Director Olivia Wilde declined to address the tabloid-driven discussion around her Venice out-of-competition title Don’t Worry Darling at the press conference for the film, which lead actress Florence Pugh missed as she arrived in Venice while the conference was taking place.
Answering a question from Screen about whether Pugh’s absence was due to a falling out between the pair, Wilde said, “Florence is a force. We are so grateful she’s able to make it tonight [Pugh will walk the red carpet in promoting the film]. I know as a director how disruptive it is to lose an actor even for a day, so I’m very grateful to her, and to [Dune director] Denis Villeneuve for helping us; we’re really thrilled we’ll get to celebrate her work tonight.
“I can’t say how honoured I am to have her as our lead; she’s amazing in the film.
“As for all the endless tabloid gossip out there, the internet feeds itself. I don’t feel the need to contribute; I think it’s sufficiently self-nourished.”
Warner Bros’ Don’t Worry Darling centres on a 1950s housewife, played by Pugh, living with her husband, played by Harry Styles, in a utopian experimental community. The housewife begins to worry that her husband’s glamorous company may be hiding disturbing secrets.
Pugh was reportedly absent because her flight from Budapest – where she is filming the Dune sequel – was not due to land until later this afternoon.
A subsequent question about Shia LaBeouf, who was originally attached to the Warner Bros film in the role eventually played by Styles, was shut down by Venice moderator Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan, who said that the topic had already been addressed.
In an interview last month, Wilde said she removed LaBeouf from the role eventually taken on by Styles “because [LaBeouf’s] process was not conducive to the ethos that I demand in my productions”. LaBeouf responded to Wilde’s words by claiming that he was not fired, but left the project due to lack of rehearsal time.
Thriller tactics
Wilde said nostalgia, bodily autonomy and fascist imagery all informed her thriller. “We were really interested in the problematic nature of nostalgia itself for everyone but a very slim portion of the population,” she said. “We started writing this film in the era of Make America Great Again – and questioning what exactly is meant by that. There’s a lot of fascist imagery and references, and it’s because we’re trying to talk about power and the abuse of power.”
“We thought a lot about the generations of women that came before ours; unfortunately also the generation of women that we are in right now, in terms of bodily autonomy,” she added. “I don’t think there will unfortunately ever be a time when the idea of controlling someone’s body is not something relevant to be able to fight against. We have to continue that conversation.”
Wilde added that she hopes the film can use entertainment as a way of increasing important discussions. “I hope it provokes conversations; I hope it makes people think and question the system that serves them,” she said. “We also want this film to be incredibly entertaining. Katie [Silberman, co-writer alongside Carey Van Dyke and Shane Van Dyke] and I always say we believe in trojan horse films, that on the outside we want it to be absolute entertainment.
“The film is intentionally provocative; we want to be disruptive. I believe in disruption as a necessary tool in society.”
Don’t Worry Darling opens in the US, UK and Ireland and most international territories on September 23.
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