And now we wait. Olivia Wilde’s, Don’t Worry Darling, should be released sometime in 2021. She recently announced, alongside actor, Florence Pugh, that the movie wrapped this past Sunday. Scenery proved spectacular for the twelve plus hour work days as they filmed in The Barstow desert. Pugh describes her film “home” as “epic, dusty, hot, cold, freezing, windy, striking, dry, stunning, other worldly… perfect.” The female actress plays an unsatisfied wife to Harry Styles who captivates with a suspenseful secret. Included in the cast as well is Chris Pine who acts as a leader of a cult-like group. Florence’s character becomes drawn in by the unsettling factors of the community. Otherwise known as a physiological thriller, the movie deals with a disturbing truth that Pugh cracks under inclination to solve such foreign occurrences in the neighborhood. In no way does this movie examine a sweet, romantic aura, for the dessert prompts the audience already for a lonesome, strange plot. In the actress’ Instagram post, she highlights the fact that crew members started as early as three in the morning to prepare the set under questionable weather conditions.
“My co-conspirator and hero. We did it. It wasn’t easy. But we fucking did the damn thing. Love you, Matty,” Wilde captions in a congratulatory post with cinematographer, Matthew Libatique. He is well-respected in his craft with films such as Pi, Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan (earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Achievement in Cinematography), A Star Is Born, and Prom. Adversities prompted a handful of challenges for the crew to overcome with a dry lake one week and the next a frozen one. With that in mind, Libatique converted the stress into humor to cope with a time constraint and an anticipated strict budget. The male filmer was Wilde’s sidekick throughout the duration of bringing Don’t Worry Darling to life. He is a master mind constantly at work with fellow directors to lift their dreams to reality. Bradley Cooper debuted his director career with A Star Is Born which received a critically acclaimed tag through Cooper’s directing and Matthew Libatique’s producing competency.
The upcoming film is not the first venture into a director role for Olivia Wilde, a successful actress as well. Two years ago she released Booksmart which aims toward teenagers and provides a much needed belly laugh. Rotten tomatoes granted the final edit a 96% rating. Directly from an Instagram post, the contemporary director describes the behind the scenes. “Two years ago we made a movie. Making movies is the best. Anyone who knows, knows. I miss it. I miss set. I miss the crew. I miss the nerves. I miss the breakfast burritos from the truck. I miss the collective exhaustion and collective silliness. I miss the challenge. I miss the high fives on the way into the first rehearsal of the day. I miss Coca Cola on ice and salty cucumbers at the monitor. I miss the safety meetings. I miss the quiet on the set. I miss the music. I miss the trust. I miss the questions. I miss the problems. I miss the responsibility of being your leader for a moment. I miss the sound of people trying not to laugh. I miss the hugs. I miss the way we used to be. And how we’ll be again one day. Happy birthday, Booksmart. You came out a year ago and I feel luckier than ever that you ever happened. To everyone who had anything to do with making it, thank you. Here’s to making our living making movies.” A beautiful summary of the grit movies truly take to accomplish the level of greatness for personal reasons on behalf of directors and writers and actors, but also for the one’s on the other side watching the film for pure enjoyment.
Jack, played by Harry Styles, and Alice, played by Florence Pugh exude exactly the talent the preferred roles imply. They swiftly partook in a film that has been one of the most difficult undertaking the two have ever completed. Director Wilde even pays homage to Pugh by saying she has a “Tom Cruise run + Meryl skills”. She also honors Styles by claiming he is humble and kind to participate in a movie led by a woman. Most of the time, the sad truth presents itself in the fact that men actors deny roles in female directed movies due to personal dwell on money and status. But, the singer- now actor after peaking in for the Dunkirk film- provided an urge for normalizing and embracing and admiring a female’s production. The film will hopefully be stamped with a date as the last minute touches are added.