From “saladgate” to “spitgate“, the Don’t Worry Darling movie rollout kept us all entertained throughout the late days of summer and early days of fall. Thankfully actor and comedian Nick Kroll, who played Dean, one of the neighbors in the movie, is well in agreement.
The co-creator of Big Mouth took The Hollywood Reporter’s Annual Comedy Survey and among his many witty answers, Don’t Worry Darling couldn’t not make an appearance as probably the most memorable event in the film world this past year.
The Hollywood Reporter asked Kroll, along with Bill Burr, Paul W. Downs, and Natasha Lyonne what their “favorite comedy that’s actually a drama” is, and while the latter comedians gave their best movie suggestions, Kroll opted for “the Don’t Worry Darling press tour” instead.
The 44-year-old’s answer is dead on. Don’t Worry Darling trended online for months thanks to some serious scandals, but mostly many other hilarious minor offenses.
To list but a few, Harry Styles kissing Kroll on the mouth after the film premiered in Venice, instead of his girlfriend and actual director of the film Olivia Wilde, was pretty, well, wild. Styles was also the subject of the insane rumor that he had spat on cast mate Chris Pine after a very unfortunately timed video made the rounds online. And who could forget the singer-turned-actor’s very eloquent description of what his favorite thing about Don’t Worry Darling is?
Perhaps what Kroll actually meant by calling the press tour “a comedy that’s actually a drama” was that while this mayhem was going on, some pretty serious stuff was taking place behind the scenes, mainly between Wilde and leading lady Florence Pugh. The two barely spoke to each other during the Venice Film Festival, with Pugh not even showing up for the press conference.
Rumors surrounding the decision to recast Styles as Jack, who was initially meant to be played by Shia LaBeouf, as well as reports about tensions on set between Wilde and Pugh, started coming out just before the movie’s premiere, turning the entire industry’s gaze towards the events taking place in Venice.
In the end, the movie was met with harsh words from critics, resulting in a Rotten Tomatoes score of 38%. It looked like the best part about Don’t Worry Darling really was its catastrophic press tour, and we, as well as Nick Kroll, apparently, are truly sad it’s over. The movie is currently streaming on HBO Max, so you can decide for yourself.