The Florence Pugh and Olivia Wilde drama rumours explained

24 August 2022, 20:51

Watch the trailer for Don't Worry Darling

By PopBuzz

Olivia Wilde has shut down false reports that Florence Pugh was paid less than Harry Styles for Don't Worry Darling. Here's why fans think there's drama between the two.

There's no doubt about it: Don't Worry, Darling is already one of the most anticipated film releases of the year, and thanks to its stellar, star-studded cast, it'll might be one of the biggest films of the year too.

Starring Oscar-nominated icon and cooking queen Florence Pugh, Grammy-winning musician and sometimes actor Harry Styles and arguably the best 'Chris' Chris Pine, Don't Worry Darling is a psychological thriller directed by Olivia Wilde, who also appears in the film in a supporting role.

But if you've been keeping up with the conversation about the film on Film Twitter and/or FilmTok, you might have caught wind of all the rumours, speculation and headlines about some alleged "tension" between leading lady Florence and director Olivia.

But where has it all stemmed from? Here's why the rumours from fans on social media appear to have started.

So? What's going on? How did all these rumours start? Well, it all began thanks to a widely-shared theory that began on TikTok, with people speculating about various rumours from production and unconfirmed reports from anonymous sources.

There's been quite a lot of tabloid publicity surrounding Don't Worry Darling. Mostly thanks to Harry Styles and the overwhelming interest in his relationship with Olivia, which appears to have started during filming.

But what has Florence got to do with all of that? Well, amid all the tabloid-driven conversation surrounding the stars, fans have been paying close attention to Florence's social media and have noticed that she hasn't been posting about the movie as much as she usually posts her other upcoming projects.

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A post shared by Florence Pugh (@florencepugh)

Back in 2020, Florence shared an excited Instagram post announcing that she'd been cast in the film. Her caption detailed how excited she was to work with Olivia, and she even called Olivia her 'idol'.

Since then, Florence has shared a couple of posts about the film, highlighting the first teaser trailer in September 2021 and a wrap post celebrating the crew who worked during the pandemic to bring the film together in February 2021.

But in recent months, Florence hasn't really posted or engaged with any posts about the film, except for one teaser eventually posted on August 11th with a pretty standard straight-forward caption. Olivia also shared a whole host of behind-the-scenes photos of Florence at work, praising the actress for her incredible performance in the film, but Florence didn't appear to acknowledge any of them on the platform.

Unintentionally fuelling the theories and rumours even more, Florence also shared the first poster of her other upcoming film, Oppenheimer, on the day the Don't Worry Darling trailer was released. Fans noticed she didn't post about DWD and immediately began speculating.

(Maybe Florence was just busy? Who knows?!)

While any reports of a 'feud' or 'drama' between Florence and Olivia remain unconfirmed and speculative, there does appear to be some comments from the pair that are at odds with each other, regarding the sex scenes in the movie.

If you've watched the DWD trailer, you'll probably have been quite taken aback by the glimpses of Alice and Jack's love life – including a short clip of Jack going down on Alice on top of a dining table. That particular screenshot ended up going viral on Twitter amongst the Harry Styles fandom, because, well, of course it did.

In previous interviews about the film, Olivia has discussed the sex scenes in detail, and has emphasised the importance of the film's depiction of female pleasure.

Speaking to Vogue, Olivia said: "I kept saying, ‘Why isn’t there any good sex in film anymore?’" Explaining why she wanted to show Jack going down on Alice, Olivia said she wants people to "realise how rarely they see female hunger, and specifically this type of female pleasure."

Florence, on the other hand, recently made it clear that she does not want the focus of the film to be about those sex scenes – and she won't be talking about what it was like to film them with Harry Styles, either.

When asked about her sex scenes with Harry, Florence 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. It’s not why I’m in this industry."

"Obviously, the nature of hiring the most famous pop star in the world, you’re going to have conversations like that," she continued. "That’s just not what I’m going to be discussing because [this movie is] bigger and better than that. And the people who made it are bigger and better than that."

Obviously, Florence made no reference to Olivia's comments but fans couldn't help but notice the pair's very different approach to discussing those scenes.

Anyway, all of these rumours, unconfirmed reports, social media activity and everything in between has led fans to believe some "drama" has gone down.

There's also been plenty of false reports and made up stories that have done the rounds too, including one that spread like wild fire claiming that Florence had been paid much less than Harry.

Olivia herself shut that one down in an interview with Variety: "There has been a lot out there that I largely don’t pay attention to. But the absurdity of invented clickbait and subsequent reaction regarding a nonexistent pay disparity between our lead and supporting actors really upset me.

"I’m a woman who has been in this business for over 20 years, and it’s something that I have fought for myself and others, especially being a director. There is absolutely no validity to those claims."

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A post shared by Olivia Wilde (@oliviawilde)

Neither Olivia nor Florence have directly addressed any of the rumours or speculation about the alleged drama. But Olivia did appear to indirectly address the tabloid's obsession with "pit[ting] women against one another" in the Variety interview.

"The whole culture of celebrity gossip is interesting as a distracting tool to numb people from the greater pains of the world," she said. "Escapism is really a very human quality, searching for something to anaesthetise the painful reality of so many people’s lives. I don’t blame people for seeking escapism, but I think the tabloid media is a tool to pit women against one another and to shame them."

Read more about Don't Worry Darling here:

• Florence Pugh slams coverage of her sex scenes with Harry Styles in Don't Worry Darling
• Olivia Wilde praises Harry Styles’ talent and performance in Don't Worry Darling
• Harry Styles says the sex scenes in My Policeman and Don't Worry Darling are not safe to watch with parents
• Olivia Wilde addresses backlash to her relationship with Harry Styles

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