Now that it’s been in theaters for three weeks, one would hope the firestorm surrounding “Don’t Worry Darling” would have been doused and done away with. If we were only that lucky. Variety reports that in a new interview with Elle Magazine, Olivia Wilde decided not to finally put out this media trash fire but instead fan the flames again as she expressed disappointment in how the media handled the film’s behind-the-scenes drama.
And that means more play-by-play commentary from and about Wilde, who cannot accept her new movie isn’t the cultural phenomenon she thinks it is (at least the good kind). “This movie is trying to ask big questions,” complained Wilde about the film’s negative media attention, “but [instead it’s] ‘Let’s just focus on this sideshow over here.'” Well, maybe “Don’t Worry Darling” wouldn’t have been “minimized into bite-size TikTok points,” as Wilde put it, if it had deeper themes and commentary that trumped all the rumors and gossip surrounding this project. Just a thought.
Here’s a recap of all of the drama that swirled around “Don’t Worry Darling” in the lead-up to its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival (hopefully for the final time). First, Florence Pugh barely involved herself in the film’s promotion, leading people to suspect a feud happened on set between her and Wilde. Wilde denied the rumors, saying Pugh was too busy working on “Dune: Part Two” to participate. But the pair kept their distance at the world premiere, though, only furthering media suspicion.
Then, on the day of the movie’s theatrical release, Vulture published a story that an alleged “huge screaming match” happened on set between Wilde and Pugh because Wilde was spending too much time with leading man (and new beau) Harry Styles instead of directing the movie. Add in Wilde’s back-and-forth with Shia LaBeouf over his exit from the film, and Styles allegedly spitting on Chris Pine at the world premiere (which both have denied took place), and “Don’t Worry Darling” has had a maelstrom of negative attention.
Of course, that negative attention seemingly irks Wilde, who directs and stars in the film. But it’s also been unclear throughout the movie’s press tour whether Wilde was baiting all of this drama to bring more attention to herself and her film, which makes her comments to Elle a little problematic. “Having been a known figure for a while … makes me well-equipped to have a Teflon exterior,” Wilde said in her Elle interview. “But it also means that you’re under a different kind of microscope. It’s brought my attention to the media and how it pits women against one another.” Right, but that line of thinking doesn’t explain Wilde’s behavior on set with Harry Styles, or the contradictory statements she made about LaBeouf’s exit from the film.
But Wilde continued to put her foot in her mouth in the Elle interview. “It is shocking to see so many untruths about yourself traded as fact,” Wilde said. “Florence had a really wise comment that we didn’t sign up for a reality show. And I love that she put it that way, because it’s as though the general public feels that if you are making something that you’re selling to the public, you somehow have accepted that your life will be torn to shreds by a pack of wolves. No, that’s actually not part of the job description. Never was.”
Actually, yes, it is. Celebrity and tabloid media have gone hand in hand since well before the inception of the motion picture industry, where both the public and the press scrutinize everything a famous person does. That’s what Wilde signed up for when she became an actress, whether she likes it or not. And again, it’s difficult to tell whether or not Wilde at times relished all of this drama leading up to the film’s premiere. Even if she didn’t, she didn’t handle any of this very well, and poise is an essential trait for celebrities. If anything, Pugh has carried herself with more poise in this situation than Wilde has.
Then Wilde backtracked on her comments about how she wanted “Don’t Worry Darling” to emphasize female pleasure, especially in its sex scenes. “It’s interesting because Florence very wisely pointed out that a lot of attention has been given to the sex scenes,” Wilde continued. “And I think she’s so right. I completely agree with her that it’s overshadowing everything else that the movie’s about, which is so interestingly ironic because one of the uses of sex in Victory is as a tool of distraction.”
Well, if Wilde didn’t want critics and audience to think about the movie’s sex scenes so much, why did she make it a major point of interest in her huge feature article with Variety published before the film came out? Sex is indeed used as “a tool of distraction” in the movie, but Wilde also wielded sexuality as a hot-button issue to help promote the film. Did that emphasis on sex arguably distract moviegoers from the film’s overall uneven quality and unoriginal dystopian themes? Perhaps.
Wilde concluded the interview with more contradictory statements. “When Florence pointed that out that this film is so much bigger and better than just the sex scenes, I was so happy that she said that because I feel the same way,” Wilde said. Is “Don’t Worry Darling” bigger than its sex scenes and the drama that circulated its release? At this point, this writer doesn’t care anymore. The movie is out, critics and audiences have rated it as they see fit, and the fact that it remains a hot topic is exhausting and obnoxious.
Despite mixed reviews, “Don’t Worry Darling” is a box-office success, making roughly double its budget in its theatrical run so far. Now there are other movies for the press and moviegoers to watch and think about. If Wilde remains upset about how the media handled coverage of her film, maybe she should reflect on her behavior, both on the film’s set and during its publicity tour. If Wilde discovers that she may be partially responsible for inciting the negative attention that “Don’t Worry Darling” still receives, news flash: she’s right.
