'Don't Worry Darling': KiKi Layne Says She's "Still Thriving" Even Though Most Of Her Scenes Were Cut From Film

After all the rumors and gossip, “Don’t Worry Darling” opened in theaters this past weekend to faint praise and a modest box office. That’s not surprising, given the mixed/poor reception the movie received at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month. But given all the nonsense swirling around this film in recent months, moviegoers may have expected it to make a bigger splash. Instead, “Don’t Worry Darling” barely made waves, and maybe that’s for the best (because it’s exhausting covering this movie’s drama.

But not surprisingly, The Hollywood Reporter has another story about the movie. Thankfully, it has nothing to do with what really happened between Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh on set, Harry Styles and spit-gate, or Shia LaBeouf‘s departure from the film. Instead, it’s about how KiKi Layne and Ari’el Stachel, who met on the set of “Don’t Worry Darling” and are currently dating, are “still thriving” as a couple even though most of their scenes were cut from the film. In an Instagram post on Sunday night, Layne wrote, “The best thing about #DontWorryDarling is that I was lucky enough to meet @arielstachel. They cut us from most of the movie, but we thriving in real life.”  

Layne ended the post with “Love you Ari,” and a handful of heart emojis. Stachel responded to Layne’s post in kind: “My love. You are a queen and your talent shines so bright. I was thirsty then and I’m thirsty now.” So nice to see that there’s at least one positive thing happened between actors during the movie’s production. Layne and Stacher’s co-star Gemma Chan also replied to the post with a heart emoji, indicating further camaraderie between cast members.  

In “Don’t Worry Darling,” Layne and Stachel play Margaret and Ted, a couple also living in the planned Victory community with Pugh’s Alice and Styles’ Jack. Margaret’s desperate behavior early in the film prompts Alice to start questioning what underlies the town’s existence. It’s common practice that plenty of scenes to get cut during edits, but Layne’s comment suggests her role was much more prominent in earlier versions of the film. There’s no reason to think there’s any underlying negative reason for her and Stachel’s performances to be cut down, though.  

For her part, Florence Pugh also took to Instagram on Friday to thank the cast and crew of “Don’t Worry Darling” for their work on the film. “We met so many talented people, visited some insane locations, worked hard in the desert dust and looked good whilst doing so,” she said in the post. “This film was such an epic story on such a large scale to shoot, all during peak Covid times. For that I will always be grateful. To all of you who helped make this, your dedication and love was seen daily — thank you.” Pugh only did minimal promotional press for the film approaching its world premiere at Venice, causing many to believe something in fact did happen between her and Wilde on set. Vulture released a story on Friday that apparently confirms a “screaming match” between the actress and director late in production, but it’s not confirmed.

But now “Don’t Worry Darling” is in theaters, and with any luck, this film will have a quiet exit from theaters, with everyone involved moving on to new projects, leaving the sordid stories surrounding the production behind.  At least that’s this writer’s wish.