Don't Worry Darling, a movie starring Harry Styles, Florence Pugh and Chris Pine and directed by Olivia Wilde, has been in the news for weeks due to reported behind-the-scenes drama.
On Monday, September 5, the movie had a drama-filled premiere at the Venice Film Festival. During the 4 minute standing ovation, Styles grabbed co-star Nick Kroll and kissed him in a fit of unbridled delight.
In the video taken by Variety co-editor in chief Ramin Setoodeh, the pair then chuckle and hug as the crowd erupts in applause.
\u201cHarry Styles kisses Nick Kroll during the standing ovation for #DontWorryDarling. #Venezia79\u201d— Ramin Setoodeh (@Ramin Setoodeh) 1662408531
Reactions online have been generally positive—while sometimes commenting this makes the complicated drama of the movie continue.
But first, the commentary from the LGBTQ+ community.
\u201c@RaminSetoodeh Wow the gays won this one \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\u2728\ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffb\ud83d\ude0d\u201d— Ramin Setoodeh (@Ramin Setoodeh) 1662408531
\u201cthey should just kiss and cut the tension. (nick kroll and harry styles)\u201d— sakshi (@sakshi) 1662397939
\u201cHarry Styles kissing Nick Kroll was NOT on my 2022 bingo card\u201d— Julia\ud83e\uddda\u200d\u2642\ufe0f (@Julia\ud83e\uddda\u200d\u2642\ufe0f) 1662413242
\u201charry styles kissing nick kroll and spitting on chris pine....i have never seen fan fiction play out so quickly in real time\u201d— virgo who can't drive (@virgo who can't drive) 1662434806
Others are a little fed up with what they deem to be queerbaiting on Styles' part.
\u201ci can\u2019t believe harry styles\u2019 head queerbaiter told him to kiss nick kroll at his own gf\u2019s movie premiere just to squeeze a little bit more money out of the gays like give it a rest\u201d— em \u201chonest and literal\u201d stan (@em \u201chonest and literal\u201d stan) 1662408211
\u201cIm sorry but Nick Kroll and Harry styles kissing at the Venice film festival feels like when two straight girls kiss at a bar for attention\u2026\u201d— Bridge (@Bridge) 1662495528
Another person pointed out this is an odd reaction from Styles to the ongoing rumors about his alleged sexual orientation.
\u201charry styles kissing nick kroll\u201d— surya (@surya) 1662410894
Some commented on how this further complicates the already messy relationships and publicity around the cast, especially that Styles did this during a 5-minute standing ovation for the movie his alleged girlfriend directed, while standing next to her.
\u201cmom: hey-\n\nme: mom i cannot right now harry styles just kissed nick kroll in front of his so called gf\u201d— bigger than fern (@bigger than fern) 1662409071
\u201colivia wilde Nick Kroll and Harry styles\u201d— \ud83c\udf59\ud83d\udef9 FAITH IN THE FUTURE 1ST TRACK (@\ud83c\udf59\ud83d\udef9 FAITH IN THE FUTURE 1ST TRACK) 1662411803
Others are just fully fed up with the drama around this entire movie's cast, process, publicity tour and premiere.
\u201c@RaminSetoodeh everything I've learned about this movie was against my will\u201d— Ramin Setoodeh (@Ramin Setoodeh) 1662408531
\u201cflorence walking out 3 mins into the standing ovation, her stylist captioning her pic \u2018miss flo\u2019, harry styles having more chemistry with nick kroll than olivia, half of the cast not interacting during the red carpet??? this don\u2019t worry darling shit just gets messier and messier\u201d— shauna (@shauna) 1662409813
\u201charry styles [spins wheel] spit on chris pine at venice film festival so he panicked and [throws dart] kissed nick kroll to distract everyone and then [pulls note from a hat] florence pugh ran away in the middle of their round of applause\u201d— frances \ud83c\udf37 (@frances \ud83c\udf37) 1662490553
One person likened it to the plot of Singin' in the Rain—a movie musical about the process of developing a film involving messy intra-cast relationships and a publicity tour that is somehow still less dramatic than this real life one.
\u201cdwd is such a mess harry styles accent was so bad he couldn\u2019t speak on camera so olivia made florence dub his lines and then at venice he was singing a song on stage but nick kroll and chris pine pulled back the curtain to reveal it was actually florence singing the whole time\u201d— em (@em) 1662423601
Finally, some commenters had a salient question: why was Nick Kroll...there?
Kroll—who is better known for his comic work on shows like Big Mouth—was a member of the cast, but culturally this is a bit outside his usual wheelhouse so people were confused.
\u201cIn the middle of the Florence Pugh/Harry Styles/Olivia Wilde drama I think we\u2019ve forgotten that for some reason Nick Kroll is also in the cast of Don\u2019t Worry Darling\u201d— crooked septum ring (@crooked septum ring) 1662406962
\u201cas someone who doesn\u2019t care about literally anyone in\u2026. Whatever movie you\u2019re all talking about i feel like the kid who missed the most important day of school. why does chris pine know who harry styles is. is nick kroll *supposed* to be there?\u201d— catherine // dih era (@catherine // dih era) 1662420141
The movie isn't completely out yet, so the drama will probably keep on coming.
@An_Enemy_Within/X