Harry Styles: which actor did he replace in Don’t Worry Darling?

The Florence Pugh Choice

Originally, Olivia Wilde wanted to play the main character in Don’t Worry Darling. But after seeing Florence Pugh’s performance in the terrifying Midsommar (2019), she decided to give the role to the latter:

“Florence exudes a real finesse of mind in the way she asks herself questions and thinks. I thought that was the quality we needed for Alice. When I offered her the role, I understood that was the starting point of the project.”

“Everything became clear… And based on the character she was going to play, I saw who could play her. During our discussions, we said to each other that Alice could not in any case correspond to housewives of the 1950s.

Olivia Wilde director

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Olivia Wilde is not at her first attempt with directing since she has directed short films and clips, but also the Netflix feature film Booksmart. In the latter, two young girls in their final year realize that they should have enjoyed their high school years more and decide to find a boyfriend before the end of the school year.

Harry Styles replaces Shia LaBeouf

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Shia LaBeouf was to play the character ultimately held by Harry Styles. But the one who was revealed by Transformers left the project because, according to him, the cast didn’t have enough time to rehearse. Olivia Wilde, however, explained that she had to fire him because of his bad behavior, which he strongly denied (causing a controversy).

The director then called on Harry Styles to slip into the skin of Jack Chambers. For the anecdote, it was after seeing him in the war film Dunkirk (her first role in the cinema), directed by Christopher Nolan, that she chose the famous singer: “I said to myself that this actor was driven by extraordinary presence, intelligence, sincerity and fearlessness,” she recalls.

Prestigious references

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Throughout the conception of Don’t Worry Darling, director and cinematographer Matthew Libatique have been interested in genre films that have marked them, to create a visceral world capable of transporting the viewer into the daily life of ‘Alice. Among them we can count Rosemary’s Baby, Cold Sweats and Black Swan.

A famous photographer

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The utopian society portrayed in the film pays homage to the beauty of the 1950s. Together with production designer Katie Byron and cinematographer Matthew Libatique, Olivia Wilde wanted to create a visually appealing universe.

For this, they relied on the work of Slim Aarons (1916 – 2006), a war reporter converted into a jet set photographer in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s (of “attractive people engaging in seductive activities in seductive places”, in his own words).

While the film crew found his work particularly valuable for its glamor and ability to capture an era, it was arguably his most famous shot, Poolside Gossip, that served as the central template for Don’s aesthetic. ‘t Worry Darling.