I’m Worried About “Don’t Worry Darling”
Published Sept. 14, 2022, at 4:20 p.m.
by Sydney Palmer.
Harry Styles allegedly spitting on Chris Pine at the Venice Film Festival is not something I had on my bingo board for 2022.
If you haven’t heard about the viral video making rounds on Twitter, I’ll give you the rundown: “Don’t Worry Darling” is a film directed by Olivia Wilde starring Harry Styles, Florence Pugh, Chris Pine and Nick Kroll. At the Venice Film Festival this week, a clip surfaced of Harry Styles taking his seat for the preview of the movie, and he appears to spit on Chris Pine as he’s sitting down.
At the exact moment Styles sits down, his lips purse as he leans over Pine. Pine freezes and seems to laugh to himself, leading the world to believe he was reacting to Styles spitting on him. There have been memes, slowed down clips of people analyzing each frame, and thousands of tweets discussing this moment.
Styles even joked at his concert in New York the next night: “I just popped over quickly to Venice to spit on Chris Pine, but fear not, we’re back,” adding fuel to the fire.
Although the moment would be bizarre if it were true, we now know that Styles did not spit on Pine after a statement from Chris Pine’s rep for Entertainment Weekly. “A complete fabrication and the result of an odd online illusion that is clearly deceiving. … Just to be clear, Harry Styles did NOT spit on Chris Pine,” the spokesperson said.
The media has certainly brought a lot of attention to the film, which makes me wonder, could this all be an elaborate publicity stunt?
As of Sept. 12, the film had a Rotten Tomatoes score of 42%. With a score this low, it’s clear that the popularity behind the movie must stem from gossip surrounding the cast. When director Olivia Wilde split from her longtime partner, Jason Sudeikis, she began dating Styles. The “Don’t Worry Darling” pair was rumored to have begun dating on set while filming the movie.
Wilde was then served custody papers from Sudeikis during a promotional stop for the movie. Bad publicity is still publicity, right? This moment is viewed as the starting point for the now incessant drama surrounding the film.
Florence Pugh, the lead of the movie, was rumored to disapprove of the relationship between her co-star and the director. She skipped the Venice Film Festival due to her busy schedule, but many believe it is because of her disdain for Wilde and Style’s relationship, as well as allegedly being paid less than Styles for her role in the film. Pugh, who has been a professional actor since 2014, was allegedly paid a salary of $700,000. Styles, whose role in “Don’t Worry Darling” is his second film appearance, was reportedly paid a salary of $2.5 million.
While we truly don’t know what happened behind the scenes of this film, one thing is true: The publicity is working. Will you be seeing “Don’t Worry Darling” in theaters on Sept. 23?
