Olivia Wilde Forced To Talk About Spit

Olivia Wilde finally talks about the supposed spitting incident between Harry Styles and Chris Pine.

By Joshua Jones | Published

Director Olivia Wilde is finally opening up about the alleged spit incident at the Venice Film Festival. For those unaware, a video of actor Harry Styles allegedly spitting on Chris Pine’s lap while taking his seat before the premiere of Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling appeared online. Wilde called the controversy another “weird rumor” during her appearance on CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Colbert asked Olivia Wilde straight up if Styles spitted on Pine. The director once again denied there being any controversy and pointed the blame at online fan speculation and gossip.

“No, he did not. But I think it’s a perfect example of, like, people will look for drama anywhere they can. Harry did not spit on Chris, in fact…”

There has undoubtedly been much negative press surrounding Olivia Wilde’s second feature film outing. While performing on stage at CinemaCon, the actress was served legal documents pertaining to her custody battle with ex-husband Jason Sudeikis. The moment not only freaked the audience and the actress out but also diverted attention away from Wilde’s film.

When discussing the situation, Olivia Wilde described it as “unsettling” and said it “shouldn’t have been able to happen.” The incident left a noticeable black mark on the director/actress’s promising career. An insider later stated that Sudeikis had no idea Wilde would be served the papers at the public event.

Then to make matters worse, one of the film’s ex-stars, Shia LaBeouf, responded to Olivia Wilde’s claims that the Transformers actor was fired from the project. LaBeouf sent various text messages to Variety and an email he sent to Wilde about the “narrative” she was building about his departure. LaBeouf claimed that he quit the film due to not having time to rehearse with some of the other actors in the movie.

Following the situation with LaBeouf, reports began circling about Olivia Wilde having disagreements with the film’s main star, Florence Pugh, during production. Wilde is noted for having a personal relationship with one of the film’s stars, Harry Styles. However, the relationship seemed to have caused issues between Pugh and Wilde on set.

olivia wilde
Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh in Don’t Worry Darling (2022)

The Hollywood Reporter ran a story on September 5th, which revealed that Olivia Wilde decided not to address questions regarding the alleged issues between herself and Pugh. Wilde believed much of the controversy surrounding her new film is much to do about nothing. She would later respond to LaBeouf’s claims about quitting the project, saying there was nuance in the text he sent to Variety.

Reviewers of Olivia Wilde’s new outing have not been kind, with the critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes being that the film has many problems. Some critics have even called the film “half-baked.” Wilde’s film currently holds a rating of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Don’t Worry Darling is Olivia Wilde’s second directorial outing after her 2019 debut Booksmart. The project is written by Katie Silberman, who worked with Wilde on her directorial debut. The original screenplay landed on the prestigious Hollywood Blacklist of unproduced screenplays in 2019.

It remains to be seen whether Olivia Wilde can ride out this disastrous storm. She once was rumored to be helming an upcoming project for Marvel but talks and rumors on that have gone quiet. Don’t Worry Darling hits theaters Friday, September 23rd.