Olivia Wilde, scrambling: ‘People will look for drama anywhere they can’

Olivia Wilde is literally the only person involved with Don’t Worry Darling to promote the film this week, the week the film is released in theaters. Everyone else, from Florence Pugh to Chris Pine to Harry Styles, is pretty much ignoring Wilde and her f–king drama and lies. What’s interesting is that friendly little promotional stops are now turning into grand inquisitions and it’s amazing. Wilde appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night. Colbert went for it. He wasn’t harsh, but he was direct, and he asked her directly about whether Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine, whether she’s beefing with Florence Pugh, whether she actually fired Shia LaBeouf. For what it’s worth, she claims that Harry “did not” spit on Pine and “I think it’s a perfect example of like: people will look for drama anywhere they can.” She deflects that way throughout the conversation, like the drama around DWD is just people with overactive imaginations on the internet and not a huge self-made catastrophe on her part.

Here’s the first part of the interview. I’m not watching all of this, but Colbert begins to question Wilde on all of the dramas around the 3:30-mark. Wilde addresses the Shia LaBeouf mess starting around the 4-minute mark and you can see her furiously back-pedaling on all of the sh-t she talked about Shia in her Variety and Vanity Fair cover profiles. Suddenly, it’s a matter of semantics and not Olivia lying constantly to make herself the heroine.

Here’s the clip where Olivia addresses Spitgate and how the world of DWD is a comfortable cult. Colbert actually asked Olivia directly about the beef with Florence Pugh and Olivia uses Spitgate as a conversational deflection!!! Then Colbert brings up Florence again and Wilde says “I have nothing but respect for Florence…” Olivia also brings up Florence’s film commitments with Dune 2. Hilarious scrambling.

While Colbert is correct that male directors are monsters and male directors don’t have to answer for the on-set beefs in the same way as women, I hate that Colbert gives Olivia that “out.” Like, Olivia is the one lying her ass off and saying incredibly ridiculous things. She’s the one who dumped her partner for her leading man. If this was Darren Aronofsky or Martin McDonagh, trust me when I say that it would still be a big deal if they were lying to trade media and dumping their partners for an actor in their films. It would also be a big deal if their lead actresses refused to promote their films, just as it would be a big deal if one of their actors spit on a costar during promotion at a film festival!!

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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56 Responses to “Olivia Wilde, scrambling: ‘People will look for drama anywhere they can’”

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  1. shanaynay says:

    Darling, this is all drama that you caused. Nice try deflecting though.

    • SugarHere says:

      I used to like her, until I realized Olivia Wilde is the ultimate mean girl with a dominatrix shark jaw line. She is endowed with that typical maneuvering manipulative self-serving stamina that creates victims in her entourage.

  2. girl_ninja says:

    She lS the drama and I think she loves it. She’s also entitled, arrogant, tiresome and doesn’t take responsibility for her nonsense. “Miss O” needs to get it together and grow up.

  3. A says:

    We DO look for drama anywhere we can. And this woman is advertising it in neon.

    You are the drama we’re looking for, babe. Thank you for providing it.

    • jjva says:

      Lol, right? Amidst work and kids and everything else that takes up my regular days, I am all about this stupid mess

  4. Jessie Quinton says:

    I like both her looks here.

    That’s all I got, because everything else associated with her is just a dumpster fire inside a volcano.

  5. Amy Bee says:

    This has to be her worse nightmare but she brought it all on herself.

    • BothSidesNow says:

      @ Amy Bee, she did. OW is her own worst enemy. I think that Colbert gave her much too much leeway as she didn’t actually answer the questions regarding Pugh. OW’s response of Pugh was simply performative while evading the actual question. As for her response to SLB, that was an absolute twist of the entire narrative as well.

      OW will now be looked at through different lense, as she should be.

    • Eleonor says:

      I don’t think it’s a nightmare for her.
      She clearly LOOOVES the drama, and could always play the victim.
      Btw she is the only one doing the promotion, the actors aren’t showing up.
      Good luck finding actors for a new project.

  6. ML says:

    I think that she got the drama she earned. Colbert put her to the test and that’s a credit to him. Considering all the free (though negative) advertising the dramas have brought DWD, it’s good that she should answer on the record. That said, it’s also good that Colbert mentioned that male directors get a lot more leeway. If OW had directed far more films and her career was on par with say Aronofsky’s, then I could quibble over Colbert bringing that up. I think both are true: OW got what she deserved, but part of the publicity comes from a skewed standard.

