A retrospective on the most unhinged Venice Film Festival premiere of all time.

Cast your mind back two years ago: the banger 'As It Was' by Harry Styles was blaring on the radio (more on him later), everyone was bingeing Heartbreak High on Netflix and a little movie called Don't Worry Darling was breaking the internet.

Don't Worry Darling was a psychological thriller directed by Olivia Wilde, starring Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, and Gemma Chan. Back in 2022, the movie itself (which actually, isn't terrible) was eclipsed by the countless headlines about feuds and firings among the cast.

But no headlines were quite as unhinged as what came out of the 2022 Venice Film Festival.

Remembering what happened between the cast of Don't Worry Darling at the Venice Film Festival.

From the beginning, chaos followed Don't Worry Darling at the Venice Film Festival.

The film's star Florence Pugh was a no-show to the press call and while Chris Pine did attend in a physical state, he seemingly left his spiritual body as he dissociated throughout the press conference.

online shopping during the zoom meeting pic.twitter.com/EiNss40Mti

— JP (@jpbrammer) September 5, 2022

And who can forget the moment that Harry Styles described Don't Worry Darling as a "movie that feels like a movie." In Harry's defence, it does feel like a movie.

But there was nothing quite as all-encompassing during Venice as one moment.

Yes, I'm absolutely talking about the time in history when everyone decided that Harry Styles spat on Chris Pine. What a time to be alive!

The moment came during a screening of the film, which left online commenters debating whether Styles had SPAT on Pine as he sat down in the theatre.

On one hand, this is a silly, baseless speculation.

On the other, it really did look like Harry Styles spat on Chris Pine. And spitting allegations are FUN.

HARRY DIDNT JUST DROOL ON CHRIS PINE, HE BAPTIZED HIM IN HIS SPIT BABY COME ON KEEP UP!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/vGWsHAeMG0

— AWSTEN KNIGHT (@awsten) September 6, 2022

In the clip, Pine appeared to stop clapping and looked down after the ~alleged~ spit.

After almost a full day of speculation, slow-mo versions of the video, zooming in and fans losing their minds, a 'source close to Styles', who, it must be said, never comments on anything, denied it was true.

"This is not true," a 'source' told The Guardian, succinctly.

Later, Pine's rep released a statement also denying it.

"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," the rep told Variety.

"Just to be clear, Harry Styles did not spit on Chris Pine. 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."

Styles couldn't help but make light of the accusations, telling thousands of people he "just popped very quickly to Venice to spit on Chris Pine" while playing at New York's Madison Square Garden.

Harry Styles: "It's wonderful, wonderful, wonderful to be back in New York. I just popped very quickly to Venice to spit on Chris Pine." pic.twitter.com/TUGOSoQPxw

— CONSEQUENCE (@consequence) September 8, 2022

It's very funny! We are laughing!

Wilde defended Styles on The Late Show, who it must be stated she was dating at the time, which only fueled all the controversy surrounding the film. The director confirmed that Styles "did not" spit on Pine.

But I think it's a perfect example of like: people will look for drama anywhere they can," she said.

In 2023, Pine relayed the madness that followed the spitting allegation in a chat with Esquire, once and for all, rejecting any notion that spit had been intentionally spat between the actors.

Pine confirmed that the 'Watermelon Sugar' singer made a little joke, not a little spit.

"He leaned down and I think he said, 'It's just words, isn't it?'" Pine recalled. "We had this little joke. We were all jet-lagged, we're all trying to answer questions and sometimes when you're doing these press things your brain goes befuddled and you start speaking gibberish, so we had a joke: 'It's just words, man.'"

Aside from spitgate, there was all sorts of controversy that followed the actors and director at the glitzy Venice Film Festival.

Most of it came back to alleged friction between Wilde and Pugh.

After claims circulated that Shia LaBeouf had been fired from the film, the actor refuted this in a leaked video that featured Wilde speaking negatively about Pugh while begging the controversial actor to stay on the film.

