Entertainment

A Rundown On The Never-Ending ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ Saga

by Lia Kim  3 September 2022

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

The film Don’t Worry Darling hasn’t even come out yet and it feels like there’s already been enough drama to make its own movie.

Before another Miss Flo video is leaked (enjoy the clip below), let’s break down exactly what’s been happening. 

The Olivia Wilde, Harry Styles, and Jason Sudeikis Part

Back in September 2020, Harry Styles was cast in Olivia Wilde’s new movie Don’t Worry Darling, replacing actor Shia LaBeouf. It was Wilde’s second directing gig after her cult-comedy Booksmart in 2019, and the news that Styles was on board fuelled the hype train for the new movie. 

Two months later, Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis AKA Ted Lasso, who were together for almost 10 years and have two kids together, reportedly broke up. At least, that’s when the news broke. Magazines called it amicable and the two had worked out a co-parenting routine.

Then in January 2021, photos of Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles holding hands at a wedding were shared online, which raised some internet eyebrows. Anonymous sources claimed that the pair had fallen in love on set, but that things were professional and that it had nothing to do with Olivia’s previous break-up.

When Sudeikis accepted his Golden Globe over Zoom for Ted Lasso in a tie-dye hoodie, the internet speculated that he was heartbroken, or even high. Sudeikis hit back hard though, saying he was neither of those — he just didn’t want to wear a suit.

But then when Wilde was publicly served custody papers from Sudeikis’ lawyers on stage at a film convention in April this year, it seemed like things weren’t so amicable between the former partners. Wilde called it a “vicious” move, while Sudeikis said he didn’t know about the timing of serving  and said he would have never condoned it.

That’s most of Wilde’s relationship drama covered. But what about Florence Pugh?

The Florence Pugh and Olivia Wilde Part

Only last month, the actor expressed her frustration with how much the Don’t Worry Darling trailer focused on her sex scene with Styles. She told Harper’s Bazaar “when it’s reduced to your sex scenes, or to watch the most famous man in the world go down on someone, it’s not why we do it”.

These are the same scenes that Wilde has praised as centering female pleasure rather than male. 

Pugh was also reportedly unhappy that Wilde would ‘disappear’ with Styles on set when they started dating. 

So What’s Happening Now?

Florence Pugh has since announced that she won’t be doing any press for the film besides attending the Venice Film Festival premiere, which confirms all of the behind-the-scenes tension.

Harry Styles has faced an onslaught of memes making fun of his questionable accent and acting chops, especially opposite Oscar-winning Pugh. Someone also threw a chicken nugget at him during a show in New York.

Then the other week, we got that infamous video of Olivia Wilde facetiming Shia LaBeouf, begging him to rejoin the production, after Wilde told the press that she’d fired him, to which Shia clapped back as untrue. Wilde calling Florence Miss Flo in the video also sent the internet into a frenzy. 

It’s also important to note, that just after movie production started in December 2020, The New York Times reported that FKA Twigs filed a lawsuit against Shia LaBeouf for sexual battery, assault, and emotional distress. 

What’s The Actual Movie Again?

There are a lot of complexities in this saga that makes this more than just a Hollywood drama. And the movie honestly sounded pretty good before all of this — a psychological thriller with a 1950s aesthetic hiding something sinister.

The real question is whether it’ll match up to this real-life drama.