The Don’t Worry Darling Venice Film Festival premiere was simply insane. There was growing speculation of a messy feud between the movie’s director, Olivia Wilde, and lead actor Florence Pugh, the awkwardness throughout the day was palpable.
Florence first famously skipped the film’s press conference before the rest of the cast were treated as human shields on the red carpet to keep Florence and Olivia at least one person apart at all times. And she wasn’t the only one seemingly avoiding Olivia, with her costar Harry Styles also steering clear despite the fact that they were dating at the time.
Harry then was accused of spitting on his fellow Don’t Worry Darling actor Chris Pine as he took his seat in the movie theater, but the spitting part was not real. The same Chris appeared to fully dissociate during an earlier interview with Harry, which went viral after Harry said that he enjoyed working on the movie because “it feels like a movie.”
All of this was a huge mess for all involved.
Following the movie’s standing ovation, Harry didn’t leave the theater before kissing his costar Nick Kroll on the lips. It was completely unknown what prompted the quick smooch, and Nick was visibly taken aback when Harry approached him and instigated the moment. H/T Buzzfeed News.
Still, the actor was more than happy to oblige, and even pulled Harry in for a sweet embrace after the peck. Harry’s actions caused a stir at the time, with some people even accusing the singer of “queerbaiting.”
Some would say that all of this was a giant distraction, but once Don’t Worry Darling was released to the general public, viewers quickly realized that Harry had actually been re-creating a moment from the start of the film — but that added bit of context didn’t make the kiss any less special for Nick.
Showering praise on Harry, Nick wrote: “It’s a weird thing to say, but he made me much cooler with my nieces and nephews (and many, many people) by very publicly kissing me at the Venice Film Festival.” “I want to rewrite the story where Prince Charming kisses a frog,” he went on. “I’m the frog, and I become a frog with a little crown on top. It was one of the most surreal moments in my life. That was not planned. We kiss in the first scene of Don’t Worry Darling, but nobody had seen it, so it just appeared that Harry Styles had grabbed me for no reason and kissed me.”