"I feel like I'm not ready to give up on this yet, and I, too, am heartbroken and I want to figure this out," the director said in the video.

"You know, I think this might be a bit of a wake-up call for Miss Flo, and I want to know if you're open to giving this a shot with me, with us."

After the video came out, it was reported that Venice would be Pugh's only promotional engagement, an incredibly rare, and unusual, move by the lead actress of a project.

She had only done one magazine profile for Harper's Bazaar ahead of the festival and actually missed most of the press there too: she didn't make it to the cast press conference and photo call, with her flight landing in the afternoon only giving her time to get to the premiere later in the evening.

The cast of Don't Worry Darling walk the red carpet at the 79th Venice International Film Festival. Image: Getty.

The official line was that she was busy filming Dune: Part Two in Budapest. At the press conference, Wilde said it was a "shame" Pugh couldn't make it.

"Can you just clear the air and address if there's been a falling out there and if so why? Because it's something that people are discussing," a reporter asked.

"Florence is a force, and we are so grateful that she's able to make it tonight despite being in production on Dune," Wilde responded.

"I know, as a director, how disruptive it is to lose an actor even for a day, so I'm very grateful to her, to [Dune director] Denis Villeneuve for helping us. And we're really thrilled we'll get to celebrate her work tonight. I can't say enough how honoured I am to have her as our lead. She's amazing in the film.

"As for all the endless tabloid gossip and all the noise out there, I mean, the internet feeds itself," she continued. "I don't feel the need to contribute. It's sufficiently well nourished."

Pugh did make it for the red carpet, but the drama went to a new level when her stylist got involved.

Rebecca Corbin-Murray uploaded a series of pics of Pugh's stunning outfit which she captioned "Miss Flo", a callback to Wilde's leaked video.

In return, Wilde's stylist, Karla Welch, made a suggestive comment, writing on an Instagram Story "There's always more to the story."

In a since-viral video, Corbin-Murray posted a clip of Florence strutting in an all-purple Valentino outfit holding a cocktail and looking unbothered.

Florence Pugh has just been crowned Miss Flo 2023 pic.twitter.com/E5bTjZyJ5i

— Meech (@MediumSizeMeech) September 5, 2022

The chaos that surrounded Venice Film Festival was a culmination of weeks of allegations of in-fighting between Wilde and Pugh.

Vulture reported that an unnamed insider who spent significant time on set witnessed a "screaming match" between the two A-listers. It was a "blowout argument" that apparently happened three-quarters of the way through filming, and was due to Wilde's "frequent, unexplained absences".

According to the insider, Wilde and her partner, Styles, who of course stars in the film, would "just disappear".

Following the reports of this drama, the crew from the film released an exclusive statement to People.

"As a crew, we've avoid addressing the absurd gossip surrounding the movie we're so proud of, but feel the need to correct the anonymous 'sources' quoted in a recent article," the statement begins. "Any allegations about unprofessional behaviour on the set of Don't Worry Darling are completely false."

They then went on to call Wilde "an incredible leader and director who was present with and involved in every aspect of production" and said she "ran this set with class and respect for everyone involved."

"There was never a screaming match between our director and anyone, let alone a member of our cast. We are happy to put our names on this, as real people who worked on the film, and who have witnessed and benefitted from the collaborative and safe space Olivia creates as a director and leader," the statement continued.

"We're also thrilled that the movie is in theatres this weekend. We can't wait for you to see it on the big screen."

Miri Yoon, a producer for Don't Worry Darling, also told People, "Rumours of screaming matches between our director and leading lady on set are completely unfounded. We truly hope you enjoy the movie."

Does this sound familiar? It's giving serious It Ends With Us vibes, right?

But in the case of Don't Worry Darling, the public criticism mostly remained level-headed enough, unlike the current media storm that has fallen over Blake Lively and director Justin Baldoni.

This was fun! This was goofy! This was better! There was rumoured spit!

As Harry Styles spat out (sorry, had to) in his inescapable tune, 'you know it's not the same as it was.'Feature image: Getty.