Running from August 31st to September 10th, 2022, Italy held its 79th Venice International Film Festival. The festival showcased a myriad of highly-anticipated films and hosted numerous Hollywood stars such as Julianne Moore and Timothee Chalamet. However, much of the spotlight from media coverage and online discourse has been drawn away from these films and prominent actors, and instead, cast onto those involved with the movie Don’t Worry Darling. 

Don’t Worry Darling is a thriller and mystery film starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles. In the movie, Pugh and Styles play the married couple Alice and Jack Chambers, who live in an idyllic 1950s community. This is the anticipated sophomore film of Olivia Wilde, whose first film, Booksmart, received high critical acclaim. However, after facing many controversies, Don’t Worry Darling became less about the film and more about the people involved with its creation.

The main controversy of the film surrounded the casting of the male lead. Shia Labeouf was initially cast as Jack Chambers, but was replaced just one month into production. In an interview with Variety Magazine, Wilde implied that she had fired LaBeouf because his method acting got in the way, and since her “responsibility is to the production and to the cast,” it was a decision made to protect Pugh. However, in a shocking retaliation, Labeouf told Variety Magazine that he quit because there was not enough rehearsal time, and released text screenshots and emails to prove this. He also released a video Wilde sent him, where she states that she wants him to reconsider quitting, and she calls Florence Pugh “Miss Flo” with a purposely offensive tone.

Due to the relationship between Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde, as well as Styles’ large online fanbase, Don’t Worry Darling was already heavily discussed online, and after Labeouf’s public rebuttal, online discourse and media coverage exploded. Many past relationships involving the cast gained a significant amount of attention: the messy breakup between Wilde and Jason Sudeikis, as well as singer FKA Twig’s lawsuit of sexual battery, assault, and emotional distress against LaBeouf. In an attempt to understand Wilde and Pugh’s relationship, the media scrutinized everything from their social media interactions to their rumored behavior on set. 

The attention focused on the cast members culminated at the Venice Film Festival when Styles, Pugh, and Wilde came together to watch the premiere. The order in which the cast members posed was being analyzed by the internet, as well as the reason why Pugh was not doing any press. Her team stated that it was due to Pugh filming in Budapest, but many theorized that it was to avoid Wilde. The intense speculation even turned comical; in a series of unfortunate coincidences, there was a video where it appears as though Harry Styles spits on cast member Chris Pine. The festival went from its normally celebrated film industry tradition to a Don’t Worry Darling spectacle. 

Although the film had a chaotic production, Wilde argues that the media coverage of the supposed feud between herself and Pugh is unfair, saying in a Variety Magazine article, “The tabloid media is a tool to pit women against each other”. Wilde claims that the things on the internet are untrue, but she has been exposed for lying to the public before. She is correct in the fact that the majority of online discourse has only been speculation though, so it is difficult to know what to believe. When a controversy takes the internet by storm, it can not only negatively impacts reputations and careers, but it can also become an outlet for misinformation that makes people question what to believe.