“Harry Styles spat on Chris Pine!” The release of “Don’t Worry Honey” during the last Venice Film Festival was a big hit for the tabloids. After all, Olivia Wilde’s movie landed in the friendly Italian city with an arsenal of behindthescenes drama that promised to explode on the red carpet.
Of course it wasn’t for that. Nobody spat on anyone, there was no shame, and intrigues remained behind the curtains. But the damage was done. The excitement surrounding the film was no longer about the work itself, but about all the offcamera attention it had attracted.
If gossip is louder than work, something is wrong. Even more serious is knowing that the discomfort didn’t come from an assistant director unhappy with the production, but from its own director, actress Olivia Wilde.
Harry Styles (but could be a stationery doll) in Don’t Worry Honey
Image: Warner
Previously known for her work as an actress on television (House, Vinyl) and film (Tron: Legacy, Cowboys & Aliens), Olivia made her 2019 debut with the likable Out of Series To solidify her new career, she banked on Don’t Worry, Honey, a thriller aiming for both artistic and commercial success.
In 2021, however, the mush began to flow. The director herself revealed that Shia LaBeouf, who was cast as the protagonist alongside Florence Pugh, was fired from the production for his “combative energy.” There was a whole clamor about how she protects her cast, how she promotes the best work environment.
Shia, who previously handled the film discreetly, said last August it didn’t end that way. He stated that his removal from the production was voluntary due to the short rehearsal time for the cast. To cap it all, he presented a recording of a phone conversation of Olivia herself and asked him to reconsider his decision.
With the release date approaching, the whole thing felt like a publicity stunt to increase the cheer for “Don’t Worry Honey.” However, instead of letting gossip take its course, Wilde tried to quell the fire with kerosene, saying Shia actually took a blue ticket because she was protecting Florence Pugh, who is said to be uncomfortable with the actor’s behavior.
At the time, celebrity journalism was having a blast. Florence reportedly had a backstage argument with Olivia herself, greatly reducing the publicity she would do for the film. In their social networks, for example, no beep.
The director, meanwhile, ended her decadelong marriage to actor Jason Sudeikis in November 2020, two months before she began dating Harry Styles, whom she cast as Shia LaBeouf in Don’t Worry Honey.
Amidst this turmoil, the film arrived in Venice with baggage unrelated to its artistic qualities. The conference was bureaucratic. The excitement was on the ground. Chris Pine always looked bored. The highlight was the nospit story.
Florence Pugh in the mood of the 1950s
Image: Warner
“But what about the movie?” you ask helplessly. Ah, the movie. Believe me, all the behindthescenes drama is infinitely more interesting than any fraction of Don’t Worry Honey. Rarely has a work meant so much and touched so little.
Florence Pugh and Harry Styles are a happy couple living in a random suburb in 1950s America. While the wives do the cleaning, cooking and tidying up at home, the husbands set off on their mysterious work, which the girls can’t do question.
In this suffocating and idyllic setting, Alice (Florence Pugh) realizes something isn’t quite right. Whether it’s that secret job or everyone’s dedication to the leader of the place, the charismatic Frank” (Chris Pine). His dreams become more and more disturbing until surprise! a twist revealing the truth about paradise.
Olivia Wilde directs Chris Pine on the set of Don’t Worry Honey
Image: Warner
Olivia Wilde herself revealed that her inspiration for Don’t Worry Honey was Inception, The Matrix and The Truman Show. “Inspiration” in this case would be the total and utter vampirism of ideas, muddled whole concepts from far better films to piece together his mosaic.
In “Don’t Worry Honey” there is not a single original balcony. Without a solid script, the cast were left adrift, waiting in vain for their director’s steady pulse to set the tone for the story. It is understood that Olivia was looking for an allegory of male inadequacy, gaslighting to its ultimate consequences. However, it lacks the spice to make history out of the concept.
What she ended up getting was loose scifi junklike nonsense that was released straighttoDVD in the first half of the 1990s. It’s the film that Roger Corman would produce, aiming for similar big studio success surfing. The brutal difference is that Olivia Wilde takes herself seriously. She’s aiming for the Oscars, but she’s lucky to get at least one Razzie.
Florence Pugh gets lost in Don’t Worry Honey. We understand you, Miss Flo…
Image: Warner
From the wreckage of a mediocre film, only Florence Pugh, an actress of immense talent, emerges unscathed from the disaster. She understands the intent of the material and, in the absence of a competent director, manages to add some layering to her character quite well.
On the other hand, it’s embarrassing when Flo has to play against Harry Styles. No matter the scene, no matter the moment, he just has no talent as an actor. With no dramatic power to express emotion, Styles ends up like a frozen deer in the headlights of the oncoming truck.
As “Don’t Worry Honey” relies on the duo to guide us, we’re similarly propulsive, following the stream to its lazy end. At least that leaves the fun of guessing if, as the camera started rolling, Florence Pugh was bemoaning the lack of a partner with dramatic flair. Even if he was Shia LaBeouf.