Olivia Wilde Says Bradley Cooper Was a 'Great Supporter' to Her While Making Don't Worry Darling

Olivia Wilde says Bradley Cooper offered helpful support while she directed and starred in Don't Worry Darling.

While talking with Maggie Gyllenhaal for Interview Magazine, Wilde, 38, opened up about the making of the upcoming thriller, including why she decided to appear in the movie, and her relationship with the movie's main stars Florence Pugh and Harry Styles.

When asked why she decided to star in the movie as well as direct, the Booksmart director kept her answer simple: "It was out of necessity," she explained, saying that the production "basically ran out of money and I needed someone who would take a really low salary."

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After trying to find the right person, the casting director suggested her for the role. "The funny thing is, when I asked director friends how that experience would be, I just happened to ask a bunch of dudes, and they all said, 'Oh, it's so great,' " Wilde said to Gyllenhaal, 44, who directed The Lost Daughter.

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As it turns out, one of those directors was Cooper, 47, who starred in and directed 2018's hit movie A Star Is Born and is currently working on double duty in Maestro. "Cooper was a great supporter," Wilde noted, "He said, 'It's going to be really wonderful to be able to direct from within the scenes.' "

RELATED: A Complete Timeline of the Don't Worry Darling Drama

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After deciding to do it, Wilde realized the task wasn't as easy as they made it out to be. "All of these men had done this in comfortable shoes, and I swear part of it is that I was in a f---- bustier and heels and a wig," she said. "They were coming at me doing these necessary but frustrating touch-ups at every second, and I was like, 'I need to be at the monitor, I need to be in charge.' I found that to be really hard."

But Wilde doesn't regret her decision. "I did find that being in solidarity with the actors felt important," she said, noting that she wasn't "just the director in comfortable sweats sitting over there in the air-conditioned video village."

Wilde also said Chris Pine "probably agreed to do the movie at first as a favor to an old buddy, and then he really took it and ran with it," noting that she's known him for "like, 20 years."

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As for the other stars of the movies, Pugh and Styles, Wilde had nothing but praise.

"She's ferociously talented," Wilde said of the Midsommar actress, 26. "She was so dogged in her pursuit of the most authentic version of every moment. She also knew that my real goal was to create a love story that felt so sincere between her and Harry that people would be incapable of not falling for them as a couple."

Wilde added that both of them are "very loving people" which helped them "differentiate a performative love from an authentic love" in the movie.

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

"With Harry, who's obviously a musician, it was like there was no other option for him than to work as hard as possible and to commit to the scene as hard as possible," Wilde said of the singer, 28. "He never holds back."

"Oftentimes when it's not your scene, and you're in a supporting role, people give 80 percent," she added. "But even if he was way off camera, he was so there for everyone, and for the crew and production. The tone that he set was just a very positive force."

Don't Worry Darling hits theaters on Sept. 23.