Actor Shia LaBeouf is refusing to re-engage with director and actress Olivia Wilde despite a second round of accusations from Wilde that she had to fire LaBeouf to keep the set of “Don’t Worry Darling” safe.
Representation for LaBeouf last month released an email he sent to Wilde asking the director to tell the truth about his exit from her film, specifically that he quit over a lack of rehearsal time and she did not fire him like Wilde has publicly stated. He also released text messages and a video reportedly dated August 19, 2020 of Wilde telling LaBeouf that she is not ready to “give up” on having the actor in her movie and seemingly pleading with him to come back and work out an issue with actress Florence Pugh.
“It is what it is — every blessing to her and her film,” LaBeouf told The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, reacting to Wilde again claiming that she fired the actor.
Wilde this week said again she had to fire LaBeouf from “Don’t Worry, Darling” because the actor’s process was “not conducive to the ethos” and she didn’t want “a combative energy” on set.
“This issue is so much more nuanced than can be explained in private texts released out of context,” she told Vanity Fair. “All I’ll say is he was replaced, and there was no going forward with him. I wish him the best in his recovery.”
“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,” Wilde said of LaBeouf last month. “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.”
However, in a video LaBeouf’s reps suggest contradicts Wilde’s accusations, the director appeared to ask LaBeouf to make amends with Pugh and come back to the film.
“I feel like I’m not ready to give up on this yet, and I, too, am heartbroken and I want to figure this out,” Wilde says in the video. “You know, 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 — and I respect your point of view, I respect hers — but if you guys can do it, what do you think? Is there hope? Will you let me know?”
here is the video of olivia telling shia she wants to work it out and that if “miss flo” could “commit” more than it could happen.
please ignore that hashtag on the video I didn’t put it there. pic.twitter.com/vAQPBqPRYE
— sophia (@hellopugh) August 26, 2022
Further, in an email LaBeouf sent to Wilde, the actor asserted, “You and I both know the reasons for my exit. I quit your film because your actors and I couldn’t find time to rehearse.”
“If lies are repeated enough in the public they become truth,” the “Padre Pio” actor wrote. “And so, it makes it that much harder for me to crawl out of the hole I have dug with my behaviors, to be able to provide for my family.”
“Firing me never took place, Olivia,” LaBeouf stated. “And while I fully understand the attractiveness of pushing that story because of the current social landscape, the social currency that brings. It is not the truth. So I am humbly asking, as a person with an eye toward making things right, that you correct the narrative as best you can. I hope none of this negatively effects you, and that your film is successful in all the ways you want it to be.”
You can read LaBeouf’s full email, which was first published at Variety, below:
Olivia,
I hope this finds you inspired, purposeful, fulfilled & well. I pray every night that you & your family have health, happiness, & everything God would give me. No joke, every night before I sleep.
I have a little girl, Isabel; she is five months old and just beginning to develop the last half of her laugh; it’s AMAZING. Mia, my wife & I have found each other again & are journeying toward a healthy family with love and mutual respect.
I have embarked on a journey that feels redemptive & righteous (dirty word but fitting). I write to you now with 627 days of sobriety and a moral compass that never existed before my great humbling that was the last year and a quarter of my life. I reached out to you a few months ago to make amends; & I still pray one day, you can find space in your heart to forgive me for the failed collaboration we shared.
What inspired this email today is your latest Variety story. I am greatly honored by your words on my work; thank you, that felt good to read. I am a little confused about the narrative that I was fired, however. You and I both know the reasons for my exit. I quit your film because your actors & I couldn’t find time to rehearse. I have included as a reminder the screenshots of our text exchange on that day, and my text to Tobey.
I know that you are beginning your press run for DWD and that the news of my firing is attractive clickbait, as I am still persona-non-grata and may remain as such for the rest of my life. But, speaking of my daughter, I often think about the news articles she will read when she is literate. And though I owe, and will owe for the rest of my life, I only owe for my actions.
My failings with Twigs are fundamental and real, but they are not the narrative that has been presented. There is a time and a place to deal with such things, and I am trying to navigate a nuanced situation with respect for her and the truth, hence my silence. But this situation with your film and my “firing” will never have a court date with which to deal with the facts. If lies are repeated enough in the public they become truth. And so, it makes it that much harder for me to crawl out of the hole I have dug with my behaviors, to be able to provide for my family.
Firing me never took place, Olivia. And while I fully understand the attractiveness of pushing that story because of the current social landscape, the social currency that brings. It is not the truth. So I am humbly asking, as a person with an eye toward making things right, that you correct the narrative as best you can. I hope none of this negatively effects you, and that your film is successful in all the ways you want it to be.
Every Blessing To You,
Shia