Filmmaker Olivia Wilde has deftly dodged questions about her alleged tensions with actress Florence Pugh, who leads the cast of Wilde’s upcoming thriller “Don’t Worry Darling,” at a packed press conference in Italy.
The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival tonight, and Pugh, who has been in Budapest shooting “Dune: Part Two,” couldn’t make the press conference in the afternoon – flying in late enough to only walk the premiere’s red carpet and skip doing any media.
Wilde, Harry Styles, Gemma Chan and Chris Pine, however, were on hand to meet the press a few hours earlier where Wilde was directly asked about the alleged tensions between her and Pugh. She responded:
“Florence is a force. We are so grateful she’s able to make it tonight [for the red carpet] despite being in production on ‘Dune.’ I know, as a director, how disruptive it is to lose an actor even for a day, so I’m very grateful to her, and to [‘Dune’ director Denis Villeneuve] for helping us. And we’ll get to celebrate her work tonight. I can’t say how honored I am to have her as our lead. She’s amazing.
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.”
Another journalist then tried to ask about Shia LaBeouf’s allegations that he wasn’t fired from the movie, as Wilde suggested in a story in Variety. The press conference moderator reportedly blocked the question, claiming it had already been answered by Wilde as part of the previous question about Pugh.
The on-set politics of the film have made headlines in recent weeks and hovered like a cloud over the film’s publicity campaign. Many have also pointed out how Pugh’s “Dune” co-star Timothee Chalamet managed to have time to come to Venice to promote his new film “Bones and All” and speak to the media about it.
Source: THR
