Don't Worry Darling director Olivia Wilde claims that the entire cast was downright stunned by star Harry Styles' powerful performance during a specific scene from the upcoming psychological thriller. The infamous director’s new film stars Florence Pugh opposite Styles in the leading roles.
Originally, actor Shia LaBeouf was set to take on the role of Jack, but he quickly dropped out of the Warner Bros. film and Styles was cast in his place. Styles is most known for his music career, but he definitely garnered lots of hype and praise from his performance in Christopher Nolan's Oscar nominated film, Dunkirk. Wilde herself commented on how miraculous it was for her and the cast to witness Styles' swift transition from singer/songwriter to trained actor. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Wilde recalls a particular Styles scene that left everyone on set that day in tears.
“It’s a strange scene, full of fascist references, and a disturbing amount of male rage. The scene called for him to stand onstage with Frank (Chris Pine) and chant their creepy slogan, ‘Whose world is it? Ours!’ over and over again - dark as hell," Wilde explained. 'But, Harry took it to another level. He was so fully in the moment, he began screaming the lines to the crowd, in this primal roar, that was way more intense than anything we expected from the scene. The camera operator followed him as he paced around the stage like a kind of wild animal." According to Wilde, everyone was surprised by Styles' performance during the Don't Worry Darling scene, including Styles himself. "We were all gobsmacked at the monitor, I think even Harry was surprised by it, those are the best moments for an actor — when you’re completely outside your body."
Pugh and Styles will be playing Alice and Jack, a naive couple in the '50s who are inexplicably in love. Don't Worry Darling is set in Victory California, a small town that the couple lives in that is simultaneously owned by the same company Jack happens to work for. Alice and Jack are very much living the epitome of the suburban dream, complete with a white picket fence and freshly painted mailbox out front. Except, Alice begins to raise suspicion as to why her husband Jack's work is so secretive and a topic that is often not up for discussion whatsoever. As Alice starts to do some digging of her own, secrets start to become exposed within the community, which ends up putting their little utopian bubble in danger.
Wilde attracted lots of attention and critical praise with her directorial debut Booksmart, which was released in March 2019. From there, Wilde's status in Hollywood was most certainly upgraded, making her one of the most sought out film directors to collaborate with. Therefore, when Don't Worry Darling was finally announced in August 2019, it was immediately bid on by 18 different studios. However, New Line Cinema ended up getting the rights to the project and began to start production shortly after.
Although Styles is without a doubt regarded as one of the biggest pop stars in the world right now, it hasn’t left him much time to explore the acting industry. Styles did have a brief cameo in Marvel Studios' Eternals, yet it seemed to be just a short tease for fans who were led to presume he might have had a more prominent role in the film. Regardless, Wilde seems very excited and thrilled to be able to showcase Styles' acting capabilities and give him the space on screen to really show what he can do.
Don't Worry Darling is geared up for a September 23rd, 2022, release date.
Source: Rolling Stone