Drama Overshadows Don’t Worry Darling

Drama+Overshadows+Dont+Worry+Darling

Shyla Robinson, Staff Writer

The new movie Don’t Worry Darling has caused quite the stir in the media. Don’t Worry Darling stars Florence Pugh and Harry Styles as the main characters Alice and Jack Chambers. The movie is about a couple living the idealized 1950s lifestyle and when things start to falter around Alice, she begins to question the reality of her life. The film has not been received well by the public as it sits at 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, presumably due to all the drama surrounding the film.

A lot of the problems surrounding the movie have been circulating around the director of the film, Olivia Wilde. Wilde has had quite a few in the last few months before the film’s release in September, and after the release. Some of these problems include, the Florence Pugh and Shia Labeouf situation and how she treated Pugh, her relationship with Styles, and her relationship with ex-fiancé Jason Sudeikis. 

The main star of the film, Pugh, has refused to promote the movie. According to what Pugh told Harper Bazaar she is not promoting the film because she doesn’t want the hard work of everyone that worked on the film to be reduced down to her sex scenes with Styles. This is highly understandable, although many people believe that it is not the only reason. 

There have been rumors of a feud between Wilde and Pugh. Before Styles was cast in the role of Jack Chambers, the role went to Shia Labeouf before he quit the film in August of 2020. Before it was revealed that he quit the film, Wilde said he was fired in an interview on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” where she stated “We had to replace Shia. He is a fantastic actor but it wasn’t gonna work, when he gave me the ultimatum of, you know, him or Florence, I chose Florence.” That was until a video that Wilde sent to Labeouf surfaced where in the video she states how she is heartbroken that he is leaving project and she wants to figure out the problem as she was not ready to give the film up and how it should be a wake up call for Pugh and how the two should just make peace. 

One of the other problems surrounding the film is the alleged relationship between the director Wilde and Styles. In January 2021, the two were spotted holding hands, just 3 months after Wilde and Sudeikis’ public break up and 4 months after Styles was cast in the role of Jack Chambers. The relationship between the two has not been received well by the media. It appeared at first that people genuinely just did not find the two to be a good pairing. But as the time progressed of the two dating there has been more and more evidence of the true nature of their relationship.

Finally, the old relationship between Sudeikis and Wilde has taken away from the film’s positive reception. The two were in a prolonged engagement starting in 2013 and  announced their split in November of 2020. They have two children, and unfortunately, their personal issues have made their way to the media when Sudeikis’ legal team served custody papers onstage at CinemaCon while Wilde was presenting on Don’t Worry Darling.

 At the end of the day it is very sad that the hard work of all the cast and crew has been overshadowed by all of the drama surrounding the film. Not only is that sad but although Wilde has had her faults she has been one of the most hated women of this year. A lot of jealous Styles stans have weaponized things she has done in the past as a justification for why they hate her but not because they genuinely care about the people she has affected.