Olivia Wilde covers the latest issue of Variety, as we discussed yesterday. The piece was full of melodrama, shade, weird framing and gossip. I didn’t even excerpt any of the stuff about Shia LaBeouf, so let’s devote a post to that mess. When Wilde was putting Don’t Worry Darling together, Shia was one of the first actors she hired after Florence Pugh. She hired Shia for the main husband, the role played by Harry Styles now. She ended up firing Shia, at least according to her, in pre-production and hiring Harry Styles last minute. Then the FKA Twigs lawsuit/abuse story broke and it all looked connected. Here’s what Olivia said about it to Variety:
With her key actor in place, Wilde teamed up with Pugh to find their Jack. Wilde liked Styles’ work in “Dunkirk,” and had heard from producers on the film that the musician was “an absolute dream, and went above and beyond in terms of being prepared.” Pugh was also enthusiastic about the idea of Styles joining the film, Wilde says — but he was touring and unavailable. Eventually, Shia LaBeouf landed the part.
But in 2020, as production was just starting, Wilde made the decision to fire LaBeouf. The studio cited a scheduling conflict. Now, for the first time, Wilde speaks about the situation: “I say this as someone who is such an admirer of his work. His process was not conducive to the ethos that I demand in my productions. He has a process that, in some ways, seems to require a combative energy, and I don’t personally believe that is conducive to the best performances. I believe that creating a safe, trusting environment is the best way to get people to do their best work. Ultimately, my responsibility is to the production and to the cast to protect them. That was my job.”
A few months after LaBeouf’s exit from “Don’t Worry Darling,” his ex-girlfriend and “Honey Boy” co-star, FKA Twigs, sued him for sexual battery. (The lawsuit goes to trial in April.) The next month, LaBeouf split from his agency, CAA, and entered an inpatient facility.
“A lot came to light after this happened that really troubled me, in terms of his behavior,” Wilde says. “I find myself just really wishing him health and evolution because I believe in restorative justice. But for our film, what we really needed was an energy that was incredibly supportive. Particularly with a movie like this, I knew that I was going to be asking Florence to be in very vulnerable situations, and my priority was making her feel safe and making her feel supported.”
Apparently, Shia is currently disputing some of this version now. I absolutely believe that Olivia habitually frames situations so that she’s both the heroine and the victim, so I could see her fudging some of this story. But I think the broad strokes are correct – there was something “off” about Shia and the vibe was wrong. He has always been a Method actor and he has a reputation as a giant douche as a coworker, even beyond FKA Twigs’ #MeToo story. Update: I have seen all of the new mess, and holy crap! We will have more on Sunday.
Now, all that being said, I don’t think Harry Styles is really going to get it done in this role. It’s funny that the Variety piece was all “there’s Oscar buzz” and Olivia is all “Harry is amazing, he’s a true actor!” The movie hasn’t even premiered in Venice yet. And I have serious doubts about how the critics will respond. This is one of the clips which was just released this week. It’s… so bad. It’s not just Harry’s completely dodgy accent work, it’s Florence’s bored line reading when it’s time for Harry’s closeup. A big YIKES.
Repost from @RollingStone via Instagram | See a never-before-seen clip from #DontWorryDarling, in theaters September 23, starring Harry Styles and Florence Pugh. pic.twitter.com/evjwMTOsM5
— Don’t Worry Darling (@dontworrydarlin) August 24, 2022
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, ‘Don’t Worry Darling’.
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- Actor Shia LaBeouf wearing Gucci with Ray-Ban sunglasses arrives at the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards held at the Santa Monica Beach on February 8, 2020 in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 563416567, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Avalon
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – NOVEMBER 06: Actress Olivia Wilde wearing a Gucci dress arrives at the 10th Annual LACMA Art + Film Gala 2021 held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on November 6, 2021 in Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 642004404, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Olivia Wilde, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- Los Angeles, CA – Shia LaBeouf out for his morning run as ex-girlfriend FKA Twigs sues him for sexual assault. Pictured: Shia LaBeouf BACKGRID USA 12 DECEMBER 2020 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Shia LaBeouf, according to twigs’ lawsuit, also killed a stray dog to prepare for a role. I actually believe Olivia on this one: that Shia was an asshole, and so she fired him.
disgusting! i always had a gut-level dislike for shia since his even steven days because he gave me the same vibes as a family friend’s son who later ended up stalking me – the gut always knows
I completely agree. I wonder if the studio strongly encouraged her to hire Shia in the first place but she put him on a short leash so that the first time he acted up, she could get rid of him and bring in someone else. If so, I say good for her. It’s long past time for the toxic white men to get their comeuppance.