  7. C says:

    Who’s going to tell her?

  8. K. Tate says:

    Did she dump her ex? I thought they were already over before she and Harry?

    • Aevajohnson says:

      Olivia says it was already over, while Sudeikis says not so much. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.

  9. Jenny Langton says:

    Woody Allen has never faced this much backlash. I’m not a fan of Wilde – but this is ridiculous. We all try to make ourselves look good. People leave their significant others all the time. She didn’t abuse anyone (that we know of). She told a lie. Whoop di do. Everyone tells lies to make themselves look better. Just embarrassing as all hell that she got caught.

    • Lotal says:

      +1000

    • sunny says:

      You have a point about Allen not facing consequences for his terrible behaviour but I think a lot of his behaviour was off set(although his creepiness did make its way into his writing). With Wilde, she clearly created a toxic environment on set while working and her actors seems to dislike her, want to distance themselves from her AND THE WORK. That makes it more difficult.

    • C says:

      Doesn’t have to be either or. She didn’t commit a crime but she’s still messy and annoying. Anyway, on a lot of IG posts about the film nobody was really talking about her drama. A lot of them are, but a lot of casual gossipwatchers aren’t.

    • tolly says:

      Woody Allen rarely says anything to restart the news cycle, while Olivia Wilde has been keeping this story alive for weeks with her public appearances. Either her PR folks are idiots or she really thinks that she can charm her way out of this mess.

    • Concern Fae says:

      Wrong metric. Woody isn’t on social media, doesn’t do interviews, and stays out of sight as much as possible. This has always been the case. He didn’t attend the Oscars, even when he was nominated.

      There is huge outrage over Woody Allen, it’s just not to his face, because he doesn’t show it.

      Deeply torn about this Olivia backlash. Certainly more than she deserves. But she does keep kicking the hornets nest, and thus it erupts again.

      Florence is being brilliant in keeping her mouth shut. If we heard what actually happened, it might be a nothingburger that we’d all give a shrug about. But her silence is just throwing all the questions back on Olivia.

    • Emmi says:

      I never understand this argument. “This guy is worse so why are we dumping on this woman?” Because she still sucks. And because we should dump on men more, not dump on idiot women less. She put herself on video! For the stupidity alone I have no sympathy.

    • Amie says:

      I feel like Woody Allen has faced this much backlash? I was too young when he left Mia Farrow for his stepdaughter Soon-Yi in 1992 to follow all that but surely the media criticized him for that or did they solely go after Soon-Yi? And when the allegations of him molesting Dylan came out, did the press go after Mia instead? And every time that story resurfaces as Dylan has given interviews of her experience as an adult, Woody Allen gets a lot of criticism and actors who have worked with him in the past have said they made a mistake and wouldn’t work again with him in the future.

      Olivia didn’t make great choices and alienated a lot of her cast but she didn’t sexually abuse a toddler or date a barely legal adult.

    • Lizzie Bathory says:

      But…we don’t all tell lies to make ourselves look better? What a weird assertion.

      • Molly says:

        Maybe you’re a saint and you’ve never done that in your life…but most humans have. The witch-hunt is insane. She completely messed up but this level of public persecution would personally put me in the mental hospital.

    • AnneL says:

      Woody Allen faced a ton of backlash, rightly so. But as others have said he is very private and doesn’t invite publicity except inadvertently through his personal behavior. Olivia has been putting herself out there constantly and making things worse for herself.

      If Olivia wants to be taken seriously as a director (and DWD and all of its surrounding drama is not going to help with that), she needs to act less like a celebrity when it comes to that part of her career.

    • Eleonor says:

      I have never liked Woody Allen, or his movies, but there are HUGE differences.
      First of all: he has always being an acclaimed director, and he is a really private person.
      OR I would say like all the predators he knows how to separate public and personal life.
      Second: for decades actors wanted to be in his movies because being in an Allen movie meant being praised by the critics. Only recently they have started to boycott him.
      I am not sure actors would want to be in one of her future project anytime soon, after seeing this s#it show, and what kind of toxic environment she can create.
      I am pretty sure she would play the victim.

    • Lux says:

      It’s called hypocrisy, self-aggrandizement and lying/getting caught in the act.

