‘Don’t Worry Darling,’ we’ll break all the drama down for you

On Labor Day, the internet sleuths were working overtime.

Fresh footage from the Venice Film Festival premiere of Don’t Worry Darling on Monday captured what looked to some like international pop star Harry Styles spitting on costar Chris Pine while taking a seat beside him. (In a statement shared with the Washington Post on Tuesday, a representative for Pine denied he was spit on. “Just to be clear,” the rep reiterated, “Harry Styles did NOT spit on Chris Pine.”)

Were it related to any other film, the footage probably wouldn’t have attracted this much attention. But with Don’t Worry Darling, Wilde’s sophomore effort, every public shenanigan contributes to what has become a rather catastrophic press tour.

The question is: catastrophic for whom? Don’t Worry Darling, which hits theaters this month, is a psychological thriller about a 1950s housewife who discovers her life in a manufactured company town is far from perfect. Though the combined star power of Styles and the film’s lead, Florence Pugh, would have landed some butts in seats regardless, the morbid curiosity drummed up by a train-wreck press tour could help boost ticket sales for Warner Bros., the distributor.

The losers, it would seem, are the stars caught up in all the mess.

Wilde’s image has arguably taken the biggest hit.. The film, shot in the first year of the pandemic, was plagued by coronavirus-related delays. In the midst of it all, the director and Styles were spotted holding hands at the January 2021 wedding of his manager.

The next month — suspiciously close to Valentine’s Day — Wilde posted an on-set photo of Styles to Instagram with a lengthy caption about how he had humbly accepted a supporting role because he understood “why it might be worth it to allow for a woman to hold the spotlight.”

Was Styles, who had barely acted before Don’t Worry Darling, even in a position to “allow” Pugh, an Oscar-nominated actress, to lead the film she was hired to lead? Did Wilde write the caption with romantic feelings for Styles in mind? Was it sexist to suggest the latter? (As the presumed partner of someone with a massive, fervent following, Wilde has been an undeserving target at times.) Social media subsequently turned into an intro-level course on feminist theory, complete with debates over whether it was fair to pit Pugh and Wilde against each other.

Rumors of Pugh being upset with Wilde for paying Styles more attention during filming continued to spread, with Puck News reporting last month that Pugh had a “tense conversation” with Wilde about her alleged habit of disappearing from set with Styles. The women have also seemed at odds with each other regarding the film’s sex scenes; Pugh told Harper’s Bazaar those conversations were “not why I’m in this industry,” while Wilde has expounded upon the feminism of the scenes in multiple interviews, including Vogue and Variety.

Pugh declined to be interviewed for the Variety piece, citing a commitment to filming Dune: Part Two, but still wound up involved in the controversy . Variety reported that, in the early stages of production, Wilde fired Shia LaBeouf from the role later filled by Styles because LaBeouf’s process “seems to require a combative energy” and “was not conducive to the ethos that I demand in my productions.” Wilde said she wanted to prioritize Pugh’s comfort and sense of safety,.

This would have been the summer of 2020, months before the singer FKA Twigs sued LaBeouf over allegations of “relentless abuse” throughout their nearly yearlong relationship.

LaBeouf rejected the narrative that he was fired from Don’t Worry Darling. He told Variety that he quit the project , providing text messages he exchanged with Wilde and a video of her saying she was “not ready to give up on this yet.”

In the leaked video , Wilde says says the conflict between LaBeouf and Pugh “might be a bit of a wake-up call for Miss Flo.”

On Monday, stylist Rebecca Corbin-Murray, who dresses Pugh, used “Miss Flo” as an Instagram caption for photos of the actress walking the red carpet in Venice, where she declined to participate in the Don’t Worry Darling news conference. Wilde’s stylist, Karla Welch, posted her own Instagram story stating, “There’s always more to the story …”

And you know what? She was right! There is, in fact, more to this story.

At an industry event in April to promote the film, Wilde was handed a mystery envelop while on stage . She picked it up, took a look at the papers inside and returned to her presentation.

Deadline reported that Wilde had very publicly been served custody papers by comedian Jason Sudeikis, with whom she has two children. At the time, Sudeikis said he “would never condone her being served in such an inappropriate manner.” Months later, Wilde told Variety the entire incident was “really upsetting”.

"I had a job to do; I'm not easily distracted," she said, adding: "But, you know, sadly, it was not something that was entirely surprising to me. I mean, there's a reason I left that relationship."

A burn scalding enough to elicit its own spit take. And that’s the drama, darlings.