Before its release on Sep. 23, 2022, Don’t Worry Darling was causing ripples, or maybe waves, in the entertainment industry. From the public set drama, to the cast stacked with fame, many had heard of this new thriller. 

In two hours and three minutes, director Olivia Wilde creates a sun filled world, complete with perfect lives and distorted realities. Victory, a desert town set in the 1950’s, seems to be the ideal place to live. Happy couples fill every perfect house, husbands working and wives content to stay home with their duties. But as some begin to break the one rule they are meant to obey, reality begins to lose its meaning. 

Florence Pugh, Gemma Chan, and Chris Pine filled the screen with their famed talents. However, it was director Olivia Wilde and pop star Harry Styles that caught the attention of the media. After her relationship with Jason Sudeikis, Wilde hired her new boyfriend, Styles, to play a major role in this film. Some found this insulting to the prominent actors hired for this film, such as Pugh, due to Styles’ limited experience as an actor. 

Senior Sophiya Khurana suggested that Wilde had only hired Styles so she could spend more time with him. “It just feels a little unprofessional to me,” she said. As filming progressed, this theory seemed to become more plausible every day. 

According to an “unnamed insider” on set, Styles and Wilde often disappeared from set with unexplained, frequent absences. This resulted in a rumored screaming match between Pugh and Wilde, where Pugh had had enough of their behavior. The tensions between the cast seemed to expand during the premier. Rumors spread that Styles and Wilde broke up, and some thought that Pine had been spit on by Styles at the premier. What is certain is that the drama in the cast was enough publicity to make the movie a global total of $78.2 million by October 16, 2022.  

In this thriller, Florence Pugh and Harry Styles play the main couple, Alice and Jack Chambers. Pugh’s character begins to feel that the town she lives in is not what it seems. Reality begins to alter, and she begins to lose trust in everything she once believed in. 

“Florence Pugh was great, like her performances in Midsommar and Little Women,” Khurana said. 

Pugh portrayed raw emotion in every scene, using her eyes to depict any confusion or fear. However, Harry Styles, a new actor, might need some more practice. His acting often lacked depth, taking the audience out of the moment and placing them back in the theater thinking, “oh right, I’m watching a movie.” Although his acting could do with some improvements, he did a great job convincing the audience to trust his character, showering Pugh’s character with love from the very beginning. 

As for the cinematography, it seemed to excel. The desert sun paired with the pastels and earth hues of the movie seemed to represent comfort and warmth, which portrayed the perfection and safety that the town tried to achieve. Along with many other foreshadowing moments, Pugh repeatedly touched her eyes throughout the film, directing audiences to the upcoming plot twist. This was a fantastic addition that many only noticed in their second watch. 

Due to the drama that arose from the cast, many were hesitant about this movie. Some felt it might be poorly made due to the lack of professionalism by some of the cast, such as Khurana. But, with the fame filled cast, many, such as myself, were thrilled to see what they had made. While the film could have made some improvements, I often found myself holding my breath and sitting at the edge of my seat, immersed in the thrill of the plot.