Darling, all is not right in this world.
The first full (and unsettling) trailer for director and star Olivia Wilde‘s Don’t Worry Darling is here, and if it’s anything to go by, it seems the husband-wife duo played by Harry Styles and Florence Pugh have much to worry about.
The clip starts off calmly enough, with a party of friends living it up in the 1950s. Jack (Styles) and Alice (Pugh) are shown in a car, doing donuts and kissing while the vehicle careens around an empty road and later, cuddling up in bed. “You and me?” she asks her husband. “Always. You and me,” he tells her.
Then, the music changes. Someone says they — the husbands — ask a lot of their wives, particularly discretion above all else. Pugh expresses suspicions that her husband’s seemingly perfect company may be hiding disturbing secrets. He’s working on something called the Victory Project, which is on a mission “to change the world.” When Pugh questions what they’re really doing, Wilde’s character, Mary, says forebodingly, “The one thing they ask of us is to stay here, where it’s safe.”
[embedded content]
There are several shots of steamy lovemaking between Jack and Alice mixed with increasingly disturbing images. In a scene reminiscent of Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (2010), Pugh’s reflection in a bathroom mirror remains unmoving as she sinks into her tub. In a more literal evocation of the Aronofsky thriller, Pugh’s character practices her ballet dancing.
As the trailer ends, Jack says, “Our lives together, we could lose this.” But she doesn’t trust him, answering, “And I don’t want to be here anymore.”
Debuting the footage for the first time to audiences at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on April 26, Wilde said Don’t Worry Darling was inspired by movies like The Matrix, Inception, and The Truman Show, films that “push the boundaries of our imagination.”
“I want you to imagine a life where you have everything you could ever want or ever dream of,” she told the crowd in Vegas. “Not just the material tangible things like a beautiful house and perfect weather and gorgeous cars, but also the things that really matter, like true love, real, trusted friendships, and a purpose that feels meaningful. What would it take for you to give up that life? Are you really willing to sacrifice in order to do what’s right? Are you willing to dismantle the system designed to serve you? That’s the world and the questions of Don’t Worry Darling.”
Warner Bros. Florence Pugh and Harry Styles in ‘Don’t Worry Darling’
Wilde said she knew if she was “lucky enough” to make a second film, she was going to “aim for the moon.” “I just want to say that I became a director hoping to one day make a movie like this: [one that is] thrilling, really beautiful, equally challenging, and fun, above all else. It’s my passion project, my greatest challenge, and my third child, and I’m so grateful to be able to be making movies — it’s a privilege I don’t take lightly. I can honestly say this film is my dream come true in every aspect.”
She also raved about working with Pugh, saying the Midsommar star’s performance is “something you have to see to believe. You are witnessing the birth of a full-fledged movie star.” As for Styles, Wilde joked that her pop star boyfriend is “an up-and-coming actor with no other career that I’m aware of.”
The film, written by Katie Silberman from a spec script by Carey and Shane Van Dyke, is Wilde’s second feature directorial outing after 2019’s critically acclaimed Booksmart.
Don’t Worry Darling also stars KiKi Layne, Gemma Chan, and Nick Kroll. It hits theaters Sept. 23.
Related content:
