Don't Worry Darling

Don't Worry Darling is a 2022 American psychological thriller film directed by Olivia Wilde from a screenplay by Katie Silberman, based on a spec script by brothers Carey Van Dyke and Shane Van Dyke. Starring Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Olivia Wilde, Gemma Chan, KiKi Layne, Nick Kroll, and Chris Pine, it follows a housewife in an idyllic company town who begins to suspect a sinister secret being kept from its residents by the man who runs it.

Following the critical success of Wilde's feature directorial debut Booksmart (2019), a multi-studio bidding war took place for her second film, with New Line Cinema eventually winning. Pugh joined the cast in April 2020, with Styles added that September, replacing Shia LaBeouf after production had already begun. Filming took place in Los Angeles from October 2020 to February 2021. The film was the subject of media attention and controversy, including conflicting reports regarding the circumstances of LaBeouf's departure and alleged conflicts between Wilde and Pugh.

Don't Worry Darling premiered at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 5, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on September 23 by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $87.6 million.

Plot

Alice and Jack Chambers live in Victory, California, an idyllic 1950s desert company town. Every day, the men leave for work at Victory Headquarters in the surrounding desert, their wives enjoy luxuries and leisure while the men are gone. Alice spends her days with other wives, including her best friend Bunny. Fellow resident Margaret has become estranged from the community. An unauthorized desert visit resulted in her son's apparent death which caused her mental breakdown. Margaret insists Victory took him as punishment for breaking the rules.

Victory's founder Frank hosts a party, where Alice sees Margaret's husband attempt to medicate her after an outburst. Alice and Jack then have sex in Frank's home as Frank watches unbeknownst to Jack. From the trolley, Alice sees a plane crash in the desert, so she rushes to help. Stumbling onto Headquarters, she touches one of its mirror-like windows, experiencing surreal hallucinations about another life, waking up at home that night.

Alice continues to have increasingly strange experiences or hallucinations. Soon after, she sees Margaret slit her own throat and fall from her roof. Men in red jumpsuits drag Alice away, preventing her from reaching Margaret's body. Jack dismisses Alice's claims, insisting Margaret is simply recovering from a household accident. When Alice asks him what is really happening at the Victory Project, he becomes angry and refuses to answer. The town physician, Dr. Collins, prescribes Alice medication, which she and Jack decline. She steals Margaret's medical file from his briefcase and finds it heavily redacted.

Becoming increasingly paranoid during a company celebration promoting Jack, Alice breaks down in the bathroom. Confronted by Bunny, she attempts to explain her suspicions. Bunny reacts angrily when Alice tells her she went to Headquarters, accusing her of jeopardizing their livelihood in Victory like Margaret. Alice and Jack invite neighbors to dinner, including Frank and his wife Shelley. Frank privately confirms her suspicions and dares her to challenge him. So, Alice attempts to expose him, but he makes her appear delusional to everyone, causing Jack grief.

Afterwards, Alice tries to tell Jack what Frank said, but he rebukes her. Desperate, she begs him to leave Victory with her. He feigns agreement, then lets Frank's men take her away. Dr. Collins gives Alice electroshock therapy, during which she sees herself in the 21st century, as surgical resident Alice Warren and living with the unemployed Jack. After treatment, Alice resumes her life in Victory, but soon deduces the visions are actually memories. Confronted by Alice, Jack confesses the truth: Victory is a simulated world created by Frank, where he and the other men lead their version of perfect lives; the women they have in the simulation are unaware that everything in Victory, including their children, is artificial.

When the men leave for work each day, they actually log out of the simulation for real jobs to pay for their wives to stay there. Jack argues that Alice was miserable in the real world, while here they can finally be happy. However, Alice is livid that she is there. Jack begs Alice to stay, forcefully grabbing her, prompting her to smash a whiskey tumbler over his head, killing him in both the simulation and reality. Frank immediately hears of Jack's death. Bunny finds Alice and admits she has always known about the simulation, but chose to stay to be with her children, who died in real life. She warns Alice she will be killed if she does not get to Headquarters, the simulation's exit portal. Alice silently confronts the neighborhood, and as small explosions begin, the husbands panic.

Fleeing by car, Alice is chased by Dr. Collins and Frank's men. She maneuvers them into fatally crashing into each other. Meanwhile, Shelley fatally stabs Frank to take control of Victory. Arriving at Headquarters, Alice has a final vision of Jack, then puts her hands on Headquarters before Frank's men can reach her. Various romantic scenes mixed with memories and visions of herself in the real world flash, then the screen cuts to black as Alice gasps for air.

Cast

Production

Development and writing

The film was announced in August 2019, after a bidding war among 18 studios to acquire the next Olivia Wilde-directed project. New Line Cinema won the auction. The original spec script was written by brothers Carey and Shane Van Dyke; the screenplay appeared on the 2019 Black List. Katie Silberman was brought on to do a rewrite, which became the film's screenplay. According to Wilde, Frank is inspired by psychologist and author Jordan Peterson, whom she called a "pseudo-intellectual hero to the incel community". Peterson rejected the characterization, but expressed interest and said that perhaps he would watch the film.

Variety initially put the budget at about $20 million, while Forbes estimated the production budget was in the range of $20-$30 million. Variety and Deadline Hollywood later said the film cost $35 million to produce.

Casting

In April 2020, Florence Pugh, Shia LaBeouf and Chris Pine were added to the cast of the film, with Dakota Johnson joining the next month. Wilde was originally set to play Pugh's part and Pugh was to play Wilde's, but they traded roles when Wilde decided she wanted a younger couple at the center of the film. In September 2020, Harry Styles joined the cast, replacing LaBeouf.

In October 2020, Gemma Chan and KiKi Layne joined the cast, with Layne replacing Johnson, who dropped out due to a scheduling conflict with The Lost Daughter. That month, Sydney Chandler, Nick Kroll, Douglas Smith, Kate Berlant, Asif Ali, Timothy Simons and Ari'el Stachel joined the cast.

Filming

Principal photography began in Los Angeles on October 26, 2020. It was temporarily halted for two weeks on November 4 after a crew member tested positive for COVID-19, which resulted in stars Pugh, Styles and Pine being quarantined. Filming wrapped on February 13, 2021. The film's original score is by John Powell. Arianne Phillips served as costume designer.

The opening sequence was filmed at the Kaufmann House. It was the first film to be shot there. Wilde was inspired by its architecture, and hung a photograph of it on her wall while working on the script. She told Variety, "To be there was huge. To direct the first shot there felt like this really auspicious beginning to this movie which was this love letter not only to film, but to architecture, to design, to this era."

Other filming locations include the Cicada Club in Downtown Los Angeles during the Victory party sequence and the Volcano House, in Newberry Springs, which served as Victory Headquarters and was once owned by TV host Huell Howser.

Alleged on set conflicts

Wilde and LaBeouf

In 2021, it was reported that Wilde had fired LaBeouf for poor behavior and clashing with the cast and crew. LaBeouf denied these claims in August 2022, saying he quit the film despite Wilde's efforts to keep him on board. He provided Variety with leaked texts and a video recording from Wilde addressed to him, in which she says: "I feel like I'm not ready to give up on this yet, and I, too, am heartbroken and I want to figure this out. You know, I think this might be a bit of a wake-up call for Miss Flo, and I want to know if you're open to giving this a shot with me, with us."

Following LaBeouf's statements, Wilde denied his claims and again said that she fired him, telling Vanity Fair that she did so after Pugh said she was uncomfortable with LaBeouf's behavior. When asked about this in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, LaBeouf replied, "It is what it is."