Man, this feud between Olivia Wilde and Shia LaBeouf is deeper than we thought.
We learned late last month the Booksmart director had fired the Transformers star from her sophomore effort, a psychological thriller called Don’t Worry Darling, replacing him with Harry Styles in his biggest film role to date. (Obviously that decision ended up being a fateful one as she and the Watermelon Suger singer had instant chemistry and ended up dating!)
Related: Olivia Facing Attacks From Harry Stans Online
Considering the news which has recently dropped about Shia — namely a lawsuit from his exes FKA twigs and Karolyn Pho accusing him of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse — one might reasonably have assumed that was her reason for kicking him off her movie.
But we learned from inside sources that it was over some other, unspecified “bad behavior” — putting him in violation of her strict zero “a**holes policy.” Apparently she didn’t even know about the abuse claims yet — we imagine that would have been even more potent grounds for termination.
OK, so just one firing — even one that implicitly calls the actor an a**hole — that’s not a feud, right?
What we’re learning now is there’s even more bad blood between the stars. According to a new report from The Hollywood Reporter, Shia’s attitude also caused Olivia to walk from another project — one we didn’t even know she worked on!
Back in October we told you about the music video for Love Me Like You Hate Me, starring Shia and Margaret Qualley (the song is actually by her sister, Rainey Qualley, going by the name Rainsford). The performers get completely nude in the NSFW short film as they portray through modern dance a complex, intimate looping moment between a couple. We’ve actually mentioned the visuals a few times since its release due to the fact it’s where Shia and Margaret met — before dating for a couple months.
Related: Shia & Margaret Split Amid Abuse Claims
Well, it turns out that edgy, beautiful short was directed by Olivia!
The reason we didn’t know that at the time? Gurl asked that her name be removed after a squabble with Shia! All that remains now is a “special thanks to Olivia Wilde” mention in the credits.
According to THR, after shooting, Olivia was still editing her cut of the video, which she still had time to submit. But before she could, Shia sent the group his own edit of the footage he made with producer (and frequent collaborator) Luke Turner! Kind of rude, considering that wasn’t his job. But it gets worse.
Apparently Olivia kept things civil and said she’d be happy to take a look before submitting her own cut to the producers.
BUT…
Shia hit back saying the correct response she should have sent was to say thank you and “we should go with this.” One source said he wrote:
“Great jazz musicians know when not to play.”
Wow, what a tool.
Olivia, rightly, decided she didn’t need this in her life. Remember, she had dealt with some other behavior of Shia’s already. So she extended her movie policy to music videos and wrote back simply:
“I’m out.”
And just like that she was off the project. Turner is listed as the video’s director officially — though it sounds to us like he does not deserve credit for Olivia’s work.
What do YOU think, Perezcious readers? Shia being an “artist”? Or yet another story of the Holes star not treating women very well?
[Image via WENN/Instar/Vevo.]