      Was there any drama concerning the rollout of Booksmart? None that I can ever recall. But there is a heck of a ton here and if Miss O hadn’t painted herself as a professional feminist/champion of set safety/upholder of the highest ethos/no a-hole policy enforcer, we wouldn’t get this dumpster fire and all these actors distancing themselves from her.

      I was actually low key happy for her and HS’s relationship and felt bad that she was getting sexist backlash/harassment from HS and JS stans, but she created this new narrative all on her own and she was called out. We are allowed to expose hypocritical liars, especially when they try to be smug deflectors.

  10. Kirsten says:

    I mean, I will at least give her that she is trying to promote her film, and she’s had enough media training that she can get through the interview.

    I really want to like her, but in this (and her split from JS), it’s clear that she thinks these are things that are just being done to her rather than things happening because of choices she’s made.

    • BothSidesNow says:

      @ Kristen, I was on the fence about her but after reading the very public comments she made regarding her ex-husband, on top of the time line with regards to JS, she gets a big no from me. OW has sullied her reputation all on her own.

  11. Bex says:

    That sounds like something the drama would say.

  12. ThatsNotOkay says:

    That audience was NOT happy that she was the guest. Colbert was very kind and gracious toward her while also addressing the gossip it in a fun way. This was a smart PR attempt to redirect the focus back on the movie and suggest that she’s just a victim of a rabid public and sexist industry. She is, but she’s also a drama queen who brought it on herself. Both can be and are true!

  13. Queen Meghan's Hand says:

    Gotta love Colbert. Vulture needs to produce the Don’t Worry Darling oral history stat. What happened on this set? Why is Nick Kroll not promoting? Gemma Chan? KIKI LAYNE?? Kate Berlant? Did Olivia decide she’ll do the promoting alone??? What happened on this set?

    Going to do a The Woman King and DWD double-feature this weekend!

  14. KatInChicago says:

    Love the exciting RED of that suit.

  15. Cava 24 says:

    I think Florence distanced herself from the film because of the focus on the sex scenes in the various trailers and Olivia’s insane comments relating to the sex scenes, Olivia making the promo about herself (including leading people to believe she fired Shia so she could make herself look like a girlboss defender of women) when the situation was not what she was presenting, and the fact that Harry and Olivia were clearly aiming to have a big moment as a couple at the Venice premiere and make the film promo about them. Olivia was at his show last night, they are pretty clearly still together. So ignoring each other in Venice was Harry saving his ass and someone from WB telling them to not make the premiere about their big love story.
    Olivia is just not honest. Even over small things.

    • Red says:

      Maybe she’s madly in love with him and her relationship with Jason was actually terrible, but I have to wonder if Olivia secretly regrets leaving Jason for Harry. Jason has gotten incredible success in the last two years, and she could have been on his arm to all of these award shows. Instead she’s with a guy who said he’s never been with a woman publicly, and then ignored her completely the night of her biggest career moment. You could tell she wanted some sort of interaction at that festival. I’m only a few years younger than her and I could not handle how annoying Harry is with dating if I was her.

      • Lynne D says:

        I saw some whispering about Jason and Hannah Waddingham from Ted Lasso possibly dating. Hannah is so warm, loving and openly demonstrative of her love of Jason as a co-worker (along with her other coworkers), and seems like a great match for him. I hope its true and they both continue with their career success.

  16. Twin Falls says:

    Because Chris Pine did not spit on Harry Styles.

    End of the day if it was a better movie, none of this would matter. Easy for everyone to conveniently distance themselves from a movie with a dismal rotten tomatoes number.

  17. Miss Owlsyn says:

    The studio should really just let the film speak for itself at this point. No more promotion.

  18. Luna17 says:

    I remember reading some articles about her back in the day and I think her parents were famous journalist or something like that and she comes from a very privileged, wealthy well-connected background. She went to elite private boarding schools back east. I’m pretty sure her career was basically handed to her and she was told her whole life that she was so beautiful and talented and special and it’s finally catching up with her.

    She clearly thinks she is the most talented, woke Director and that she somehow earned all of this privilege when she was basically born into third base and think she hit a home run.

    I’m not saying Jason Sudeikis is perfect by any means but the more this disastrous press tour goes on, the more sympathy I have for him and the kids. She’s shown who she was over and over throughout the years like saying nasty things about her first husband , it feels like this is the karma she has sowed. She thought she was gonna get away with it forever And can basically do whatever she wants because she’s special and chosen but things are finally catching up to her.

