Olivia Wildeis telling her side ofShia LaBeouf’s exit from her new movie.
During anappearance onTheLate Show with Stephen ColbertWednesday to promoteDon’t Worry Darling, Wilde, 38, addressed the situation involving LaBeouf, 36, who hasdenied her claim that she firedhim from the project. The film stars Florence Pugh and, in the role LaBeouf was originally cast to play, Harry Styles. Wilde directed and also stars in the film.
“Early on in the process of making the film, as the director I tried to mediate a situation between people to try to see if they can work together happily. Once it became clear that it was not a tenable working relationship, I was given an ultimatum, I chose my actress, which I’m very happy I did,” she said.
“At the time, was I bummed that we weren’t able to make it work? Sure. Did information about him come to light later that made me confident we made the right decision? Absolutely,” added Wilde about LaBeouf.
When Colbert, 58, asked whether she fired LaBeouf or he quit, Wilde said, “We had to replace Shia. He is a fantastic actor, but it wasn’t gonna work. When he gave me the ultimatum of him or Florence, I chose Florence, and that was him feeling he was stepping away and me feeling like we were moving on without him.”
“It’s a question of semantics,” she added. “… It wasn’t going to move forward in the way that he wanted it to, and so he had to leave.”
Jon Kopaloff/WireImage; Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
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Wilde said that issues like this happen “all the time” on movie sets and that “anyone who’s ever dealt with conflict knows that there are levels to it before there’s a conclusion.”
“And, in this case, everyone in the end ended up with what they wanted: He didn’t want to be a part of the production we were making in the way I like to make productions, and so he moved on. We moved on and replaced him and ended up with a cast that I’m so proud of in a movie I’m really thrilled about.”
Responding toWilde’s remarks in an AugustVarietycover story about firing him, LaBeouf offered an alternative point of view of what led to his exit, sharing anemail with the outletthat he said he sent to the director. In it, he wrote, “You and I both know the reasons for my exit.I quit your film because your actorsand I couldn’t find time to rehearse.”
“Firing me never took place, Olivia,” he added. “And while I fully understand the attractiveness of pushing that story because of the current social landscape, the social currency that brings. It is not the truth. So I am humbly asking, as a person with an eye toward making things right, that you correct the narrative as best you can.”
LaBeouf said in his email to Wilde that he was “a little confused about the narrative that I was fired.”
In his response toVariety, he included emails and videos he allegedly received from Wilde, including one clip in which Wilde asked LaBeouf not to leave the project and alluded to tension between him and costar Pugh. The video has since leaked online.
From left: Gemma Chan, Harry Styles, Sydney Chandler, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pine, Florence Pugh and Nick Kroll at the Venice Film Festival Sept. 5, 2022.Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
In the video, she says: “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. You know, I think this might be a bit of a wake-up call for Miss Flo, and I wanna know if you’re open to giving this a shot with me, with us. If she really commits, if she really puts her mind and heart into it at this point and if you guys can make peace — and I respect your point of view, I respect hers — but if you guys can do it, what do you think? Is there hope? Is there hope? Will you let me know?”
Asked to respond to herVanity Fairremarks, LaBeouf toldThe Hollywood Reporter, “It is what it is — every blessing to her and her film.”
Don’t Worry Darlingis in theaters Friday.
source: people.com
