‘Don’t Worry Darling’ Is Responsible For More Than 1 Real-Life Celebrity Couple
Don’t Worry Darling is likely the most talked-about film of 2022. Despite the fact that the movie received mixed reviews, it dominated popular culture due to a couple of scandals — including the relationship between director Olivia Wilde and star Harry Styles.
The case of old-fashioned Hollywood drama delighted the internet. But interestingly enough, another couple came out of the making of the film. Who else got together behind the scenes?
‘Don’t Worry Darling’ is a mediocre thriller about misogynist rage
The film stars Florence Pugh and Styles as Alice and Jack. The happily married couple lives in Victory, a company town where everything is not as it seems. Alice begins to question everything — including their leader, Frank (Chris Pine).
Wilde, who also appears in the film, highlighted the film’s female-centric sex scenes. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to make it a hit. Don’t Worry Darling currently has a 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics noting the feminism all it was cracked up to be. There were also some truly bizarre narrative choices — specifically the final twist.
KiKi Layne and Ari’el Stachel fell in love while on set
Several other actors appeared in the film, including KiKi Layne and Ari’el Stachel. Layne is known for If Beale Street Could Talk, The Old Guard, and Coming 2 America. Stachel is a celebrated theater actor, winning a Tony Award in 2018 for his performance in The Band’s Visit.
In Don’t Worry Darling, they play Margaret and Ted, a married couple also living in the Victory neighborhood. Margaret’s psychological breakdown serves as an omen for what’s to come for Alice. But she and Ted are quickly pushed aside as the story develops. Nearly all of their work remains unseen because their scenes were almost entirely left out of the final product.
But being on set wasn’t a total loss for them — they started dating during filming. “The best thing about #DontWorryDarling is that I was lucky enough to meet @arielstachel,” Layne wrote on Instagram. “They cut us from most of the movie, but we thriving in real life.”
Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles’ relationship ended shortly after the movie came out
The fallout stemming from Styles’ addition to the cast of Don’t Worry Darling is arguably more entertaining than the movie itself. He was brought in to replace Shia LaBeouf after he left the project under mysterious circumstances. Wilde claimed he was fired for bad behavior. But LaBeouf released a video that showed the director begging him to stay and making comments about “Miss Flo.”
Rumors about Pugh and Wilde falling out due to the ways the director’s relationship with Styles affected production were already rampant. But the movie’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival took it to a whole new level. Every event related to Don’t Worry Darling at the festival turned into a meme, be it Pugh’s brief appearance, “Spitgate,” or Pine disassociating from the entire affair. To top it all off, Styles and Wilde broke up less than two months later.
Don’t Worry Darling did well enough at the box office, earning $86.7 million. But when/if people think about this movie years down the line, the legacy will be the off-screen absurdity and not the actual attempt at a message.
