WARNING: This post contains Don't Worry Darling spoilersDon’t Worry Darling actress Kiki Layne says many of her scenes were cut from the film. Don’t Worry Darling released this weekend, on the heels of months of drama faced by both the production and director Olivia Wilde herself. Despite the controversy, Don’t Worry Darling took the win at the box office this weekend, generating over $30 million in ticket sales.
Among the press and reviews for Don’t Worry Darling is discussion of the lead performances, particularly Harry Styles. Critics and audiences alike have panned Styles performance in his first lead on screen acting role, saying that he flounders opposite seasoned star Florence Pugh. Another performance that is critical to the story, however, is that of Layne’s character, Margaret. The first time audiences meet Margaret, she is at a dinner party that celebrates the work of Chris Pine’s Frank. Margaret is in distress, and warns the other women of the Victory Project (i.e. the program creating their suburb-in-the-desert community) that they should not be here. Throughout the film, the men make Margaret out to be in histrionics, saying that she and her husband Ted (Ari’el Stachel) are going through a tough time. Pugh’s Alice sees through this, however, and sees Margaret everywhere throughout the film, including glimpsing Margaret slitting her throat.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY
Layne claims that many of her scenes were cut from Don’t Worry Darling. In a recent Instagram post, Layne shared photos and video of her and on-screen husband Stachel. Most notable, however, was the post's short but spicy caption, where she reveals that most of her and Stachel’s scenes were cut from the film. Despite this experience, Layne expresses gratitude towards meeting Stachel and notes that the two of them are “thriving.” Check out the post below:
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by KiKi Layne (@kikilayne)
What Don't Worry Darling's Cut Scenes Might've Entailed
These comments simply add fuel to the fire with the growing list of Don’t Worry Darling controversies. Margaret is absolutely critical to the film’s plot, especially to Alice’s own discovery of the dark truth behind the Victory Project. Even when she is not on screen, Margaret comes up constantly in conversation throughout the course of the film. It is true, however, that Layne, and especially Stachel, do not have a lot of screen time or dialogue. While she often appears as a walking-nightmare-like vision of Alice’s, her character rarely speaks. Stachel’s character says even less throughout the film, and fans only really see him in the initial scene wherein Margaret bursts out at the party and Ted whisks her away.
This begs the question of what those cut scenes between Margaret and Ted were like. Perhaps Wilde may have included more one-on-one interactions between the two of them, so viewers can start to see how Ted talks to her and how Margaret starts to see cracks in the Victory Project’s schemes. In the theatrical cut, the only couple seen consistently is Jack and Alice. Perhaps more scenes between Margaret and Ted would have given another reference point for how these supposedly “perfect” couples interacted. Or, they could have shown fans earlier than Alice was not the crazy paranoid wife that the other characters make her out to be. Either way, Layne’s comments certainly leave viewers wondering about the cut of Don’t Worry Darling that could have been.