At the end of the day, Olivia Wilde is very happy she chose Florence Pugh over Shia LaBeouf for Don’t Worry Darling
“Anyone who has dealt with conflict knows that there are levels to it before there’s a conclusion,” Wilde tells Stephen Colbert
Aux News Olivia Wilde
There’s only one more sleep until Don’t Worry Darling becomes viewable for those of us without a Venice press pass, and whether you’ve been worrying or not about the film’s hefty behind-the-scenes drama, Olivia Wilde would like to clear things up.
During an appearance on Wednesday’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Colbert directly questioned Wilde on the “reports of feuds, people analyzing body language, private messages being released, narratives and counter-narratives” that have run rampant through the film’s bonkers press junket. First on the clarification list: was Shia LaBeouf fired from the set, or did he leave of his own accord?
Wilde’s answer (per usual) is nothing short of diplomatic. “Early on in the process of making the film, as the director, I tried to mediate a situation between people to try to see if they could work together happily,” Wilde explains. “Once it became clear that it was not a tenable working relationship, I was given an ultimatum. I chose my actress, which I’m very happy I did. At the time, was I bummed that we weren’t able to make it work? Sure. Did information come to light later that made me confident we made the right decision? Absolutely.”
When Colbert, a self-described “tribune of the people,” pushes Wilde to further specify exactly what happened with LaBeouf and whether or not she fired him, she somewhat obliges. “We had to replace Shia. He is a fantastic actor but it wasn’t gonna work,” she says. “And you know, when he gave me the ultimatum of him or Florence [Pugh], I chose Florence, and that was him feeling he was stepping away and me feeling like we were moving on without him […] It’s a question of semantics.”
Despite participating in the dramatic dissection, Colbert also expresses his sympathies toward the Don’t Worry Darling media circus early on in the interview. He tells Wilde at one point it must be “particularly frustrating to have people talking about a lot of things that aren’t the film itself.”
“Oh are they?” Wilde jokes to the audience’s delight while taking a pointed sip from her The Late Show mug. All jokes aside, however, Wilde is clearly more than aware of Don’t Worry Darling’s behind-the-scenes intrigue—and in some ways, sees it as an allegory for the film.
“It’s kind of ironic because all of it is really what [Don’t Worry Darling]’s about,” she explains. “The film is about the narratives we are fed and whether we choose to accept them or question their sources. And as you said, there were private messages that were released without context to try to make a situation look like something that it wasn’t.”
39 Comments
I sure hope we never, ever stop talking about this film, which was given a C minus by this site. I dont think there is any other film worth talking about, just this one.
“Once it became clear that it was not a tenable working relationship, I was given an ultimatum. I chose my actress, which I’m very happy I did.”
What a weird thing to obviously lie about when there is clear and incontrovertible evidence that he quit despite her essentially begging him to stay and saying she’ll put Florence in her place.
Shia knows the truth, Miss Flo knows the truth, Ollie Wilde knows the truth and anyone who has seen what Shia released ALSO knows the truth.
I don’t get it.
She’s a selfish lying psychopath.
Sociopath
Translation: STAY AWAY FROM MY FAKE INTERNET BOYFRIEND YOU TROLLOP!!!!!
Jesus, settle down Beavis.
Olivia Wilde really embodying the Skyler White Effect out here…
“the Skyler White Effect”Having a reasonable take on your partner’s dangerous criminal behaviour?
Recipient of largely irrational hatred, and yet I just can’t be bothered to feel too bad about it…
Well, obviously… Florence Pugh is a star on the rise, while Shia LaBeouf is that annoying kid from Transformers that kept eyeballing Megan Fox.
Well, he wasn’t the Lone Ranger.
Isn’t that Michael Bay? Dude’s camera spent so much time lingering on her ass that I think Transformers 1 might count as a colonoscopy.
Honestly, the amount they’re fucking paying you to write all this fluff around what you, the AV Club, gave a C- to in the review almost makes me want to turn off my adblocker so you could earn some honest revenue that didn’t affect your output.
No kidding. This is what… the 10th article about this movie in the last four weeks?
I think 10 is a low guess.
I decided to count them, which includes articles that cover the film, but aren’t explicitly dedicated to it. We’ve had 15 since September started, and 20 total since the last week of July. There are four articles dedicated to Harry Styles supposedly spitting on Chris Pine. There might be more, that’s all I found from searching “Olivia Wilde”.AV Club, be better than this. It’s pathetic.
Yeah but think of how many there would have been if QE2 hadn’t passed.
I think it would have been a daring move to have LaBeouf and Styles be a couple in the movie!
Could the dining room table handle it?
“My facetime video begging Shia to stay on the film and mocking ‘Miss Flo’ was completely taken out of context and actually I was being sarcastic the entire time, because I believe in restorative justice.”
“God! I was being ironic! Don’t you people know what irony is?” is the defence of fuckwits everywhere.
“Anyone who has dealt with conflict knows that there are levels to it before there’s a conclusion” added to National Institute of Things That Sound Profound But Are Actually Stupid
I think it means that Mz. Wilde always escalates conflict beyond what it started, and then tries to play victim.
Do people really care that a star & director didn’t like each other? Jesus, never watch any classic Hollywood movie.
I hate drama in my dramas..
For decades we endure stories about “difficult actresses” (see: Divas), and those actresses eventually get shut out of the industry. It’s your turn, fellas. Maybe their contracts should say “Please try to act like grownups when not being filmed.”
…but the women can keep doing it, right? Right?
Still pushing this movie I see.
May we get back to our regularly scheduled whogivesashit?
That was the most heavily-edited interview I’ve ever seen on Colbert. I think they were chopping mid-sentence. The following interview with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, though, was incredibly excellent and deep. Almost too deep for Stephen.
How is it news that people’s lives are better when there is less Shia Lebouf?
While I know this controversy has run out of steam, it is amusing to see Wilde stumping for the charred remains of her turd of a movie.
What she says makes sense. Wilde has been very diplomatic regarding him, even sympathetic. Shia should have just let it go.
SO MUCH CELEBRITY GOSS!MOUTHBREATHERS HAPPY!
Jesus, can this movie just come out, flop and go away already?
The Shia stuff is believable, but none of that explains why Florence has seemingly distanced herself from the entire project, including its director.
Is the movie any good? Is it worth watching?
Florence Pugh’s response: