Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy said, “Any indication of friction between the studio and Olivia is simply not true.
The poison that keeps on giving in Hollywood is “Don’t Worry Darling.” Finally released by Warner Bros. this weekend, the film has already made over $3 million from Thursday previews and is on track for a profitable $19 million launch. But today, another bombshell was dropped into the launch when Vulture released a report stating that co-star/director Olivia Wilde and star Florence Pugh quarrelled on the set dating back to January 2021. The narrative described an altercation between the two, and it also clarified why Pugh has been noticeably absent from the press tour for the film—she attended the Venice world premiere for a brief red carpet appearance but skipped the New York premiere entirely. It was said to be related to her work on the “Dune: Part Two” Budapest set.
The co-chairs and CEOs of Warner Bros. Pictures, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, have now released a formal joint statement, which the studio has shared with IndieWire. They denied that there was any turmoil behind the scenes of the film about a couple (Pugh and Styles) whose idyllic suburban life is turned upside down when Pugh’s character discovers the diabolical schemes guiding it.
“We look forward to working with Olivia Wilde once more and are very proud of the job she did in creating this breathtakingly gorgeous and entertaining movie. The studio is incredibly pleased and appreciative of Olivia’s unwavering assistance in realising her vision from production through distribution. Any claims of a disagreement between Olivia and the studio are untrue, according to the statement.
Since a late-August Variety feature revealed numerous problems, including Shia LaBeouf’s denial that he was actually sacked from the movie before Styles took his place, director Olivia Wilde has been in hot water. Text message video from Wilde suggested that she attempted to mediate the conflict between him and Pugh, who is said to have clashed with him during pre-production, according to an email from LaBeouf provided to IndieWire the day after the news went public. LaBeouf verbally harassed Pugh throughout the film’s preproduction, according to sources close to the project, and Pugh eventually left the project because of insufficient rehearsal time.
Pugh, who appeared to be having a good time on set, uploaded Instagram images on Friday thanking her partners and celebrating the film’s release.
