The conversation surrounding Don't Worry Darling, Olivia Wilde's second directorial outing, has been less focused on the film and more on the rumored drama behind the scenes. The creator of the hilariously weird animated teen comedy Big Mouth, Nick Kroll -- who also starred in Wilde's film -- has spoke out about his "first exposure" to the alleged drama and all the attention around it.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the League actor touched on everything from working with Mel Brooks to his return to stand-up. Yet, the conversation inevitably turned to all the negative buzz surrounding Don't Worry Darling, mainly how the actor was oblivious to it until his time on the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival. The actor said a famously contentious reception to the Geico commercial-based sitcom Cavemen (which Kroll starred in) at the Television Critics Association panel helped prepare him for the extreme attention surrounding the alleged Don't Worry Darling drama. He said:
[Cavemen's reception] prepared me to be part of something that everyone was interested in, but here's the difference: The Don't Worry Darling trailer came out, and people were excited about it. People have been thinking about this movie for a while. Then all of the mishegas happens, the drama around the movie started to take hold, and I was not a part of any of that. I'm not distancing myself at all, I just wasn't doing press at that point. My first exposure to it all was literally on the red carpet in Venice, and I was like, 'Ohhhh, I think people might be interested in this.' (Laughs.) And I was right.
The actor stressed that much of the controversy surrounding the film had no basis in reality. Kroll said he had a good time with his fellow actors on set, despite making the movie at the height of the COVID pandemic. The actor continued:
And all the insanity, so much of it was nonsense that it was like, 'Yeah, I'm happy to talk about this, this is insane.'… we made it in the thick of COVID, pre-vaccine when L.A. was an epicenter, and it was incredibly stressful. However, when we were actually working and when I was hanging out with the other people making the movie, I had a blast.
This wouldn't be the first time members of the cast had to refute the rumored drama. Representatives for Chris Pine had to publicly address and dismiss a video taken at the movie's premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Fans thought the clip captured Pine being spit on by his co-star, Harry Styles. The singer, meanwhile, chose to address the video in a more lighthearted way.
Though some of the cast have laughed off the rumors, others have not. Someone close to the production claimed things got so heated that, at one point, lead actress Florence Pugh and Wilde got into a screaming match on set. However, crew members released a statement after this denying the screaming rumor. After Don't Worry Darling was met with tepid or negative reviews from audiences and critics upon opening, the reports regarding potential feuds only seemed to persist.
Despite all the alleged drama between Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh, Wilde remains proud of the work she and her crew did on the movie. One can only wonder if, in time, the conversation can turn back to the film's merits and the thriller will find its audience.
Don't Worry Darling, one of the biggest titles on the schedule of upcoming movies, can be seen in theaters now, and you can listen to Nick Kroll's return to Big Mouth in the show's sixth season on Oct. 28, which available to anyone with a Netflix subscription.
