Kiki Layne claims most of her 'Don't Worry Darling' scenes were cut
Don’t Worry Darling has had more dramatic ups and downs before it even premiered than any other film in recent memory. Shia LaBeouf was fired (or was he?). Director Olivia Wilde ended up dating her leading man, pop superstar Harry Styles. There was an alleged feud between Olivia and leading lady Florence Pugh. Olivia was publicly served legal documents on stage by ex-partner Jason Sudekis while presenting the film at CinemaCon. And then there was spit-gate at the Venice Film Festival between Harry and Chris Pine. We could go on.
Now, more drama has unfolded since the movie opened (because of course it has). Actress Kiki Layne has revealed in a no-holds-barred Instagram post that most of her scenes were left on the cutting room floor, but she’s not batting an eyelash, because as she put it, she got paid and got her man in the bargain. The man in question: co-star Ari’el Stachel! Now that’s one way to go #InstagramOfficial.
Kiki, who played the pivotal role of Margaret in the psychological thriller, wrote on September 25th on her official IG, “The best thing about #DontWorryDarling is that I was lucky enough to meet @arielstachel. They cut us from most of the movie, but we thriving in real life.” She then added, “Love you Ari” with a series of red heart emojis.
Her caption also included the fire hashtags, “#GotMyCheck #GotMyMan #EverythingHappensforaReason.”
Honestly, #GotMyCheck and #GotMyMan have now officially replaced #FeltCute and #MightDeleteLater. We’ve done the math and the numbers check out.
In the comments section, Tony-award-winning actor Ari’el Stachel, the love in question, commented on Kiki’s video and behind-the-scenes photos, writing, “My love. You are a queen and your talent shines so brightly. I was thirsty then and I’m thirsty now.”
Then Ari’el made his own post on his official Instagram, basically gushing about Kiki in the same manner, captioning his post, “My favorite part of my experience in Don’t Worry Darling. This woman did phenomenal work and I was thirsty the second I met her.”
Kiki of course commented on his Insta with, “Love you. Grateful that God brought us together here.” The comments section is loaded with support including from co-stars Gemma Chan and costume designer Arianne Phillips, who both worked on the film.
Perhaps it’s easy to be blinded by Kiki and Ari’el’s outpouring of public love to notice the subtle shade being thrown Olivia Wilde’s way. But in case you missed the shade, Ari’el also made a rather scathing TikTok, where he directly takes aim at the director/actor for basically reducing his role to a “glorified extra.”
@arielstachel #dontworrydarling #DWD ♬ Sensual Seduction - Snoop Dogg
Ari’el dances in front of screencaps of tweets calling out Olivia for underusing the actor in the movie, and that the movie suffers due to his lack of lines and inclusion. He captioned the cheeky TikTok “When you end up on the cutting room floor. Go see Don’t Worry Darling.”
Of course, the internet has thoughts, especially considering that Kiki and Ari’el are people of colour in a mostly-white production, and that Olivia Wilde, who also starred in the movie but whose character was less integral to the plot, inexplicably had more screen time.
The shade Kiki Layne is throwing at O it’s giving me life ,go queen pic.twitter.com/6Hb1e6KoLe
— ⚭ Louisfairy ᖭི༏ᖫྀ saw louis!! (@LittleLouFreaks) September 25, 2022
kiki layne was done so dirty by dwd but her going on insta and talking about how she got her check and a man despite her scenes being cut from that mid movie is iconic behavior
— monica 🫡 (@waystarroyhoe) September 26, 2022
it’s all “florence pugh this” “olivia wilde that” “shia lebouf said…” okay how about that kiki layne’s name was on the damn poster and she wasn’t even at the venice premiere? her character is CRUCIAL for the plot of the movie but olivia hasn’t mentioned her name once.
— lex SAW DWD (@gnighthrry) September 25, 2022
olivia wilde could’ve removed some her scenes but she cut kiki layne’s scenes instead
— davina is a kendall roy apologist (@btdrry) September 25, 2022
so olivia wilde gave her character more screen time than gemma chan’s and kiki layne’s characters who were actually more important to the plot. interesting
— mel🔮 (@90slightsup) September 25, 2022
It’s official: Don’t Worry Darling needs to change its title to Worry, Darling!
