The drama surrounding actor/director Olivia Wilde’s upcoming high-concept genre drama, “Don’t Worry Darling,” has reached something of a fever pitch in recent weeks, veering into tabloid-y/gossip territory. Starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles, the “Don’t Worry Darling” back story is complicated but essentially centers on Shia LaBeouf being replaced on the film with Styles (Wilde suggested he was fired, LaBeouf said he quit), and Pugh, upset about various issues surrounding the film, its production, its marketing and more. Exacerbating it all, a leaked video where Wilde seems to throw the actress under the bus in favor of convincing LaBeouf to stay on the picture. In short, it’s a mess, and if you read some of the more gossipy items in Puck News recently—suggesting that Wilde and Styles, who are romantically involved, would disappear from the set for long periods, annoying Pugh in the process—it all just becomes hyper melodrama. Pugh skipped the press conference recently for the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival and ducked out early after the screening, seemingly validating the claims of beef between her and Wilde.
Well, maybe it wasn’t all bad? Veteran cinematographer Matthew Libatique was on THR’s Behind The Screen podcast (listen below), and he seems to reject the premise of drama on the set of the movie entirely, claiming nothing was going on during the filming of “Don’t Worry Darling” that was out of the ordinary.
“This was probably the most harmonious set I’ve ever been on,” Libatique said of the rumored drama on the set. “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.”
It’s worth noting that Libatique isn’t without his own public controversies. The director of photography was arrested and charged with assaulting first responders while attending the EnergaCamerimage Film Festival in Bydgoszcz, Poland, back in 2018. He faced four years in prison for the altercation in 2020, although it’s unclear if things have been fully resolved with authorities as his trial was reportedly set for February 2021.
Libatique’s work behind the camera spans decades with credits such as “Requiem For A Dream,” “Inside Man,” “Black Swan,” “A Star Is Born,” “Iron Man,” “Tigerland,” and most recently on, Brendan Fraser’s acclaimed drama “The Whale.”
You can read The Playlist’s own review of “Don’t Worry Darling” here ahead of the film’s release in theaters next week. As for the drama, maybe this will quiet things for a moment, but there’s still time before release for someone to say something outrageous and jumpstart the whole news cycle again.