At last, Olivia Wilde's sophomore directorial outing Don't Worry Darling has seen the light of day, premiering at the Venice Film Festival over the weekend.
But the behind-the-scenes drama around the film has only gotten messier.
Yesterday, social media practically ground to a halt over several incidents regarding the film that occurred in Venice, but the one that drew the most attention was a moment when Harry Styles appeared to spit on costar Chris Pine at the film's screening.
The footage was just inconclusive enough to practically turn the whole thing into the second coming of the Zapruder Film, with folks poring over various angles from the event to try to figure out what happened.
But a sleuth slowed down the footage and it appears the whole thing was a misunderstanding.
See the slowed-down version below.
\u201cHE IS INNOCENT\u201d— Harry Styles Updates. (@Harry Styles Updates.) 1662436565
There doesn't appear to be any spittle flying from Styles' mouth, so it seems the whole thing was a mistake.
But in the original footage, it did sort of appear as if Styles might have hocked a loogie directly into Pine's lap.
\u201cChris pine just wondered where his sunglasses were after the applause. And he zoned out (likes he\u2019s been doing all day) and realised it\u2019s in his lap. So I am sorry to say harry styles did not spit on him.\u201d— priscilla (@priscilla) 1662435185
With his lips pursed as he sat down and the timing of Pine looking down into his lap, it seemed like something might have landed there.
Add in Pine's non-plussed reaction, and it seemed to have all the trappings of yet another scandal for this very scandal-plagued film.
But another angle seemed to show absolutely nothing happening in the same moment.
\u201cHarry takes his seat. #DontWorryDarling #venezia79\u201d— Ramin Setoodeh (@Ramin Setoodeh) 1662401722
Fans quickly came up with alternate theories—Pine realized his sunglasses had fallen into his lap after wondering where they had been.
Which seems plausible enough, given how out of it Pine has seemed while in Venice. Perhaps it's the jet lag?
In any case, you'd be forgive for assuming yet another scandal had erupted surrounding Don't Worry Darling.
The film has been plagued by drama since it was first announced, from Wilde's ongoing custody battle with Jason Sudeikis nearly upstaging her at CinemaCon, to her and former star Shia LaBeouf's back-and-forth about whether he quit the film or was fired.
But at least this one story of drama seems to have turned out to be true—but not before it generated all sorts of talk on Twitter.
\u201cthe don\u2019t worry darling drama is getting more and more absurd like what do you mean harry styles [spins wheel] spit on [spins wheel] chris pine\u201d— izzy (@izzy) 1662428792
\u201cdid you see this? harry styles spit on chris pine. yeah, it's true. people are dissecting the footage looking for a second spitter but apparently it only came from one direction\u201d— Ben Rosen (@Ben Rosen) 1662438880
\u201cSO FLORENCE PUGH DIDN'T LIKE OLIVIA WILDE HOOKING UP WITH HARRY STYLES BECAUSE SHE'S FRIENDS WITH OLIVIA'S HUSBAND JASON SUDEIKIS SO FLORENCE WOULDN'T PROMOTE THE MOVIE. THEN SHIA LEBEOUF LEAKED A VIDEO OF OLIVIA CALLING FLORENCE "MISS FLO" & NOW HARRY SPIT ON CHRIS PINE, BUT...\u201d— Uncle Johnny \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Uncle Johnny \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1662428141
\u201cthis actually convinces me he did https://t.co/RWTn2iUP6q\u201d— caitie delaney (@caitie delaney) 1662488706
\u201cThis was BEFORE we learned that Harry Styles didn't spit on Chris Pine\u201d— Julie Klausner (@Julie Klausner) 1662496092
\u201cMe researching for my school papers vs me analyzing the Chris Pine/Harry Styles spit footage\u201d— Alfie (Polar Express Apologist) (@Alfie (Polar Express Apologist)) 1662432315
\u201cKRAMER: I hate Harry Styles. He spit on us.\n\nNEWMAN: The spit ricocheted off of Chris Pine and hit me.\u201d— Josh Gondelman (@Josh Gondelman) 1662470781
\u201cbreaking down the harry styles-chris pine spit incident\u201d— Adam London (@Adam London) 1662429552
\u201ceveryone who just spent 2 days pretending they saw harry styles spit on chris pine:\u201d— Al Shipley (@Al Shipley) 1662519489
\u201cThe fact that Chris Pine had to make a statement that Harry Styles didn\u2019t spit on him is absolutely one of the funniest pop culture things this year\u201d— Samantha || #1 Niall James Horlow Fan (@Samantha || #1 Niall James Horlow Fan) 1662494913
Through his representative, Pine confirmed the spit take never happened, calling it "a complete fabrication."
Aw, well, the drama was fun while it lasted.
NBC News via Lisa Anderson
