Fans seem to think Chris Pine is struggling to survive the press run for the upcoming Olivia Wilde-directed thriller Don’t Worry Darling, starring himself, Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, and Gemma Chan, and which is premiering at the 79th Venice International Film Festival.
The movie hasn’t had the greatest start in the tabloids after Wilde claimed she fired Shia LaBeouf from the project, who was initially tapped to play the male lead — a gig which was eventually offered to pop singer Harry Styles. The 36-year-old actor, whose public image has been surrounded by controversy after his ex-partner FKA Twigs sued him for domestic abuse, released a letter as well as a video where he attempted to show he was the one who quit, and that Wilde had actually wanted him to stick around.
The contents of the video only added fuel to the fire, seeing as in it, Wilde seemingly blames leading actress Florence Pugh for LaBeouf’s departure. Pugh skipping the press conference for the film didn’t help quiet the rumors that the environment among the cast isn’t the best, at the moment.
The supporting cast — which includes fan-favorite Chris Pine — has been caught in the middle of all this drama, and fans are dying to get them out. At the press conference for Don’t Worry Darling, which happened in Venice on Monday, people in attendance captured images where Pine appears to be a little bored, or so everyone is framing it as.
“I love Chris Pine a lot,” one fan wrote, “He accepted the role because he loves to work with female directors but I just know that he’s regretting accepting DWD [SIC].”
Press conferences aren’t usually a lot of fun, and although Wilde did get asked about the Florence Pugh controversy, it seems like most of the hot gossip was actually avoided throughout the event.
“Someone save chris pine from the don’t worry darling press conference right now [SIC],” one Twitter used said, adding yet another capture of Pine staring off into the distance, while another equated the actor’s situation to an awkward Christmas dinner.
Maybe it was just the jet lag that had the Star Trek actor feeling a little fatigued. We’ve all been there.
Pine plays Frank in Wilde’s second outing as director, the founder of the “Victory Project,” responsible for the mysteriously utopian town in which the main couple lives, and who, according to the director, was based on “this insane man Jordan Peterson, who is this pseudo-intellectual hero to the incel community.”
Don’t Worry Darling premieres Monday evening in Venice, after which the first official reviews, including some fresh opinions on Pine’s own performance, will reveal if the film’s content is good enough to survive all the drama surrounding it behind the scenes. Everyone else will be able to catch it in theaters Sep. 23.