Before Don’t Worry Darling debuted at the Venice Film Festival, Olivia Wilde’s directorial followup to Booksmart already found itself embroiled in drama. The so-called “Spitgate” didn’t help the matter of people taking this film seriously, but to be fair, the film was already on the path of being a PR disaster long before critics watched it. For the time being, the consensus appears to be that, while Florence Pugh is still a powerhouse, the film isn’t nearly as compelling as the sea of controversy surrounding it. There was an overarching Shia LaBeouf casting mess, which grew worse when his version of events went down differently than how Olivia described. And Flo hasn’t heavily promoted this film, which muddies waters, too.
Then there are the rumors that have been bubbling for several months: That the timeline of Olivia’s breakup with Jason Sudeikis (with whom she shares two children) could look fuzzy when held up against her relationship with Harry Styles, who replaced Shia in the movie. Part of the issue arose when Jason spoke with GQ and declared that he and Olivia broke up in November 2020, which was only a few months before she and Harry were photographed on a boat while kissing and spotted together at a wedding while holding hands. This apparently quick turnaround let to rumors upon rumors, and in a new Vanity Fair profile, Olivia attempts to calm down that chatter, which is one of many distractions from Don’t Worry Darling as a film.
Olivia also talked up Flo and Harry in the course of this Vanity Fair interview, but here’s how she shot down any rumors of relationship overlap:
“The complete horsesh*t idea that I left Jason for Harry is completely inaccurate. Our relationship was over long before I met Harry. Like any relationship that ends, it doesn’t end overnight. Unfortunately, Jason and I had a very bumpy road, and we officially dissolved the relationship towards the beginning of the pandemic. We were raising two kids during lockdown, so we co-parented through that time. Once it became clear that cohabitating was no longer beneficial for the children, it became the responsible thing to not, because we could be better parents as friends who live in different houses.
Olivia added that she’s not a fan of “the need to create false narratives and drama around this kind of stuff” while also asking, “[H]aven’t the kids been through enough?”
That’s a fair point about the children, but no one can deny that the timing — of production and the breakup and the new relationship and Jason’s legal server handing custody papers to Olivia while she was onstage at CinemaCon to promote Don’t Worry Darling — was bound to get tongues wagging. Still, no one knows what actually happens inside any relationship, so outside perceptions can’t really be counted on for any semblance of accuracy. What we do know, though, is that Don’t Worry Darling arrives in theaters on September 23. Will the film put butts in seats aside from all the drama? We’ll soon found out.
(Via Vanity Fair)