First Look At Olivia Wilde’s New Sci-Fi Harry Styles Movie

Olivia Wilde made her directorial debut with Booksmart. The movie was a success with critics and audiences, leaving everyone hungry for a second look at what Wilde can do.

By Faith McKay | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Olivia Wilde

Olivia Wilde made her directorial debut with Booksmart. The movie was a success with critics and audiences, leaving everyone hungry for a second look at what Wilde can do. Now, she’s offered up a first look at her upcoming thriller, Don’t Worry Darling via Instagram. It stars Harry Styles and Florence Pugh.

Olivia Wilde wants us to know that this second movie is not going to be like her first. The image raises more questions than it answers but definitely lets us know this is a thriller starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles. So what are we seeing here? The still shot shows Florence Pugh with her hands up. Her hair is messy and in her face, like she’s been running. If you look very closely, it appears that there are four people behind her. On the two in the front, it looks like they are wearing white button up shirts with black ties. The director captioned this still shot with “Don’t worry.” Which played well into the title of the movie, the storyline, and setting the tone.

The caption and photo tie well into the little we know of the plot so far. Don’t Worry Darling is about a 1950s housewife, played by Florence Pugh. She and her husband move to an experimental utopian society owned by her husband’s company. Eventually, Pugh starts to suspect disturbing secrets are hiding in the utopian community. While we don’t yet know her role, Olivia Wilde is also listed as an actress on the project. Other actors in the movie include Nick Kroll, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, KiKi Layne, and Dita Von Teese.

harry styles
Harry Styles in Dunkirk

So far, the behind-the-scenes updates from Don’t Worry Darling have been fairly dramatic. Before Harry Styles, originally Shia LaBeouf had a central role in the movie. He was fired before filming began. Insiders have said he had poor behavior and set a bad tone. It’s been said that Olivia Wilde doesn’t tolerate negative vibes during production. This happened several months before FKA Twigs came forward with allegations about terrible abuse during her time dating and working with LaBeouf. Wilde publicly supported FKA Twigs after these claims were made public. 

Then, Harry Styles took Shia LaBeouf’s role. And Olivia Wilde started dating Harry Styles. Early in 2020, Olivia Wilde split up with Jason Sudeikis. Her dating life became a fairly central conversation point and the director and actress had to start monitoring her Instagram comments most closely for online trolls.

Olivia Wilde's Booksmart

While the behind-the-scenes drama has certainly gained a lot of attention, it’s good to start seeing updates from the actual movie. Olivia Wilde’s debut as a director was a very different story. The teen comedy starred Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein. It saw strong reviews. In terms of the box office, it was sort of a middling success. The movie earned $24 million at the box office on a budget of $6 million. This wasn’t bad for an indie film from a first-time director, but it could have been better. With audience appreciation for Booksmart high, there is hope that Don’t Worry Darling will perform better.

Currently, Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles are in post-production on Don’t Worry Darling. There haven’t been any updates on a release date, though more updates on the thriller should be coming soon.