Three years ago, actress and filmmaker Olivia Wilde made her directorial debut with the critically-acclaimed coming-of-age movieBooksmart. This year, she is back with a second movie ominously titledDon’t Worry Darling. Quite unlike her first directed movie — which follows two high schoolers in present-day —Darlingis apsychological thrillerset in the 1950s.
Starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles as well as other big-name actors, the trailer forDarlinggenerated a lot of buzz upon its release in May; inthe first look, viewers see Pugh and Styles play a young couple with a sickeningly perfect life: Their house is grand, their neighborhood is a suburban paradise, and they are madly in love. Things begin to fall apart, however, when Pugh’s character is struck by the (literal) superficiality of her surroundings: Nothing is as it appears, and no one can be trusted. Provocative in more ways than one, the trailer leaves many questions. From plot to release date, here’s what we know so far.
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The Plot
The synopsis forDarlingteases fear, distrust, andcult-like goings-on. As seen in the trailer, Alice (Pugh) and Jack Chambers (Styles) are a happy couple living in the experimental company town of Victory during the 50s. Alice is a housewife, and Jack works for the top-secret Victory Project. Everyone in their community is happy: the men spend their days in Victory HQ developing “progressive materials,” and the women live in the lap of luxury.
Butsomething sinister lurks beneath, and Alice can’t help but go against CEO Frank’s (Chris Pine) request for “discretion and unquestioning commitment” and investigate. What are they doing in Victory, and what is the secret project her too good to be true husband is working on?
The Cast
As of late, it’s success after success with leading lady Florence Pugh. Having risen to fame in 2016 with her Bafta-winning role inLadyMacbeth, Pugh has since gone on to star in many major motion pictures, includingMidsommar,Little Women, and most recently,Black Widow. SingerHarry Styleshas also taken the film industry by storm, with pivotal roles inEternalsand Christopher Nolan’s Academy Award-winningDunkirk.
Pugh and Styles are joined by many familiar faces inDarling, including the director herself, who has a supporting role as Mary. Other supporting actors includeChris Pine(Star Trek,Wonder Woman), Gemma Chan (Crazy Rich Asians,Eternals), Douglas Smith (Big Little Lies,The Alienist), Kiki Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk,Native Son), Nick Kroll (The League,Big Mouth) Asif Ali (The Mandalorian,WandaVision) and Sydney Chandler, for whoDarlingwill be her first major studio role. Originally, Shia LaBeouf was supposed to play the lead role of Jack, and Dakota Johnson was supposed to play Kiki Layne’s part; however, LaBeouf was dropped after reportedly clashing with Wilde, and Johnson left due to scheduling conflicts.
The Crew
Olivia Wilde established herself as a director to watch withBooksmart, which has a current rating of 7.1 on IMDb and 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. The high school comedy, which stars Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein in the lead roles, was praised for its fresh approach to the coming-of-age genre and portrayal of its young female protagonists. At the 35th Independent Spirits Award,Booksmartwon Wilde the Best First Feature award.
As well as directing and starring inDarling, Wilde is also producing the movie alongside Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee and Miri Yoon, and screenwriter Katie Silberman: one of the writers onBooksmart. Silberman wrote the script forDarlingbased on a story by Shane and Carey Van Dyke, who serve as executive producers on the movie. With the success ofBooksmart, Wilde had 18 bidders afterDarling— including Netflix, MGM, andBlumhouse, but eventually, production company New Line walked away with the project. John Powell provides the score for the movie, and judging byDarling’s trailer, fans can look forward to hearing Pugh sing, too.
The Release Date
Don’t Worry Darlingis scheduled to arrive in theatres later this year on September 23. With filming beginning in 2020,Darlingwas one of many movies impacted by the pandemic. According to anarticle byDeadline, New Line was forced to halt production when a member of the crew tested positive for COVID. Fortunately, that didn’t last long, and filming forDarlingwrapped last year.
Aside fromDarling, Wilde has two more directing projects on the horizon:Perfectand asecret Marvel movie. The first,Perfect, is a Searchlight biopic about retired gymnast Kerri Strug. Adapted from Strug and John P. Lopez’s bookLanding on My Feet: A Diary of Dreams, the movie is set to star Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit,Last Night in Soho) in the lead role. The second is shrouded in mystery, but if rumours are to be believed, the secret Marvel movie may well beSpider-Woman.
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