The actor-turned-director Olivia Wilde‘s much-anticipated film, ‘Don’t Worry Darling,‘ will debut at the Venice Film Festival on September 5, and make it to the box office on September 23. The psychological thriller casts the Oscar-nominated actress Florence Pugh, and the pop singer, Harry Styles. In a recent interview with Variety, Wilde shared what all went behind creating the movie.
From the direction to the casting, Olivia paid the utmost focus on each and every detail. One of the things she broke her silence on was why she fired the ‘Transformers‘ actor, Shia LaBeouf, from the role of Jack, which was one of the lead characters in the film.
Shia LaBeouf Almost Had The Lead Role In ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ Before Olivia Wilde Fired Him
Wilde had the perfect clarity and vision for the movie. Talking about the cast, she said, “I wanted to work with the place that would not only allow me to make the film the scale that it deserved, but to cast the people I wanted and release it in the way I wanted — and I wanted theatrical.” Therefore, Wilde’s biggest task was to get the perfect actors for her movie. Florence Pugh was her first choice for her lead actress, Alice. She was practically “blown away” by her performance in the 2019 movie ‘Midsommar.’ Wilde then teamed up with Pugh to find Jack, who would be playing Pugh’s character’s husband.
For Jack, Wilde thought of Harry Styles. His performance in ‘Dunkirk‘ had the producers praising him and could be heard saying Harry is “an absolute dream, and went above and beyond in terms of being prepared.” However, the pop singer was busy touring and producing music and therefore was unavailable, and so eventually, Shia LaBeouf was cast for the role.
In 2020, when the production started, a report came that Shia LaBeouf has been fired and the reason shared by the studio was “scheduling conflicts.” Now finally, Wilde stated the actual reason behind the decision to fire the actor. Speaking to Variety, she said, “I say this as someone who is such an admirer of his work. His process was not conducive to the ethos that I demand in my productions. He has a process that, in some ways, seems to require a combative energy, and I don’t personally believe that is conducive to the best performances.”
LaBeouf Sued For Sexual Battery
Soon after LaBeouf was fired from the role, he was charged with sexual assault and relentless physical, mental and emotional abuse by his ex-girlfriend and ‘Honey Boy‘ co-star, FKA Twigs. The following month, Shia left his agency, CAA, and got admitted into an inpatient facility to seek help. This news shocked everyone, especially the ‘Don’t Worry Darling‘ cast. Wilde had also previously said, “I believe that creating a safe, trusting environment is the best way to get people to do their best work. Ultimately, my responsibility is to the production and to the cast to protect them. That was my job.” This was quite the decision made by her before much damage could have happened, especially with Florence Pugh, who would have shared many vulnerable scenes with him for the movie.
“A lot came to light after this happened that really troubled me, in terms of his behavior,” Wilde said of the situation. “I find myself just really wishing him health and evolution because I believe in restorative justice. But for our film, what we really needed was an energy that was incredibly supportive. Particularly with a movie like this, I knew that I was going to be asking Florence to be in very vulnerable situations, and my priority was making her feel safe and making her feel supported.”
In 2020, the empty spot of Jack was filled, owing to the pandemic which canceled Harry Styles’ much-awaited ‘Love On Tour’. It led to the amazing opportunity for Harry to finally get on board with the shooting and production. Styles loved the character of Jack and took the role.
