Don’t Worry Darling: Everything You Need To Know About Olivia Wilde’s New Movie
Every year, there’s one movie that the entire movie calendar builds up to, and for 2022, Don’t Worry Darling is it. While we wait for the release of Olivia Wilde’s second feature film, OLIVE WAKEFIELD takes us through everything we need to know about the psychological thriller, from the all-star cast – which includes Florence Pugh and Harry Styles – to the nail-biting, dystopian plot
Let’s start with the basics…
What: Florence Pugh does her best Stepford Wives impression as Alice, who moves to a curiously picture-perfect neighbourhood named Victory with her husband Jack, played by Harry Styles. Her life slowly unravels when she suspects something sinister is at play behind the glamorous facade of this pristine town. If the trailer is anything to go by, there are countless near-death misses, screams into the void and more cocktail parties than season one of Mad Men.
Who: name Hollywood’s buzziest actors and it’s likely you’ll spot them in Don’t Worry Darling. Also part of this suburban nightmare is Gemma Chan (Eternals), KiKi Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk) and a charismatic Chris Pine as Frank, patriarch-in-chief of the Victory Project.
When: it opens in cinemas on September 23.
The script caused a bidding war
The demand for this film was extraordinary, with 18 studios fighting to get the script off the ground. Warner Bros won the pitch, with Wilde’s right-hand woman Katie Silberman – responsible for the meme-worthy one-liners in Wilde’s debut film, Booksmart – hired to work her magic.
How Harry Styles stepped in
While many were devastated when the pandemic forced Harry Styles to cancel his world tour, there was one positive – it freed him up to star in this movie. Styles, originally on Wilde’s shortlist, stepped in to replace Shia LaBeouf after his unceremonious exit from the project. In an Instagram post that the stans are still recovering from, Wilde praised Styles for rising to the challenge: “Not only did he relish the opportunity to allow for the brilliant @florencepugh to hold center stage as our ‘Alice’, but he infused every scene with a nuanced sense of humanity.”
Florence Pugh lends her voice for the soundtrack
The smoky vocals that you hear haunt the trailer belong to the film’s leading lady. Anyone who follows Pugh on social media will know she is a keen singer who once shared that her karaoke song of choice is Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On – not a ballad for the faint-hearted. Also appearing on the soundtrack, naturally, is Styles, doing what he does best.
‘The Truman Show’ was a big influence
The most meta of movies and the film that launched a thousand paranoid thoughts in every viewer was a huge reference point for this film, explained Wilde at this year’s CinemaCon. Certainly, the manicured lives of the Victory world hark back to Truman’s man-made nightmare.
Madonna’s stylist Arianne Phillips is behind the chic costumes
Phillips is the creative brain behind some of Madonna’s most iconic looks (remember Cowboy Madonna?) and the costumes in cult Hollywood movies such as The Crow, Walk the Line and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Wilde turned to Phillips to conjure up the pristine world of Victory, where waists are cinched, hair is sky-high and even the florals are on stimulants.
“The Feminine Mystique on acid”
Pugh as Alice takes on the patriarchy throughout the film. Referencing Betty Friedan’s ground-breaking 1963 book The Feminine Mystique in an interview with Vogue earlier this year, Wilde lamented the way female desire is so often overlooked on-screen. Anyone who has seen the trailer, featuring an attentive Harry Styles, can confirm that the director has more than done her part in addressing this.
Catch ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ in movie theaters from September 23