Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart follow-up Don’t Worry Darling opened at No. 1 at the box office this weekend, marking a fitting conclusion for the film’s journey to theaters after months of coverage criticized by the director and others as merely the result of “clickbait” tactics.
With the film now out in the world, thus bringing about answers to many of the questions raised in its trailers and related promo material, some viewers have started to wonder about what may have been left on the cutting room floor during the editing process.
According to KiKi Layne, who played Margaret Watkins (a key character) in the film, “most” of her and Ari’el Stachel’s scenes were ultimately cut from the final version.
“The best thing about [Don’t Worry Darling] is that I was lucky enough to meet [Stachel]. They cut us from most of the movie, but we thriving in real life,” Layne said on Instagram over the weekend. In the same post, Layne also shared photos of her and Stachel, who played her character’s husband in the Wilde-directed film.
Stachel, meanwhile, joked about having been largely left “on the cutting room floor” in Snoop Dogg-soundtracked posts shared to TikTok and IG.
Those who caught DWD over the weekend will note (and this is indeed a spoiler if you’ve yet to see the film) that Layne’s character is a particularly crucial one to the story, in that it’s Margaret’s initial discovery that helps open Florence Pugh’s character Alice up to the truth of what’s really going on with the so-called “Victory project.”
The film also stars Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Gemma Chan, and Nick Kroll. The script was penned by Katie Silberman, who previously worked with Wilde on her directorial debut Booksmart, which amassed universal acclaim upon its release in 2019. Wilde will next be seen as part of the ensemble cast assembled for Damien Chazelle’s upcoming period piece Babylon, due early next year.
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