Olivia Wilde did the Right Thing. I don’t really care how she frames it. She did what women who work on set, and many men, wish all directors would do.
IDK, I cannot move past the videos of him abusing Mia Goth in 2015. The coverage was massive because the videos were *shudder*. I’m not an Olivia stan by any means, and I give serious side eye to JS and many of the stunts he has been pulling that aren’t being called out. I truly do not understand her hiring him. A manager using their workplace to give an abuser a second chance is the sort of thing that requires massive buy-in from every single person in a workplace, it’s not responsible for that to be an executive order with no discussion. Was she pressured into hiring him? Was there a quid pro quo? This is the sort of thing I would need a LOT more info about in order to give it a pass, and even then I’d give it grudgingly if that same information hadn’t been given to everyone on set back then.
100% – he already had a terrible rep, she didn’t care until it affected her.
if that’s the clip they’re putting out to encourage you to see it, it’s going to be as messy as the publicity has been lol. I genuinely watched it three times trying to figure out if he was supposed to have a British accent or American accent, and I’m still not sure.
also not sure why she would hire Shia in the first place if her policy is no assholes on set? like you said, his reputation preceded him even before the Twigs abuse allegations (which I believe).
This! You don’t get a cookie for doing the right thing eventually. He had a reputation before she ever hired him so she’s not exactly the hero for eventually firing him.
Yes, Arizona and GreenBunny! I work with a sexist colleague who everyone discusses as sexist, a student has already put forth a case against him, etc. And yet he constantly gets work opportunities! It drives me crazy. FOLKS, DON’T GIVE OPPORTUNITIES TO TOXIC PEERS. Especially men like Shia with a track record of abuse who are clearly entitled enough to get away with just about anything. When will people understand that not only is it a moral imperative to not hire people like Shia but it’s also bad for business? They are a LIABILITY.
i mean… if you want to cast an abusive husband, doesn’t Shia kind of fit the bill? lol
if there’s one thing Shia exudes it’s douchebag energy and imagining him in that clip instead of Styles… night and day
He probably would have been amazing. Shia is a terrific actor but given his behaviour and reputation, glad he wasn’t hired.
It will be interesting to see Harry’s performance. He was great in Dunkirk but wasn’t asked to do much. This is a whole other ballgame. It is wild that people are piling up on this film over one clip. I’m going to try to reserve my judgment till I see the film.
I said this on another thread recently but i will say it again, I wonder if Florence’s team is pushing all their energy to her other fall release/film festival circuit project, The Wonder? Leilo has made some amazing films such as the original Gloria, and A Fantastic Woman. He has all sorts of art house trend, the the source material is an Emma Donoghue book and the last novel of hers that was adopted was Room.
@sunny if i were on her team, i certainly would try to push other projects – this one seems messy and she’s already gotten caught in the crossfire once
Good lord Harry is bad in that clip. Olivia is handling this whole situation just everything she has going on in such a messy way. I feel like this movie is one of those ones like Gigli. Talked about so much and then bombs. Like ok fire Shia but maybe replace him with someone who can actually act. What accent is that lol. Florence not promoting this at all makes more sense now.
@Christine There’s a lot of insiders already saying that the movie isn’t great. The original script was better before all the changes.
Also if a movie is as good as they want us to believe you wouldn’t have to talk about all the BTS drama.
I believe Harry Styles’ intensity and maturity are formidable in this clip. This is my subjective perception. As a matter of fact, he is more of an actor than a singer.
@KASALVY I have read the original script and, from the trailers, it looks like the film tried to be too many things and more complicated than needed.
That’s my question, didn’t we know he was bad news and not someone you’d want around well before Twigs horrific experience?
absolutely, but without those allegations, i don’t think it’s fair to say she should have known better than to hire him
as i mentioned in a comment below, i imagine a lot of actors are a handful to work with and you probably need a pretty high tolerance for douchiness as a director otherwise you’d never get anything done – knowing someone is a jerk or “tempermental” is different than knowing they’re abusive
@ElleV We already had allegations. He threatened to kill his gf at the time in 2015, and it was reported everywhere when it happened. We knew he was abusive.
Wondering if Florence’s shut mouth is because she knows the film is a dog. This way it doesn’t stick on her. However, it does mean she’s getting talked about a lot in conjunction with the film, perhaps even more than she would have been with normal publicity work from her.
There’s always at least one film each season that was hyped to the heavens and predicted to be the Oscar favorite that ends up quietly leaving the theaters after a week or two. That’s why I always bought the Entertainment Weekly guides to the film season. Made it easy to remember which films had the early hype.
Exactly, he was already a problem well before FKA Twigs came forward with her story. While I’m glad Olivia removed him from the production, he never should have been there in the first place. Stop hiring abusive people and then being shocked when they, gasp, are abusive on your set as well.
I love Twigs and was so worried for her when she started dating him!
but it’s true that so many actors are a PITA and keeping up with the goss can be a lot. Twigs defo blew the lid off. so IDK. I do know that if I were hiring expensive talent, I would google them first for sure!
My question is why would she hire Shia LeBeuf in the first place? He has been a well known douchbag for years. I have to side eye her judgment all around ( hiring Shia, & starting a personal relationship with a co-worker while still married).
To be fair she was not married. Only engaged for 9 years with kids. Not sure if that is better or not.
And now we found out she actually didn’t fire him and begged him to stay, while throwing a massive shade at Florence. Olivia is a problematic piece of work. Can’t wait for her to get cancelled.
She can fire him for looking at her sideways as far as I’m concerned. He’s an abusive a–hole even without “allegations” and if everyone’s serious about believe women and equality, gotta fire often and early. When stories come out, everyone says if only we’d known! But a white abuser gets fired early on, the female director has to justify it? No.
yeah i don’t think we need to nitpick her about hiring then firing him immediately
he was a well-known douche but so are many actors – it’s not an industry known for down-to-earth, humble types – so kudos to her for judging for herself and ditching him quickly when he didn’t pass the sniff test
There were articles about him being a toxic abuser WAY before she hired him. The question isn’t why was he fired but why was he hired in the first place. There were articles in the HW trades about his issues way before she cast him, way before the FKA Twigs story came out. She hired someone with a terrible reputation (probably so she could claim she was part of his redemption story) and he lived up to that reputation. End of.
@cava – fair enough then! i didn’t know there were allegations prior to twigs
my sense of the situation was that he always gave bad dude vibes but nothing was explicitly confirmed until twigs, but i haven’t followed his career closely because i found him offputting
I’m not interested in seeing this film, maybe if someone pulls all the Chris Pine scenes so that I can watch them. He looks soooooo SO good in this movie. I believe her about the Shia decision and how she came to it. We all know what a problematic abusive douche that guy is.
I thought he is just using his own accent? Isn’t he?
Someone probably also told her about Shia. Not that they had to but she most likely saw the train wreck coming and as a young female director who’s always talking about feminism and working conditions, couldn’t have that on her set. So she asked around and people didn’t lie. Honestly, whatever happened, good for her. I still don’t like her but yikes, she dodged a bullet.
She knew perfectly well who she was dealing with before she hired him. This was not her heroically protecting her cast, this was her making a huge error in the first place and it biting her in the ass.
Variety just published a story where Shia says he quit. She screwed Variety over with her “she never said she fired him” thing yesterday to another news outlet and now all the details are coming out. For someone who likes to tell everyone her parents are journalists at every turn, she does not even have a basic understanding of or respect for the entertainment press. It’s not some lesser outlet that you can just make up stories for. I mean, it probably is sometimes. But not today.
