Angry heroine, spitting… How the Venice premiere of Don’t Worry Darling turned into a fiasco

It was to be a moment of glory, a glamorous prime launch pad into awards season. Las, the Venetian premiere of Olivia Wilde’s thriller event Don’t Worry Darling turns to torture for its director and its interpreters Chris Pine, Florence Pugh and Harry Style. Victims of the craziest rumours.

The latest and least founded? That singer Harry Styles spat in Chris Pine’s lap while they took place in the great hall of the Palais de la Mostra. The source: a video where the young man turns to his colleague and leans over him before sitting down. As absurd as this interpretation is, it has ignited social media and fueled numerous hijackings. The musician was forced to publish a denial, pointing to an unfortunate “optical illusion” and too much imagination of Internet users.

Florence Pugh absent from promotional tour

If their minds are so misplaced, it’s because the promotion of Don’t Worry Darling derailed from its launch in a spectacular way. A textbook case for future publicists, agents and press attachés. At the end of August, Olivia Wilde gives a great interview to the specialized magazine variety. She returns to the dismissal of Don’t Worry Darling of Shia LaBeouf, persona non grata in Hollywood after being guilty of domestic violence. Olivia Wilde explains that she was not made comfortable by his preparation and the negative energy he brought to the set.

Except that Shia LaBeouf disputes this version of the facts and explains in a text published on social networks that he left the feature film of his own free will. To corroborate his statements, he puts online a video that Olivia Wilde would have sent him at the time of his resignation. In this clip, the actress and filmmaker laments her departure and complains about the “pinched” attitude of her star Florence Pugh. In the end, the director will replace him with Harry Styles, with whom she will be in a relationship during filming. This lack of professionalism would have annoyed Florence Pugh.

The publication of this video suggests that the atmosphere was not good on the sets between its star Florence Pugh and the director. Fans have pointed out how little mention Florence Pugh makes on her Instagram account of Don’t Worry Darling. His minimal participation in the upcoming promotional tour has caused even more talk. Retained by the second part of Dunes which is filming in Budapest, Florence Pugh invoked time constraints and only committed to participate in the red carpet of the Venice Film Festival.

The Briton did not take part in the press conference where Olivia Wilde evaded questions about the tensions within the film crew. An absence which contrasts with the availability of the other hero of Dunes. Timothée Chalamet stayed 72 hours on the lagoon to defend cannibal romanceBones And All.

Any flash that was the passage of Florence Pugh on the canals of the Serenissima, the actress was still seen in town some time after the end of the press conference. On the red carpet, she stayed away from Olivia Wilde. During the applause following the screening, the curious watched in vain for an exchange of glances between the two women.

This brouhaha almost eclipsed the mixed reception of the film. Critics praise Florence Pugh’s mind-boggling performance as the housewife who awakens to suspicion. But some deplore an artificial and inconsistent plot. More spectacular than well done. French moviegoers will be able to make up their minds from September 21.

In a spirit verys The Twilight Zone, Don’t Worry Darling, which features very graphic sex scenes, follows a couple in Fifties America. Alice (Florence Pugh, Midsommar) and Jack (Harry Styles) are lucky enough to live in the idyllic community of Victory, a small experimental company town that houses the men working for the ultra-confidential Victory project and their families. The post-war optimism that runs through the company is utterly shared by the company’s CEO, Frank (Chris Pine) – part visionary business executive and personal development coach and permeates every aspect of everyday life in this utopian bubble in the middle of the Californian desert. But when cracks begin to show, revealing a grim reality beyond a seductive facade, Alice can’t help but wonder: What are they doing in Victory and for what purpose? What is the real purpose of Project Victory?