Kiki Layne, one of many stars of Don’t Worry Darling, has revealed that most of the scenes she filmed with co-star Ari’el Stachel have been cut from the movie. This comes after the Olivia Wilde-directed film, which opened in theatres across the United States over the weekend, had already caused quite a stir.
In a post shared to her Instagram account celebrating the release of the movie, Layne indicated that the majority of the scenes she shared with Stachel did not make it into the finished film. "They cut us from most of the movie, but we thriving in real life,” Layne captioned a post which featured a video of her and Stachel on the set of Don’t Worry Darling. Accompanying this statement were the hashtags “#GotMyCheck,” “#GotMyMan,” and “#EverythingHappensforaReason.” In the same post, Layne, who plays Margaret Watkins in the film, acknowledged that she still enjoyed being a part of the movie, writing, “The best thing about #DontWorryDarling is that I was lucky enough to meet @arielstachel… Love you Ari.”
Whilst neither Stachel nor Layne went into further detail about the cut scenes, Stachel also took to Instagram to show his appreciation of his co-star. As first revealed by Deadline, Stachel, who plays Layne's husband Ted, captioned a series of images of himself on set with Layne with, “My favorite part of my experience in Don’t Worry Darling. This woman did phenomenal work and I was thirsty the second I met her.” Layne replied to the statement with, “Love you. Grateful that God brought us together here."
Layne’s revelation that many of her scenes were cut is not the first controversy to come from the film, which hit American cinemas on September 23 and has already brought in $30 million worldwide. Earlier this month, rumous were fueled about possible tensions between Wilde (who starred as Bunny alongside directing the film) and Florence Pugh, who plays Alice Chambers, after Pugh did not appear at a press conference hosted just ahead of the film’s opening night at the 2022 Venice Film Festival.
However, Wilde denied claims about the pair not getting along on set, praising Pugh’s performance. This came not long after drama related to Harry Styles allegedly spitting on Chris Pine (who plays Frank) during the movie’s premiere. Prior to all of this, Shia LaBeouf, who was originally set to play Style’s character Jack Chambers, also denied Wilde’s announcement that she’d fired him from the movie, stating he had not been fired. Despite all the alleged drama, the movie has already raked in an estimated $19.2 million in the United States, and a further $10.8 million from overseas territories.
Don’t Worry Darling is a psychological thriller based on a story by Carey Van Dyke and Shane Van Dyke, with a screenplay written by Katie Silberman. The movie focuses on young couple Alice (Pugh) and Jack Chambers (Styles) living in the idyllic neighborhood of Victory in California in the 1950s. Alice soon begins to suspect all is not right with her husband’s company, however, which is hiding disturbing secrets. The film also stars Gemma Chan, Nick Kroll, Sydney Chandler, Kate Berlant, Asif Ali, Douglas Smith, Timothy Simons, and Dita Von Teese.
Don’t Worry Darling is currently playing in theatres across the United States.