“Don’t Worry Darling” Is Out Now, And Here Are Some Social Media Reactions

Steffi Cao
·5 min read
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Harry Styles, Katie Silberman, Sydney Chandler, Douglas Smith, Asif Ali, Kate Berlant, Olivia Wilde, Nick Kroll, and Gemma Chan attend the "Don't Worry Darling" NYC premiere.
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On Friday, the highly anticipated Don’t Worry Darling premiered in theaters nationwide, after weeks of feuds and public jabs between director Olivia Wilde and actor Florence Pugh.

After the celeb drama dominated social media, people of course began posting about their experiences of heading into the theater to see the whole thing onscreen for themselves.

The gossip easily eclipsed the marketing of the movie. There was speculation earlier this month about a dispute between Pugh and Wilde after two very disharmonious interviews about the film. Pugh stopped posting on social media about Wilde and the film.

Part of it was tied to Shia LaBeouf leaving as Pugh’s costar and being replaced with Harry Styles — with Wilde claiming she did it to protect Pugh, and LaBeouf leaking a video that showed Wilde asking him to say and saying the infamous “I think this might be a bit of a wake-up call for Miss Flo” line.

Styles (whose acting in the film is getting terrible reviews) and Wilde reportedly started dating during filming, making it even more complicated.

Then Pugh announced she could not attend press for the film aside from the premiere. At the Venice Film Festival premiere in September, everyone eyed the cast for signs of drama, and they delivered. Pugh’s glam team wore “Miss Flo” T-shirts. Styles got memed. Pugh got memed. Chris Pine (uninvolved) got memed, but apparently not spat on by Styles.

So by Friday, weeks after the drama first began, fans were keen to head to the cinema and see the film responsible for all this petty mess.

Multiple people on Twitter said crowds booed when Wilde’s name appeared onscreen.

Styles’s acting immediately got attacked, with multiple tweets about people laughing at the pop star’s attempts at being a ~serious actor~.

Of course Pugh's fans continued to back their girl.

People continued to make references to the drama, too.

While others were just happy to be there.

And just like in the premiere, Pine became the secret star of the show, with his “good girl” line clearly striking a chord.

Don’t Worry Darling is projected to have success at the box office. Variety reported that the film grossed $9.4 million from opening day and Thursday previews, and it’s continuing to capture public attention.

As for the drama, it doesn’t appear that this buzzy film will be leaving the zeitgeist any time soon.

“This film was such an epic story on such a large scale to shoot, all while during peak Covid times,” Pugh wrote on Instagram for release day, along with a photo of Wilde, after her previous lack of social media posting about the film. “For that I will always be grateful.”

Gemma Chan, Harry Styles, Sydney Chandler, director Olivia Wilde, Chris Pine, Florence Pugh, Nick Kroll and six others attend the "Don't Worry Darling" red carpet at the 79th Venice International Film Festival.
Ernesto Ruscio / Getty Images

Shortly afterward, Vulture reported that an actual screaming match between Pugh and Wilde had taken place on set. When asked, Wilde’s team sent BuzzFeed News the statement crew members provided to People disputing the anonymous source’s claim.

“As a crew, we’ve avoided addressing the absurd gossip surrounding the movie we're so proud of, but feel the need to correct the anonymous 'sources' quoted in a recent article,” 40 team members collectively wrote. “Any allegations about unprofessional behavior on the set of Don’t Worry Darling are completely false.”

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