    • AnneL says:

      Yes, I think that’s true. She went to Philips Andover which is one of the most prestigious and competitive boarding schools in the country. To be fair, she wouldn’t have gotten in if she weren’t smart. It’s very academically rigorous. It’s not just where rich parents park their kids.

      Not that she’s acting smart right now, but she has a few brain cells to rub together. I wish she’d use them.

      • LilacMaven says:

        Oh, wealthy parents absolutely can dump their academically challenged children there if they fork over enough cash. Exhibit A: George W Bush attended Phillips Andover.

        Now do I assume Olivia is more intelligent than Dubya? Yes. Still, I wouldn’t assume she’s MENSA material purely based on her time at Phillips Andover.

    • Aly says:

      Wow. I had no idea about her family background. That would explain her her brazeness. She decided to make herself the face of this promo tour since day one, way before Shia exposed her.

      There is no point in questioning any of the cast members about the drama cause you’ll get nothing but scripted answers. Florence’s side of the story won’t be revealed any time soon cause her next movie Dune 2 is a WB movie just like DWD so she’s going to be tight lipped about it. If journalists actually want to question Olivia, they should ask her why did she try to sell sex scenes of her movie as “female pleasure” given the context of those scenes?

      • HME says:

        “If journalists actually want to question Olivia, they should ask her why did she try to sell sex scenes of her movie as “female pleasure” given the context of those scenes?”

        THIS. I was pretty floored when I read some spoiler reviews. I really don’t know what Oliva was thinking marketing this movie around the sex scenes and bragging about how “men don’t come in this movie” and how it passes the “clit test” given what is actually happening to the women in this movie. Actually I’m pretty disappointed that female director chose to have such full on sex scenes given the subject matter of the movie. That’s the approach I’d expect a male director to take but I’d hope a female director would take different approach. Guess not.

    • sevenblue says:

      “She’s shown who she was over and over throughout the years like saying nasty things about her first husband , it feels like this is the karma she has sowed.”

      Wow, come on now. You are saying she always did this “throughout the years” and only gave a recent example. Jason talked bad about Olivia too, why is he getting a pass? Divorce is always messy. I don’t understand why people all are piling on her like she is the worst person we read about. I don’t remember reading anything bad about her until she and Jason broke up and she started dating Harry, which shouldn’t have happened imo because he was her employee at the time. What “throughout the years” are you referring to? She worked on tv all these years, she didn’t have any scandals. Did I miss something?

      • LTavlas says:

        I think people are really struggling to understand that Olivia Wilde was married to Jason Sudekis, and not Ted Lasso. And anyone who pays cursory attention to gossip whispers knows that in fact Jason Sudekis is a dirtbag. And if karma is really a thing, then I’d imagine it would catch up to him as well given how he treated January Jones.

  19. Wendy says:

    The one point I can agree with her on is the drama surrounding “Spitgate” because y’all, come on. That was a non-event. People were hungry for more gossip around DWD and created a controversy out of thin air.

  20. sevenblue says:

    I really liked Olivia as 13 in the House series. So, maybe it is hard for me to judge correctly. There are messier stories with male directors and no actors speak against them for the fear of getting blacklisted. If Florence experienced any kind of workplace abuse on set, I would support her to talk about it. Until then, I am not gonna jump on Olivia because of a documented abuser, Shia. I remember Olivia making press interviews for the Booksmart movie as well. Maybe, as a director, she is making that kind of contracts with her actors. I believe, the actors get paid more if they are contractually obligated to make press tours for the movie. So, I don’t understand all this complaint about why Olivia is doing all of this. There is no way other actors accepted press tours on their contracts, but refused to do it. That’s not how that works, imo.

    Also, as a gossip reader, I read a lot of stories about Jason messing with much much younger women when he was still married. If she got out of that situation, good for her.

    All in all, I feel like I am the only person who still likes Olivia on sm, I guess. lol.

  21. Jessica says:

    She’s…a lot. I am seeing the movie tonight with some friends. We are all a bunch of catty b*tches. Will report back!!!

  22. Mel says:

    Of course people will look for drama if you keep creating it and talking about it. Yeah, she needs to be quiet for a minute.

  23. Sass says:

    “Dumped her partner for a star in her film.” FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT. I think like people said upthread it’s probably somewhere in the middle. They were in a rough patch trying to work it out and she decided “nah” but didn’t tell him. That’s what I think happened anyway.