Waiting to see how she blames this one on Harry’s fans.
Omg Shia provided Variety texts and video of Olivia from that time that really counter the idea she fired him.
In fact, she’s apparently on video she sent him where she’s “trying to make it work” so he will stay on the film.
I mean when a guy Shia has the moral high ground in a situation and proof to back it up, you really have shat the bed.
Maybe she never uttered the words “I fired him” but she totally spoke around it and let everyone believe that. Wow. It’s been a while since I’ve seen planned PR strategy/someone’s positioning narrative go so wrong so quickly.
@mia girl
you must not follow the British royals! lol!
What kind of accent is he doing? I don’t think it’s American because if it is…..yikes. He sounds British but I don’t know what kind of British and it seems inconsistent.
Well Florence doesn’t have much to do in this clip but I’m sure she’ll be good. I can’t say I’m that interested in seeing this film, though. It’s not because of the drama with Olivia etc, it just doesn’t have a draw for me.
On a completely shallow note Harry and Florence are a way hotter couple than Florence and Shia.
They are a smoke show.
Also, some of y’all haven’t listened to Harry when he was younger. It isn’t an American accent.
Is Harry supposed to have an American accent? Because if he is, he’s terrible.
You know what, I’m going to put all this drama aside, and go and see this film – whether I want to or not – because we need more female directors! If people don’t see this film it will be just another excuse to say no to the next female fighting to get a chance!
That’s exactly how I feel- I want more female directed mysterious period piece dramas with a feminist horror lens going to theatrical release, so I feel like I have to see this, even if that clip doesn’t inspire confidence!
I’ve want to watch this film for much of the same reasons, and am still interested because of the story & Pugh. But it is frustrating that there is all this drama and after the Variety article, much of it brought by the director herself.
No doubt a lot of the drama is coming from others, but as I commented yesterday, Wilde is distracting from her work by speaking about personal drama and adding to it.
And this Shia thing is such a unforced error. Her words paint a picture of a director who should receive credit for doing the right thing and removing an actor from the process. I believed that. But it definitely seems like it didn’t really go down that way. Ugh.
A lot of the nonsense around this film may be out of her hands. We don’t get this drama with male directors. She’s a good director from what I’ve seen and I’ll support her work, because she needs to continue directing, and so do other women. What she does in her private life is her business. Some of the vitriol directed at her in the Celebitchy comments reek of internalised misogyny.
A lot of very bad behaviour is overlooked in this industry. If every actor was fired for being a prick or abusive, there would only be a very small handful left. She and the powers that be did not think Shia was a liability at the time he was hired. Look at what is happening with Ezra Miller… one has financial value, the other does not. Florence isn’t an angel either…
@BB-yeah I really don’t care much about OW or HS, I’m not interested in this film either even though I like FP but I’ve definitely noticed some commenters that only pop up on OW stories and they seem to have a personal vendetta against her for some reason.
I want to see it too, the trailer was intriguing, I like Florence as an actor, I enjoyed Booksmart, and I want to support a female director.
I’m definitely interested in the movie because I love the retro Palm Springs vibe, and the concept sounds intriguing. Plus, Chris Pine and Florence are great talents, so I think having them on board kind of guarantees a good film, but we will see!
Is the Shia/Harry role suppose to have an edge or a little danger to it? To me, Shia can totally emote that intensity and be a looming, intimidating presence on screen. The clip included in this post is Harry (who lacks conviction and gravitas in his line delivery here) begging Flo to think about what she’s risking and she sounds bored. It’s an entirely different dynamic and vibe from what O was originally going for in the male lead. Perhaps THIS is a glimpse of why Florence isn’t hyping the film — Harry (who now has top billing over her) is not a good actor who caused major distractions with on set make out sessions with the director. Ugh indeed.
I’ll see this because both Florence Pugh and Chris Pine are really wonderful actors. The last thing I saw him in was Hell or High Water, and he was phenomenal (as was everyone else in that).
I don’t get the appeal of Harry Styles at all.
I’m going to see it to support female directors as people have said. I don’t think Chris Pine is that great of an actor. He’s handsome but that’s about it for me.
