‘Don’t Worry Darling’: Olivia Wilde Disappeared On-Set and Florence Pugh Took Over Directorial Reigns

First off, let’s get the reporter’s credentials out of the way. Elaine "Lainey" Lui, who oversees the LaineyGossip website, is an anchor on CTV's etalk, and is also a co-host on CTV's daily talk series The Social. She’s been covering the industry for years and I trust what she has to say. She’s been Canada’s go-to entertainment reporter for many years now.

With that being said, Lainey has a very damning article about the whole “Don’t Worry Darling” drama, which claims to have spoken to three crew members of the film. The biggest takeaway for me is that this confirms the wildest rumor I had heard about the DWD production in the summer: Wilde disappeared from the set and Pugh took over directing reigns.

A “loud” disagreement between Pugh and Wilde occurred the on set very late into production. This had to do with Wilde indeed “disappearing” from set, when no one could also locate Harry Styles. One person described Wilde as “unpresent”.

This is what got Pugh royally pissed, Wilde’s “unpresentness.” Pugh would grow tired of waiting and asking where her filmmaker was that she just took over and started filming, alongside DP Mathew Libatique, without Wilde.

Everyone had their script pages, they knew what scene they were shooting, Libatique and the first assistant director ineq the shots Wilde wanted (storyboarding!) It was doable to proceed without Wilde.

Then, all of a sudden, according to Lainey, Wilde would just “breeze in and take over.” Yikes. She didn’t even acknowledge Pugh’s hard work in keeping everything on track. So, as suspected, Miss Flo did indeed take over directorial duties from time to time. Unprofessional behavior from Wilde? You bet.

Notice how Pugh has never denied any of the toxic rumors that have emanated about the film. If this was false, Pugh would be denying it. I’m still waiting for her to do that (and she probably won’t). She is just letting Wilde alone to fend off all of these rumors and she’s even refused to promote the film.