Aurora Starchild
Olivia Wilde has an axe to grind, and she’s found the perfect way to grind it: directing movies. Directing her second film, Don’t Worry Darling, Wilde co-wrote a psychological thriller that takes present day politics back to the 1950s. And it turns out that her two main inspirations were Donald Trump and Jordan Peterson.
Videos by Rare
How MAGA and Trump Laid the Foundation for Wilde’s Film
While speaking with Elle, the actress-turned-director said that the premise for the town of Victory, California was inspired by quotes from Donald Trump.
“We had a bunch of Trump quotes up on our board when we were writing the script, and there was this gross tendency of Trump’s to be very nostalgic about a better time,” she said. “What these men are referring to is a time that was horrific for anyone who wasn’t a straight white cis man. It was interesting to recognize that I had spent my entire life lusting after the iconography of this time when I would’ve had very few rights.”
On its face, Wilde’s statement seems to be directly referring to Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
Don’t Worry Darling is like a cross between The Stepford Wives, Gaslight, and Requiem for a Dream. It centers on the awakening of a 1950s housewife (played by Florence Pugh) who realizes that her workaholic husband (Wilde’s real-life boyfriend, Harry Styles) and his boss are up to something nefarious. The men want their wives to stay home all day. Meanwhile, they’re out trying to make the world a better place, so to speak. Strange things start happening, the wifey starts feeling crazy, and sh*t gets weird.
Olivia Wilde’s Political Activism Is Voiced Throughout Don’t Worry Darling
Wilde also told Elle that there are other political undertones in her film that correlate directly to personal experiences. For instance, she said that she’s been physically threatened by pro-life women. This is presumably because she’s been a vocal supporter of pro-choice legislation. (Wilde has been a women’s rights activist for years, participating in multiple Women’s Rights marches).
“I mean, no one else has threatened to throw acid on my face other than a ‘pro-life mom,’” she said.
In a separate interview with actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, Wilde said that the film’s main villain, Frank (Chris Pine) was based on Canadian media personality and psychologist Jordan Peterson. Peterson has made a name for himself as a men’s rights activist who leans heavily to the right. Wilde called him an “incel” and a “hero to the incel community.” This actually made Peterson cry.
For the record, incel is short for “involuntarily celibate”.
“We based that character on this insane man, Jordan Peterson, who is this pseudo-intellectual hero to the incel community. You know the incels?” Wilde asked Gyllenhaal.
“No,” Gyllenhaal responded.
“They’re basically disenfranchised, mostly white men, who believe they are entitled to sex from women,” Wilde explained. “And they believe that society has now robbed them—that the idea of feminism is working against nature, and that we must be put back into the correct place.”
Wilde continued, “they’re actually succeeding in many different ways. But this guy Jordan Peterson is someone that legitimizes certain aspects of their movement because he’s a former professor, he’s an author, he wears a suit, so they feel like this is a real philosophy that should be taken seriously.” She added that the actors on her film were “evolved” and were “a dream to work with.”
Jordan Peterson Cried When He Heard a Character from Don’t Worry Darling Was Based off of Him
Upon hearing about Wilde’s villain being based on himself, Peterson teared up while speaking with Piers Morgan. Morgan asked Peterson what he thought about being a “hero to the incel community.”
“Sure. Why not, you know? People have been after me for a long time because I’ve been speaking to disaffected young men. What a terrible thing to do that is,” he said.
Peterson then stopped speaking and it’s clear that he is crying. “I thought the marginalized were supposed to have a voice,” he said.
Peterson said that when he heard that Pine was playing a character based on himself, he looked up the trailer. He said the movie looked interesting and he was still considering watching it but hoped that they got all the parts right when styling Frank off of him.
“If I had to be played by someone, [Pine] is a very good-looking man, so that’s all right,” he quipped. “I hope he gets my fashion style choice right when he plays me.”
On that note, despite the feminist undertones throughout Don’t Worry Darling, Wilde wasn’t trying to single out men and women as bad or good. She said she wanted to show how women, too, play their part in upholding the patriarchy.
“I had no interest in making a feminist parable that was judgy or that defined men as bad and women as good,” Wilde told Elle. “I was much more interested in that tense space where we recognize our own participation in the system that objectifies us.”