Harry Styles is adorable on stage. Joy incarnate. I’m not sure he can act?
Shia LeBouf is an excellent actor. It’s unfortunate that he’s not a good person.
There will be other films released by female directors this fall, there’s no reason to go to this just because it has a female director. There’s so much mess around Olivia Wilde that she is going to be treated as a separate case from her peers from here on out.
sadly, she is never going to be considered separately from other women directors. that’s not how being marginalized works. everyone gets lumped together. and judged.
He was really good in All the Old Knives with Thandiwe Newton (and they’re smoking hot in the movie, too!) He was also good in Outlaw King, where Florence played his wife! Part of me hopes there’s a twist in Don’t Worry, Darling where Florence’s character ends up with Chris’, just to bring their acting history full circle.
Honestly I didn’t either until I watched his recent concert live on Apple Music, I’m a fan for life now, that guy is TALENTED and can really sing and put on a great show.
ALSO, I’m SO TIRED of hearing about his accent. GUYS… he’s a northerner. There are so many accents in the UK from super posh to super cockney and they are all so different within a short distance comparatively to the US. In America you get a range of accents for sure as well, but the country is predominantly English speaking (official language anyway) and you get less of the regional-type dialects that you see in Europe where most people speak multiple languages. Harry is doing juuuust fine with his accent, sorry to say, but it’s pretty typical of Americans to be so self-centered as to think it must be a ‘bad American accent’ instead of just, like, you know, a foreign one?
Variety has admitted that they misquoted Olivia because she never said the words “fired.” The question is why she hired him in the first place. His reputation was already shit before the F.K.A. Twigs lawsuit. This movie is getting so much attention for all the wrong reasons and I have the feeling it will be a massive bomb. I only hope it does not damage Florence at all. Olivia has been a good director before but I think she made a lot of bad decisions on this film. Especially getting involved with Harry while she was his boss. I never understood the attraction people have for Styles. He is a bad actor and only on OK singer but I guess somebody has to be the new Justin and he is elected. Worthy or not. But Justin is still far more talented than Harry is as a singer.
Variety didn’t directly quote her as saying she fired her but her comments about Shia in that article and an article about her leaving the video project she did with him for Rainsford Qualley are meant to lead one to think that she did. She did this to herself, it’s not the journalist screwing up.
Shia just brought the receipts hard to Variety. To be clear he’s garbage and I believe Twigs. But it’s pretty clear she manipulated the story after the fact to make herself look better. She wanted him in the movie. (“A wake up call to Ms. Flo”? So basically took his side over Florence’s huh Olivia? Im beginning to understand the bad blood).
This is a messy MESSY PR misstep from her, and I hate that he gets to call a woman out. 🤬
The letter he wrote gave me chills. He is so so so smooth. From my own bias, I don’t believe for a second he’s not still capable of doing great harm but omg how easy it would be to want to believe he has changed if he aimed that at you.
He definitely brought the receipts and I’m seeing why Florence doesn’t want anything to do with Olivia. I read Olivia completely underpaid Florence and overpaid Styles…Olivia claims that is false, too, but I don’t know if I believe anything she says at this point…seems she’ll say anything to come out looking better than someone else.
Variety quoted a source that said she fired him and she didn’t correct that narrative.
I always wonder why people do things like that knowing texts exist to prove otherwise?
Replying to your comment further up, yeah the letter was scary
What is that accent? For all her praise about her boyfriend, that clip did nothing to convince me to part ways with my hard earned money to see this movie. As for Shia, he’s been a problematic douche for years. She hired him, but had buyer’s remorse. Trying to frame it as if she had no idea he was problematic is a stretch. But plays into her victim/heroine narrative.
Whatever his past actions and reputation, he is reputing her narrative with actual emails and texts asking him to reconsider not quitting the movie. He felt there wasn’t enough rehearsal time with the other cast members. He provided Variety with his receipts. I’m no fan of Shia, especially now with his “I found God” mia culpa but don’t lie to the press if people can easily discount your story.
