Earlier this month, Page Six got the ball rolling, reporting on the “beef” between Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh. Rumors of a beef had been circulating on social media for a while, as Florence’s fans kept noting that Pugh was not lifting a finger to promote Don’t Worry Darling, which Wilde directed and Pugh stars in. Pugh didn’t even bother “liking” any of the official social media posts when the trailers started coming out, nor did she repost anything. Page Six’s sources claimed that Florence didn’t like the messy way Olivia dumped Jason Sudeikis and started up an affair with Harry Styles on the set of Don’t Worry Darling. “Sources” later told Page Six that it wasn’t like Olivia and Harry flaunted their relationship anyway (which I doubt). Then Florence’s Harper’s Bazaar cover story came out and she barely talked about the film and she didn’t say one word about Olivia. I already felt like the beef rumors were probably true. Then Shia LaBeouf dropped his receipts on Friday and all hell broke loose. Olivia lied about firing Shia. Not only did she lie, she was still trying to get Shia to come back to the production (which he quit) with this video:

“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. If she really commits, if she really puts her mind and heart into it at this point and if you guys can make peace…” Some sh-t went down and Florence didn’t want to work with Shia and instead of having Florence’s back, Olivia tried to get Shia to come back. “Miss Flo” needs to “really commit” huh? Yeah, this is a f–king disaster. The icing on the cake is that Florence Pugh has now told the studio that she will barely promote this f–king disaster now.

Florence Pugh has severely limited her promotional press for the upcoming feminist thriller “Don’t Worry Darling,” fueling speculation that she and director and co-star Olivia Wilde have fallen out.

TheWrap spoke to three executives connected to the film, as well as an individual with knowledge of Pugh’s involvement, who all declined to confirm any further press plans for the actress beyond attending the Venice Film Festival for the film’s premiere and red carpet, flying in from the set of Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two.”

Pugh has been in Budapest filming “Dune: Part Two” and filming Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” prior to that. According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, she will be in Venice for the premiere direct from a night shoot in Budapest, and returning to filming afterwards. But the Venice Film Festival red carpet and press conference are expected to be the extent of Pugh’s traditional press duties on the film. “She’ll be doing greetings for us from the set of ‘Dune’ because she’s not doing press,” a studio executive said.

According to the exec, the studio knew that Pugh’s availability for the press tour on “Don’t Worry Darling” would be limited, considering “Dune 2” is also a Warner Bros. project, and planned for such. But the unusual lack of participation in promoting the film by its lead actor suggests there might be validity to speculation on a fallout between Pugh and the film’s director Olivia Wilde over Wilde’s relationship with co-star Harry Styles and an alleged affair on set.

[From The Wrap]

I have a theory about all of this and I hope you guys want to hear it. I think Florence signed on to DWD and was committed to doing chemistry tests to find her leading man. She didn’t gel with Shia or some sh-t went down between them, and Florence was basically like “no, this won’t work.” Olivia then went behind Miss Flo’s back and tried to get Shia to come back. When that didn’t work, Olivia hired Harry Styles. Florence had to do all of these intimate scenes, directed by Olivia, with Harry, all while Olivia was throwing herself at Harry. While I’m sure Florence didn’t like the whole “Olivia dumped Jason Sudeikis for Harry” thing, what really bugged Florence was how unprofessional and messy everything was on set. You think Olivia didn’t wield her power to ingratiate herself with Harry, at the expense of Florence’s work? Come on. So after DWD wrapped, Florence just disengaged from the mess and decided that she wouldn’t let Olivia hang the disaster around her neck. That’s my take. And I honestly don’t blame Florence at all for just pretending that this movie doesn’t exist.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, cover courtesy of Variety, promotional images courtesy of Warner Bros.