Olivia Wilde Awkwardly Dodged A Question About Shia LaBeouf’s Exposé During A “Don’t Worry Darling” Press Conference

On Sunday, it was confirmed that Florence Pugh would not be attending Monday morning’s press conference for Don’t Worry Darling ahead of its premiere at Venice Film Festival.

In fact, her only press commitment for the film’s rollout is to walk the red carpet at the Monday evening premiere, despite being the movie’s lead actor.

The news came after months of mounting speculation that there is a rift between Florence and the movie’s director, Olivia Wilde.

The two women seemingly had polar opposite ideas on what the movie was and how it should be marketed, with Florence speaking out against the hypersexualization of Don’t Worry Darling, while Olivia repeatedly boasted about the portrayal of female pleasure being one of her biggest goals in the project.

Olivia’s relationship with Florence’s costar, Harry Styles, is also thought to have been another source of contention between the two women, with it reported that Florence was “uncomfortable” with their blossoming romance during filming.

It has also been claimed that Olivia was so distracted by Harry that Florence ended up directing parts of the movie. Meanwhile, rumors of a huge pay disparity between Florence, the movie’s star, and Harry, who has a supporting role, were recently denied by Olivia.

But just 10 days ago, the messy situation reached a boiling point when Shia LaBeouf released a series of emails, text messages, and a video recording that directly contradicted things that Olivia had publicly said in reference to Florence in the past.

In case you didn’t know, Shia was originally cast to play Harry’s character, Jack, but he left the project before filming began. Over the past few months, Olivia has repeatedly suggested that she fired him, starting in February when she said that she has a strict “no-assholes” policy on set.

Last month, Olivia told Variety that Shia had “a combative energy,” so she let him go from the project in order to “protect” Florence and make her feel “safe.”

“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,” she said.

But just days later, Shia presented the same publication with all of his receipts, which revealed that he was the one who chose to leave the production because he didn’t feel like he had enough time to rehearse.

And in a direct contradiction to what Olivia had said about protecting Florence, a video that she sent to Shia two days after he quit showed her begging him to reconsider as she claimed that Florence — who she referred to as “Miss Flo” — needed a “wake-up call.”

Olivia has not publicly commented on Shia’s exposé, and when the topic came up during Don’t Worry Darling’s press conference on Monday it was quickly — and awkwardly — shut down.

Olivia appeared alongside a press moderator and the movie’s actors: Harry Styles, Gemma Chan, and Chris Pine — with Florence notably absent.

A journalist referenced this as he addressed the bubbling discourse surrounding the film, saying to Olivia: “It’s a shame not to have Florence here, can you just clear the air and address if there’s been a falling out there and if so why? Because it’s something people are discussing.”

“Florence is a force and we are so grateful she’s able to make it tonight despite being in production on Dune,” she said of the upcoming premiere. “I know as a director how disruptive it is to lose an actor, even for a day, so I’m very grateful to her, I’m grateful to [Dune: Part Two’s director] Denis Villeneuve for helping us, and we’re really thrilled we get to celebrate her work tonight.”

“I can’t say enough how honored I am to have her as our lead,” Olivia went on. “She’s amazing in the film, and as for all the endless tabloid gossip and all the noise out there, I mean, the internet feeds itself. I don’t feel the need to contribute, I think it’s sufficiently well nourished.”

A journalist for the Hollywood Reporter followed up, saying: “I would also just like to ask about the noise that you mentioned, and this question’s to Olivia…”

“It’s separate,” the journalist replied. “It’s about Shia LaBeouf…”

But the moderator refused to budge, repeating: “I think the question [was] answered when she talked about the internet,” as Olivia nodded in apparent agreement.

Olivia could then be heard thanking the moderator as the camera awkwardly lingered on the stars while they waited for a different question.

In addition to the text messages and video that Shia shared about his decision to walk away from Don’t Worry Darling, he also provided an email that he sent to Olivia after her Variety interview was published.

In the message, he told her that he was “a little confused about the narrative” that he was “fired.” The email goes on: “You and I both know the reasons for my exit. I quit your film because your actors & I couldn’t find time to rehearse. I have included as a reminder the screenshots of our text exchange on that day, and my text to Tobey.”

He claimed that she did not respond to his emails.

Announcing her involvement in the project on her Instagram page at the time, Florence called Olivia her “idol” as she wrote: “@oliviawilde just tagged me in a picture *gasp no.1* @oliviawilde casted me in a film *gasp no.2* @oliviawilde is my idol and allowed me to be a part of this fecking incredible cast. Shia?!? Chris?!? *gasp no.3*”

Olivia was not included in the incredibly lengthy caption, and ever since, Florence has seemed to be reluctant to discuss the film in any capacity and has barely posted about it on her social media page.

Then in August, Florence spoke out against the way that the movie was being marketed in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, with fans left shocked when Don’t Worry Darling’s trailer included a graphic sex scene that showed Harry’s character Jack perform oral sex on Florence’s character Alice.

Months after filming had wrapped, Olivia had told Vogue that depicting female pleasure onscreen was a priority to her because she wanted her audience to “realize how rarely they see female hunger, and specifically this type of female pleasure.”

Olivia also said that she wanted to make sex scenes good again through Don’t Worry Darling and was obviously thrilled when she was praised by the Clit Test for “showing how it’s done” following the trailer’s release.

But Florence was vocal in her disagreement of this stance, telling Harper’s Bazaar: “When it’s reduced to your sex scenes, or to watch the most famous man in the world go down on someone, it’s not why we do it. It’s not why I’m in this industry.”

“Obviously, the nature of hiring the most famous pop star in the world, you’re going to have conversations like that,” she added in reference to Olivia’s now-boyfriend Harry. “That’s just not what I’m going to be discussing because [this movie is] bigger and better than that. And the people who made it are bigger and better than that.”

Florence further fueled the feud speculation when she reposted her Don’t Worry Darling costar Gemma Chan’s congratulatory message about the interview to her Instagram Story, but pointedly ignored Olivia’s.

Soon after Florence’s views on the Don’t Worry Darling sex scenes were made public, Olivia’s interview with Variety was published and really reiterated just how different their perspectives are.

Many pointed out that up until this point, Harry only had one other acting credit to his name, a bit part in the war epic Dunkirk, while Florence is an Academy Award nominee.

However, Olivia doubled down on this stance in her Variety interview, where she once again championed Harry for being “such a great supporter of [Florence’s], as someone who understood it was her film.”