Shia was on his apology tour around the time he was hired, I believe. He’d just put out that movie about his terrible childhood. Everyone was “give him a second chance”ing him. I’m sure that played a part in Olivia ignoring his past, because people change after all and everyone deserves a fresh start and blah blah blah. So, she did and got burned.
That’s not an excuse for her to hire him, particularly for a film where his character screams at and gaslights the female lead. Especially given her limited background as a producer and director, don’t hire someone you can’t handle just because your ego wants you to be part of his redemption arc. Fuck that, it’s irresponsible.
I totally agree. It was a chance she did not need to take at this stage of her directing career. She is not a powerhouse director yet so she should play it safe until she is. Assuming she will be.
I don’t know that she will ever be a powerhouse but her communications with Shia in the Variety article are completely unprofessional.
I had no interest in seeing it to start with. Now after that horrible, really bad, completely awful clip, my resolve in not seeing it shall be steadfast.
Olivia looks so bad now.
Not only did she hire known jackass Shia, she begged him to stay on AND threw “Miss Flo” (ugh. so condenscending) under the bus for him.
Can’t even watch the film to “support a female director” because clearly this woman doesn’t give a hoot about other women either.
I had a major issue at a previous job which greatly played into me leaving it. We represented writers and got a “celebrity client” with MANY sexual harassment/assault/rape accusations. Literally if you searched his name and “rapist” in Twitter people are saying something about him every day. I was horrified, and none of this was noted while we were signing him up.
I addressed it as soon as I came across it (I was going to be working VERY closely with him and would be around him a lot). I was the ONLY PERSON WHO WAS CONCERNED AT ALL ABOUT IT. I felt like I was in The Twilight Zone.
My (white male) boss actually said to me, “But what about false accusations?” and “He’s still very popular so most people don’t agree with you.”
I said to my boss “Less than 4 percent of rape accusations are false” and my boss actually said, “That’s more than 0 percent.”
This was only 3 years ago, so after Me Too and he was so clueless I just lost ALL RESPECT for him.
They brought in a freelancer to work with him because I refused (and that haunted me and ultimately hurt MY reputation with my boss) .
The writer got one big review during this time, from a major newspaper, and it came right out and said “Why would such a respected publishing house publish this appalling rapist’s book?”
I felt very vindicated but had really lost respect for all the men that were around me that were fine with this guy being a rapist as long as he was famous.
It’s a situation I still think about often and really makes my blood boil.
I’m so glad she did the right thing.
Good for you! Truly. But, uhhh…
“I’m so glad she did the right thing”
You might want to read the new story up at Variety. 😬 It appears she didn’t so much do the right thing as want you to believe she did. And to hell with her lead actresses concerns. It’s…yikes.
So, someone (Shia?) published a video of Olivia saying she is heartbroken and asking Shia not to give up on the project. She basically implies it all depended on Florence Pugh, that maybe it was “a wake up call for miss Flo (…) if she really commits and puts her mind and heart into it”. Also implies that there was some disagreement between Shia and Florence? Olivia suggests they have different points of view.
Now I understand Florence’s discomfort about this movie.
There is video out there of Olivia saying a different thing to Shia and she is very condescending toward Florence. So I think we know why Florence isn’t doing much promo for this film.
Shia has a ton of issues, but the version sounds by Olivia isn’t accurate either.
🛎🛎🛎
Its getting very weird now
Shia brought the receipts. Will Florence too? And Jason? Because Olivia is the common denominator in all the drama.
The story is developing. Look forward to Kaiser’s take come Sunday.
This drama added to the Wilde/Sudeikis split drama is really driving home the fact that Olivia Wilde pings my narcissist radar big time.
I didn’t think there was anyone who could make Shia LaBoeuf look like a sympathetic character, and yet here we are. (This is in reference to Shia bringing the receipts and his response to Olivia’s apparent lies.)
And that letter to Olivia was so well written…..
It’s a fact she cheated on her ex then tried to frame it differently so she looked better. Then the whole thing about getting served and slamming JS in the media? It’s turned me off.I know there are two sides to things, divorce is hell but she seems like she’s spinning. I normally always side with women but OW leaves me with icky feels.
