Olivia Wilde: Primal Harry Styles Performance ‘Left Us in Tears’ on ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ Set
"The camera operator followed him as he paced around the stage like a kind of wild animal," Wilde said of one scene. "We were all gobsmacked."
While “Don’t Worry Darling” will primarily center on female repression, director Olivia Wilde also said she isn’t shying from toxic masculinity in the 1950s-set psychological thriller.
Harry Styles’ turn as suburban husband Jack, who may or may not be gaslighting his wife Alice (Florence Pugh), made for an emotional moment on set that “left us all in tears,” according to Wilde. The sequence, when Jack is promoted at his company Victory by his controlling boss Frank (Chris Pine), was a standout moment for Styles’ “primal” performance that was, well, wild(e).
“It’s a strange scene, full of fascist references, and a disturbing amount of male rage,” Wilde told Rolling Stone. “The scene called for him to stand onstage with Frank (Chris Pine) and chant their creepy slogan, ‘Whose world is it? Ours!’ over and over again. Dark as hell. But Harry took it to another level. He was so fully in the moment, he began screaming the lines to the crowd, in this primal roar, that was way more intense than anything we expected from the scene.”
Wilde recalled Pine backing away from co-star Styles to let the Grammy winner fully embody the moment.
“The camera operator followed him as he paced around the stage like a kind of wild animal,” Wilde reflected. “We were all gobsmacked at the monitor. I think even Harry was surprised by it. Those are the best moments for an actor — when you’re completely outside your body.”
And while that sequence made Wilde cry during production, Styles shared some news that may leave his fans in tears, too. The “My Policeman” actor revealed that he is most likely taking a break from acting after back-to-back fall festival premieres this year.
“I don’t imagine I’d do a movie for a while,” the “Watermelon Sugar” singer said. “I think there’ll be a time again when I’ll crave it. But when you’re making music, something’s happening. It feels really creative, and it feeds stuff. A large part of acting is the doing-nothing, waiting thing. Which if that’s the worst part, then it’s a pretty good job. But I don’t find that section of it to be that fulfilling. I like doing it in the moment, but I don’t think I’ll do it a lot.”