Shia LaBeouf was fired from Don't Worry Darling to keep Florence Pugh safe, says Olivia Wilde
Olivia Wilde has said she fired Shia LaBeouf from the set of Don't Worry Darling for safety reasons.
Starring Harry Styles and Florence Pugh as 1950s couple Jack and Alice who move into the town of Victory, California, Don't Worry Darling is being directed by Wilde and is due to screen at the Venice Film Festival next month.
Styles' part was originally going to be played by Shia LaBeouf, but he was replaced in September 2020 with scheduling conflicts given as the reason for his departure.
His role was recast with former One Direction singer Styles taking his place, and Wilde said she'd wanted him in one of the leading roles all along but hadn't been able to land him as he was on tour at the time.
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With the pandemic disrupting filming of the movie things suddenly aligned and Styles could take the role, but since then there have been claims that LaBeouf was fired from the film by Wilde.
Wilde, who operates a 'no assholes policy' on her films, ultimately decided that LaBeouf had to go.
She said during filming of the movie Florence Pugh would be put in 'very vulnerable situations' and said it was a priority to make her feel safe and supported.
Speaking to Variety, she said: "I say this as someone who is such an admirer of his work: His process was not conducive to the ethos that I demand in my productions.
"He has a process that, in some ways, seems to require a combative energy, and I don’t personally believe that is conducive to the best performances."
"I believe that creating a safe, trusting environment is the best way to get people to do their best work. Ultimately, my responsibility is to the production and to the cast to protect them. That was my job."
LaBeouf was last year ordered to attend anger management and therapy to avoid ending up in jail over a string of misdemeanour charges.
Facing charges of battery and petty theft, a court last year told the actor to complete a judicial diversion program within a 12 month period to ensure the charges would be dropped and spare him time behind bars.
The actor has previous when it comes to being a disruptive element on movie sets, as Brad Pitt once had to step in and break up a 'volatile' confrontation between LaBeouf and Scott Eastwood on the set of Fury.
The actors were performing in a scene where Eastwood's character spits tobacco at the tank LaBeouf was riding, which was all supposed to happen.
However, LaBeouf apparently didn't realise this was part of the script and 'got mad', with Eastwood saying co-star Pitt had to get in the middle of them to break it up.
Don't Worry Darling releases in cinemas on 23 September.
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Topics: Shia LaBeouf, Film and TV
Joe Harker