The psychological thriller, “Don’t Worry Darling,” was announced in July 2019. This far back, everything looked good from the public relations side of this film. People were excited by the female director, Olivia Wilde. The original cast starred two well-loved actors, Shia LaBeouf and Florence Pugh. The trajectory of this film looked good, positioning it for top-notch PR that would continue getting the audience riled up.
With over two years between its announcement and its release, it gave way for the team behind this film to nail the PR components, or in this case, let things get a bit rocky.
On September 16, an article written by Nicole Sperling hit the New York Times. The title of the article is “Will the Spiraling Publicity Harm ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ at the Box Office?”. The subtitle reads: “A series of missteps on the promotional trail has raised questions about the film’s viability and its director, Olivia Wilde.” This alone, without reading the article, is a red flag. It signifies immediate PR shortcomings for the film. After working hard on a highly anticipated film for over two years, this is not the headline one wants to see popping up. The relationships and reputations behind the makers and participants got complicated and the public had a full view of it.
I will not dive too deep into these details of the so-called spiraling publicity because it does not have much relevance to the point I am getting at. But I can offer you a brief synopsis of what Sperling shared, starting with LaBeoufs role getting handed off to Harry Styles soon after the original announcement.
As the article progresses, Sperling describes Wilde as “self-immolating on the publicity trail.” Essentially insinuating that Wilde put herself in the hot seat and let things get ugly for the public. To me, this reads as a cry for help for Wilde. She needed a professional PR perspective to guide her out of the negative spotlight concerning personal details between the cast and crew and direct the attention back to what she had created for the audience.
Sperling next shared about the internet gossip based on “Pugh’s lack of substantive promotion,” which spiraled into more drama amongst the cast and crew. When I see the word promotional, my mind instantly goes to PR. The value of PR in a promotional context is high, and when a lead actor chooses not to promote a film they have inevitably put so much into, it is not out of the ordinary for the public to start gossiping.
Because I was not there and did not see the damage control plan of action, maybe it was less of a failure on behalf of the “Don’t Worry Darling” PR team and more of an overall lack of PR professionals equipped to control the crisis at hand. A sector of PR serves as crisis communication (which I will get to in a later post), and in this particular instance, this sector lacked.
Hollywood is a world of its own. In that world is a lot of drama. And the teams putting out films should know this better than anyone else — they should be prepared to navigate the drama professionally and not let off-screen drama dictate the on-screen success. In the strategic communication era of today, PR professionals should have a pretty good tool kit to guide them through difficult situations.
I am not naive. I know much of the drama would unveil with or without the right PR professionals. However, knowing how to mitigate this buzz is possible with a plan of action.
People love pop culture and become invested in drama just like this. They seek it out. Having help navigating and diffusing the issues being spread while also focusing on where to keep a positive tone and promotional momentum can make a big difference in cases like “Don’t Worry Darling.” It can also give us another reason to love PR and its versatility.