If you’re a movie lover, there are still some 2022 movie releases coming up for you to look forward to. But, in between movies like Thor: Love and Thunder and Halloween Ends, we were treated to a film that brought me a lot of excitement: Don’t Worry Darling. While there had been a lot of buzz surrounding the Olivia Wilde-directed tale since she, allegedly, fired Shia LaBeouf in the fall of 2020, with much of that buzz surrounding the reported romance between Wilde and the star who replaced LaBeouf, pop superstar Harry Styles, what do we actually know about the movie itself?
Film fans out there will be glad to know that the answer is that we actually do know quite a bit about the semi-mysterious psychological thriller that is Don’t Worry Darling, and we’re here now to give you a few quick things that you need to know about the movie!
Don’t Worry Darling Released On September 23, 2022
As noted above, the movie did, indeed, head into theaters this year, after a few delays got in the way of the filming process. In mid-September of 2021, director Olivia Wilde showed a few quick scenes from her creepy looking new movie on Twitter, when announcing that Don’t Worry Darling would open on September 23, 2022, making it one of this fall’s big movies to hit theaters or streaming.
The Movie Stars Florence Pugh, Chris Pine, And Many Others
If there have just been way too many movies that have debuted in the past couple of years for you to keep up with information on all of them, you should be incredibly encouraged to know that the Don’t Worry Darling cast is stacked with a number of well-known and beloved stars.
The film, for instance, is listed among Florence Pugh’s upcoming movies and TV shows, as well as Chris Pine’s new movies. As mentioned earlier, Harry Styles (who will have some steamy scenes with on-screen wife Pugh) is also in the movie, and he appears alongside KiKi Layne, Gemma Chan, Nick Kroll, Olivia Wilde (who joked about being the only person they could still afford after setting the rest of the impressive cast list), comedian Kate Berlant, and several others in what looks to be a very brain-twisty new movie.
The Period Piece Focuses On A Utopian Community With Secrets
Now we can get to the big info, which is all about the story of the thriller. For many months, all we’d heard is that the movie would follow Pugh’s young housewife in the 1950s, who begins to suspect that the seemingly utopian community she’s moved into with her husband (Styles, who's also now starring in Amazon's My Policeman), is really keeping some big, terrible secrets. With the release of the official synopsis (via Variety), we can now confirm that and quite a bit more:
Alice (Pugh) and Jack (Styles) are lucky to be living in Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families. Life is perfect, with every resident’s needs met by the company. All they ask in return is unquestioning commitment to the Victory cause. But when cracks in their idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice can’t help questioning what they’re doing in Victory, and why. Just how much is Alice willing to lose to expose what’s really going on in paradise?
I don’t know if you agree, but doesn’t this sound awesome? Who doesn’t love a good, mind-bender of a movie about a protagonist who’s trapped in a situation that becomes increasingly “sinister” after thinking they’d made a great decision? I simply cannot wait to figure out what’s really going on in Victory!
Don’t Worry Darling Is Olivia Wilde’s Second Directorial Effort
Olivia Wilde is still, certainly, best known to many as the star of television shows like House, and movies like Tron: Legacy and People Like Us (where she appeared with Don’t Worry Darling star Chris Pine), but that began to change with her feature length directorial debut, Booksmart, in 2019. The high school comedy was a hit with audiences and critics alike, and likely led to a number of other directing opportunities for Wilde, who’d previously only been behind the camera for one short film and two music videos.
She likely had her pick of some great projects for her next movie, and Wilde decided to make this her second directorial effort. Even though she’s spoken about how nervous she was to make the switch from comedy to something so much darker and different, it sounds like she turned to some amazing classics for inspiration for her new film.
Olivia Wilde Said The Movie Is Inspired By Classics Like Inception And The Matrix
So many movies are inspired, either in the basic idea or in how they’re filmed, by great films of the past, and it turns out that Don’t Worry Darling is no different. While speaking to the crowd at CinemaCon in April of 2022 (via Variety), Wilde revealed some of the inspirations behind her new movie (which was written by Booksmart’s co-writer, Katie Silberman) and noted that modern classics Inception, The Matrix, and The Truman Show, came into play while crafting the story, while the director looked toward Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal while embarking on her latest directorial effort. About the story of the new film, Wilde said:
[It’s] a love letter to movies that push the boundaries of our imagination. I want you to imagine a life where you have everything you could want. Not just material, tangible things… But also the things that really matter, like true love or the perfect partner or real trusted friendships and a purpose that feels meaningful. What would it take for you to give up that life, that perfect life. What are you really willing to sacrifice to do what’s right? Are you willing to dismantle the system that’s designed to serve you?
Sounds like Florence Pugh’s Alice is going to really have to upend her life to get to the truth!
The Don’t Worry Darling Trailer Looks Creepy And Intense
We all love a trailer that makes a new movie look amazing, and this film certainly has that, with a trailer that makes the film seem extremely creepy and intriguingly intense! Take a look:
If you missed the thriller in theaters, you're now in luck, because you can watch Don't Worry Darling streaming on HBO Max. It's also now available to buy digitally through Amazon Prime Video. Also, if you loved the movie and want it in your permanent, physical collection, you can order it on DVD, Blu-ray, or 4K, because it was released on home video formats on November 29.
