Keep it professional! Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh posed together on the red carpet at the premiere of their new film Don’t Worry Darling — despite rumors that they aren’t getting along.
During the event, which was held at the Venice International Film Festival on Monday, September 5, Wilde, 38, and Pugh, 26, posed on the red carpet alongside fellow costars Harry Styles, Gemma Chan, Sydney Chandler, Chris Pine and Nick Kroll. Pugh, for her part, also stopped to take some photos with her grandmother, whom she brought to the debut.
Both the Hawkeye actress and the Booksmart director stunned in their respective gowns, with Wilde donning a floor-length yellow dress with diamond embroidery and feathers at the bottom. The Little Women star, meanwhile, rocked an edgy black off-the-shoulder ensemble with a sheer overlay and sparkles. Her shoes happened to also match Wilde’s look, with black feathers wrapped around her ankles.
The twosome’s appearance came hours after the O.C. alum was questioned about the rumored “falling out” between her and the Midsommar actress during a press event. (Pugh was not in attendance at the time, due to being on a flight from the Dune: Part Two set in Hungary.)
“Florence is a force, and we are so grateful that she’s able to make it tonight despite being in production on Dune,” Wilde responded. “I know, as a director, how disruptive it is to lose an actor even for a day, so I’m very grateful to her, to [Dune director] Denis Villeneuve for helping us. And we’re really thrilled we’ll get to celebrate her work tonight. I can’t say enough how honored I am to have her as our lead. She’s amazing in the film.”
She added, “As for all the endless tabloid gossip and all the noise out there, the internet feeds itself. I don’t feel the need to contribute; I think it’s sufficiently well-nourished.”
While the Drinking Buddies star may have praised Pugh, she wouldn’t address the drama surrounding Shia LaBeouf — who she claimed she fired because his “process” wasn’t safe for others on set. The 36-year-old Even Stevens alum, however, told Variety in August that he quit the movie himself because there was a lack of rehearsal time.
The California native also sent various emails he allegedly exchanged with Wilde at the time, in which he wrote, “You and I both know the reasons for my exit. I quit your film because your actors and I couldn’t find time to rehearse.”
LaBeouf also noted in the messages that his firing “never” happened in the first place. “And while I fully understand the attractiveness of pushing that story because of the current social landscape, the social currency that brings. It is not the truth.”
The Peanut Butter Falcon star then shared a video that Wilde allegedly sent him in August 2020, where she seemingly begged him to stick with the project.
“I feel like I’m not ready to give up on this yet, and I too am heartbroken and I want to figure this out,” Wilde said in the clip, seemingly referring to LaBeouf’s decision to leave the film. “This could be a wake-up call for Miss. Flo.”
Earlier this month, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that Wilde and LaBeouf had issues from the very beginning. “Olivia and Shia just never saw eye to eye,” the source explained. “She felt he was a loose cannon and he thought she was on an ego trip.”
In addition to walking alongside Pugh on Monday, the Venice premiere also meant a defacto red carpet debut for Wilde and beau Styles, 28, who was previously reported to have been paid three times more than the England native for the film — something Wilde vehemently denied.
“There has been a lot out there that I largely don’t pay attention to. But the absurdity of invented clickbait and subsequent reaction regarding a nonexistent pay disparity between our lead and supporting actors really upset me,” she told Variety in August, claiming the allegations were simply “clickbait” false narratives.
“I’m a woman who has been in this business for over 20 years, and it’s something that I have fought for myself and others, especially being a director,” she explained. “There is absolutely no validity to those claims.”
Scroll down to see what Wilde, Pugh and the rest of the Don’t Worry Darling cast wore while walking the Venice International Film Festival’s red carpet:
