Florence Pugh: I 'Definitely' Felt a Movie Was Falling Apart Mid-Filming
Moviemaking isn’t always magical. Florence Pugh opened up about how the vibe on set could affect the entire movie.
Everything Olivia Wilde, Shia LaBeouf, Cast Have Said About ‘Don’t Worry Darling...
The Little Women star, 27, has “definitely” felt like a movie was falling apart while filming, she told Time in an interview published on Tuesday, May 23.
“A whole film set, it’s everybody making a huge effort because they want to be there,” Pugh explained. “And if someone doesn’t want to be there or if someone isn’t pulling their weight, you can feel it. The film feels wrong.”
Pugh declined to name any particular films, but fans are quick to remember the Don’t Worry Darling drama from last year. The movie, which hit theaters in September 2022, was directed by Olivia Wilde. In the months leading up to the film’s release, the Black Widow actress barely acknowledged the film’s existence on social media, and insiders alleged that she and the director, 39, struggled to see eye-to-eye.
“Florence and Olivia have had several disagreements personally and professionally, that’s why Florence isn’t doing any press for the movie,” a source exclusively revealed to Us Weekly in August 2022. The England native made a single appearance at Venice Film Festival for the movie’s premiere and did not participate in the press conference with her castmates and director. She arrived in time to walk the red carpet and watch the film and left to return to the Dune 2 set in Budapest the next morning.
Olivia Wilde, Florence Pugh Pose Together at 'Don't Worry Darling' Premiere
During the Venice press conference, Wilde, 39, refused to address speculation about the rumored feuds with Pugh as well as Shia LaBeouf, who was once set to play the role Harry Styles took over.
“Florence is a force,” Wilde said of her leading lady. “We are so grateful she’s able to make it tonight [for the red carpet] despite being in production on Dune. I know as a director how disruptive it is to lose an actor even for a day, so I’m very grateful to her and to [Dune director Denis Villeneuve] for helping us. And we’ll get to celebrate her work tonight. I can’t say how honored I am to have her as our lead. She’s amazing. As for all the endless tabloid gossip and all the noise out there, the internet feeds itself. I don’t feel the need to contribute; I think it’s sufficiently well-nourished.”
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When a reporter asked about rumored drama with LaBeouf, 36, Wilde said only that the question had already been answered because “it’s on the internet.”
The House alum later reacted to Pugh’s alleged social media snub of the film, noting that she’d fulfilled all her obligations as the leading lady of Don’t Worry Darling.
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“Florence is one of the most in-demand actresses in the universe. She’s on set on Dune,” the Booksmart director told Vanity Fair in a September 2022 interview. “I gather that some people expect for her to be engaging more on social media. I didn’t hire her to post. I hired her to act. She fulfilled every single expectation I had of her. That’s all that matters to me.”
Several months after the film’s release, Pugh declined to discuss the “media frenzy” surrounding the film during a February 2023 interview with Vanity Fair. “Ideally I don’t really want to be going down the Don’t Worry Darling conversation because this whole release for The Wonder has been so positive and I’ve been really excited to talk about that,” she told the magazine. “I don’t really feel the need to go into the nitty-gritty details of Don’t Worry Darling. So, if it’s OK, I’ll probably just let that one sit.”
