Olivia Wilde Says She Fired Shia LeBeouf From “Don’t Worry Darling” To Protect Florence Pugh

Given all the drama surrounding Olivia Wilde’s upcoming psychological thriller/unintentional comedy Don’t Worry Darling starring Zach Braff’s former boo Florence Pugh and Olivia’s current boo Harry Styles, it’s easy to forget that things could be worse. When the movie went into production, Shia LeBeouf was starring opposite Flo “as suburban husband” who “may or may not be gaslighting his wife,” but was replaced by her first-choice, Harry, with no reason given other than a “scheduling conflict.” A bit later Olivia admitted that she shit canned Shia for violating her “no assholes policy” on set, but in her recent Variety interview, she claims that she fired him because her priority was to make sure Flo felt safe and supported given the “vulnerable situations” she’d be putting her in. Based on what we’ve heard, I’m not sure how safe and supported Flo felt when Olivia started fucking her co-star, but at least she never had to see Shia with his shirt off. That “creeper” clown chest tattoo alone is enough to send anybody to trauma therapy.

Seems a little hypocritical for a movie, one that’s not even out yet, to be generating so much mess talking about “don’t worry.” Anytime Shia is associated with a project, worried darlings are sure to follow. IndieWire reports:

Director Olivia Wilde wanted her “Don’t Worry Darling” cast to not have to worry about on-set safety.

Originally, Wilde was cast in the lead role of Alice, a suburban housewife who starts to question her husband Jack and their 1950s town Victory, California. Yet when Wilde decided she wanted a younger couple at the center of the film, she immediately thought of “Midsommar” star Florence Pugh and “Dunkirk” breakout (and international pop star) Harry Styles. However, Styles was touring at the time, and Shia LaBeouf was cast instead.

By early production days in 2020, Wilde realized LaBeouf needed to be let go.

“I say this as someone who is such an admirer of his work: His process was not conducive to the ethos that I demand in my productions,” Wilde revealed to Variety. “He has a process that, in some ways, seems to require a combative energy, and I don’t personally believe that is conducive to the best performances.”

“A lot came to light after this happened that really troubled me, in terms of his behavior,” Wilde said. “For our film, what we really needed was an energy that was incredibly supportive. Particularly with a movie like this, I knew that I was going to be asking Florence to be in very vulnerable situations, and my priority was making her feel safe and making her feel supported.”

Shia was fired about three months before Shia’s ex-girlfriend FKA Twigs filed her lawsuit accusing him of sexual, psychological and emotional abuse. Olivia added “I find myself just really wishing him health and evolution because I believe in restorative justice.” Which is kind but looking back, Olivia obviously made a really good decision. Unfortunately, she also made some really big mistakes. Perhaps the biggest of them all was hiring two British leading actors when only one of them can do an accent. There’s a new clip making the rounds that proves that Harry should have spent a little more one-on-one time with his dialect coach and a little less skin-on-skin time with his cunnilingus coach.

Something very funny about Florence Pugh just doing her perfect little American accent in the face of whatever Harry is up to https://t.co/AtnIeamKLM

— Harry Wood (@harrymwood) August 25, 2022

Don’t worry darling, my ass! Shit. I don’t even have any skin in the game and I’m more than a little worried that it’s cursed.

Pic: Norman Scott/startraksphoto.com