Awkward scenes at Venice Film Festival fuel rift rumours for Don't Worry Darling cast

While there’s been some serious buzz around the highly-awaited film Don’t Worry Darling, it would seem that there’s palpable tension between director Olivia Wilde and the film’s star Florence Pugh.

Rolling Stone reported that as Pugh, who stunned in a sleeveless sequin dress that looked like actual stars, the actor posed for pictures with all of her co-stars, including Gemma Chan, Sydney Chandler, Chris Pine and Nick Kroll. But not Olivia Wilde.

The duo seemed to dodge each other on the red carpet. Pugh also was not photographed with her co-star and Wilde’s latest beau Harry Styles.

They say that where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

The Venice event fanned the lames of a rift between the two... both on and off the red carpet.

Just to add fuel to the rumours of a falling out, the film premiered at the festival with Pugh seated several seats away from Wilde, who was sitting next to the film’s leads, Styles and Chris Pine.

As the movie received a hefty four-minute standing ovation, Pugh was visibly pleased with the audience’s reception; however, she made no eye contact or verbal exchanges with her director.

Not even a crisp high-five or a fist bump? While the industry notably pits successful women against each other, it definitely seems bizarre that Pugh was also absent from the Venice Film Festival press conference.

According to Wilde, Pugh could not attend the press conference due to scheduling conflicts with her upcoming film Dune 2, as her flight from Budapest would be arriving later that day, as per Entertainment Tonight.

However, Variety reports that the Little Women actor had arrived shortly after the press conference giving her enough time to grace the red carpet but not answer questions about the flick.

And Pugh’s notable absence, Wilde was asked by a journalist at the festival yesterday (Monday, September 5) about the speculation of a feud, according to Yahoo!.

To which the director refused to explicitly comment, saying: "Florence is a force. We are so grateful she's able to make it tonight despite being in production on Dune.

 "I know, as a director, how disruptive it is to lose an actor even for a day, so I'm very grateful to her, and to (Dune director Denis Villeneuve) for helping us. And we'll get to celebrate her work tonight. I can't say how honoured I am to have her as our lead. She's amazing.

"As for all the endless tabloid gossip and all the noise out there, the Internet feeds itself. I don't feel the need to contribute; I think it's sufficiently well-nourished."