Wilde or any of her castmates, and to be honest, I don’t blame her.
- Venice Film Festival
Looks were servedーbut with a side of tea. The fact that Florence did no interviews or press conferences for this movie gave fans a lot to talk about. Although her management team used the excuse of conflicting schedules once again, Florence would post videos of her vacationing in Venice during her free time; which somehow made things even weirder. In said press conference, Olivia was asked about Florence Pugh and all the drama that has come out regarding the movie. In her answer, she uttered the words: “…As for all the endless tabloid gossip and all the noise out there… I mean, the internet feeds itself”. Not going to lie, it was a good answer, but the shade was definitely there.
What Florence did attend though, was the movie premiere and its red carpet. And she looked absolutely stunning in her dress. So much so that even her stylist posted pictures of her on her socials to show off her work and captioned the post tauntingly with the phrase “Miss Flo”. Take that, Olivia!
- The Spit
Last but DEFINITELY not least, did Harry actually spit on Chris Pine? I know it has been confirmed that he actually did not (it would be really weird and disrespectful if he did), but the video just seems so convincing that he did. It’s kind of fun to theorize on why Chris Pine reacted like that at the same time that Harry was moving his mouth. I mean, he might have actually spit on him. Who knows?
The drama surrounding this film has definitely been one for the books. I mean, I could honestly scroll for hours on Twitter, reading about the different things that people have read or seen about how this movie came to be. Nonetheless, I gotta say, the movie was kind of good. In my opinion, it wasn’t great, but Pugh gave a very good performance and the film’s overall aesthetic was top-notch. So, if you haven’t seen it, go watch it, and stay up to date with the drama!