And if you take into account the facct she threw away her 1st husband the second she did not need him anymore, it starts to add up. As I have seen someone say on Tiktok: ” Everybody cannot be lying about you.”
Feel safe while the director is boffing your costar that you have to pretend to boff in front of her. At least the costar is closer to your age than hers, but still…
I’m enjoying watching her get called all the way out on her ridiculous bullsh*t spinning.
I am firmly in Camp Shia LeBeouf Is a Flaming Pile of Shit Who Happens to Be Extremely Talented. I believe all of the allegations from FKA Twigs and the many, many stories of his terrible on-set behavior over the years. I don’t know that I believe that he will ever really change, which is unfortunate, because I do think he could have had (could maybe still have?) a great career if he would stay sober, truly address his issues, and make amends in some major ways.
Having said all that: Olivia Wilde 100% used his mess to support her own narrative as the “heroine” in this story. I think his email is effective in this case because he framed it as, “I have a lot of other shit I caused, but not this,” and then brought the evidence. Doesn’t change my opinion of him, nor should it anyone’s at this point, but it was a pretty smart strategy. He could have released a more angry statement denying the story, which then she could have used as evidence of his bad behavior.
…they both suck, right? That’s what I’m getting at. If I were Florence Pugh, I wouldn’t want to be associated with either one of them at this point, either.
I remember at the time she began DWD in early Fall 2020 she let it be known she had a ‘no assholes’ policy on her films and that certainly made it seem that’s why HS was hired over Shia. Anytime someone makes it seem they fired you when they did not (obvious now from Shia’s receipts that it was the old creative differences reasons that he left the production) and it usually always hurts your reputation and you should fight back as SLeB is doing. Don’t blame him at all and she was willing to pressure ‘Miss Flo’ to keep him. And as far as her other unprofessional director behavior I believe she did fudge the dates of her separation from Jason and did leave him for Harry during the production and I don’t blame Jason for calling her out for that either. Imagine being involved with someone who uses the press to make herself look good versus the truth.
I remember at the time she began DWD in early Fall 2020 she let it be known she had a ‘no assholes’ policy on her films and that certainly made it seem that’s why HS was hired over Shia. Anytime someone makes it seem they fired you when they did not (obvious now from Shia’s receipts that it was the old creative differences reasons that he left the production) and it usually always hurts your reputation and you should fight back as SLeB is doing. Don’t blame him at all and she was willing to pressure ‘Miss Flo’ to keep him. And as far as her other unprofessional director behavior I believe she did fudge the dates of her separation from Jason and did leave him for Harry during the production and I don’t blame Jason for calling her out for that either. Imagine being involved with someone who uses the press to make herself look good versus the truth. I have zero patience with liars.
I hope Shia is on the path to wellness for the sake of his new family. I believe FKA and he actually said in an interview her accusing him saved his life. I hope he works towards health. I am glad he called OW on her bs…and gave the receipts. I can’t wait to see how she spins this. She is in such a position of entitlement (rich, famous parents, first husband was a prince, white and rich, etc etc) that her victimhood has always been a nope from me. I actually wish she would consider her children before saying or posting things. It was announced today that Flo is only doing the premiere at the Venice film festival and is coming straight from the Dune set. I am excited about this movie only bc the whole premise is right up my alley. Though I truly do not understand the worldwide obsession with Harry Styles. I will definitely see it and report back!!
I was so excited for this movie and promo tour. I thought they would sell this as Olivia Wilde/Florence Pugh movie in order to set a feminist narrative for the promotion so imagine my disappointment when the first trailer dropped and I realized they are selling this as Harry Styles sex movie. Still I tried giving Olivia benefit of doubt but I was soon proven wrong after noticing Florence’s reluctance to promote the movie. For me the final thing that put me off Olivia was her Variety interview, that’s when it dawned on me that this was a total Harry Styles/Olivia Wilde show. Imagine being an Oscar nominee and getting sidelined for a guy who can barely act and getting backstabbed by his fake feminist girlfriend. I won’t blame Florence no matter how she chooses to react to this mess in future. And if Olivia thinks her troubles are going to end here then she needs to wait for Harry’s acting reviews after Venice premiere.