Shia LaBeouf is waging a leak war against Olivia Wilde over his 2020 departure from her upcoming film Don’t Worry Darling. After Variety published an interview with Wilde suggesting that LaBeouf was fired from the role that eventually went to Harry Styles, LaBeouf has shared private messages, letters, and video correspondence between himself and the director in an attempt to prove that actually, “I quit your film.”
To be fair to Wilde, she didn’t actually say the word “fired.” Variety used that phrase, while Wilde said something much vaguer and kind-sounding, though the result is probably the same.
“I say this as someone who is such an admirer of his work,” Wilde explained. “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.”
This is probably one of the nicer things said about LaBeouf since his ex partner FKA twigs accused him of repeated assaults. But LaBeouf didn’t take it that way, and in an email to Variety, he said that he “quit the film due to lack of rehearsal time,” on August 17th, 2020.
