Bad news for lovers of hot goss! Chris Pine has come clean about the supposed spit seen round the world at the Venice premiere of Don’t Worry Darling, and the short of it is that it didn’t happen — or allegedly didn’t happen. Because much like Agent Mulder, some of us still want to believe.
The film has been overshadowed by its offscreen drama for months. But then last week, rumors of bad blood between director Olivia Wilde and star Florence Pugh came to a head when the film’s former male lead Shia LaBeouf dropped a bombshell that he had not been fired from the film as Wilde claimed, and had a metric ton of receipts to back his claims up.
Not only did Wilde not fire LaBeouf, but she also seemed to throw Pugh under the bus in a leaked video in which she literally pleaded for him not to leave the project.
Naturally, this all led to an incredibly awkward premiere in which Pugh reportedly refused to make eye contact with Wilde, and ended the four minute standing ovation the film received (despite middling reviews) by walking out ahead of the rest of the cast. But one moment that caught the rapt attention of the internet was when Harry Styles, who replaced LaBeouf and began dating Wilde shortly after, appeared to have spat in Pine’s lap, who also stars in the film.
In response to the phantom spit, Pine shook his head and laughed, which only poured gasoline on the fire.
Sadly, a representative for Pine shot down the rumors with a spicy statement to People, calling it a “ridiculous story” and “complete fabrication.” Boo! Boo!!
“This is a ridiculous story — a complete fabrication and the result of an odd online illusion that is clearly deceiving and allows for foolish speculation.”
“Just to be clear, Harry Styles did not spit on Chris Pine,” the rep continues. “There is nothing but respect between these two men and any suggestion otherwise is a blatant attempt to create drama that simply does not exist.”
Leave it to a big fancy Hollywood rep to crush all of our dreams. Oh well. At least we’ll always have this gem from the premiere, which is arguably funnier than any spit, in which Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” clearly begins playing in Pine’s head as he listens to Harry Styles explain what a movie is. Unless, of course, his rep wants to deny that too.