The stars rock their red carpet looks at the Venice Film Festival

7 Sep – Olivia Wilde seems to slip and slide through media questions during the Venice Film Festival, denying rumours of a feud with her film's lead actress Florence Pugh.

The actress-director, who appeared on a panel to discuss the new movie, "Don't Worry Darling" at the Venice Film Festival, denied any issue with Pugh, despite the public noticing that the actress has been expertly dodging promotions and talks about the said movie.

"Florence is a force," she said, when asked about the actress, who didn't appear at the panel despite having walked the red carpet and attended the premiere, "and we are so grateful that 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, to Denis Villeneuve for helping us."

Florence Pugh was not seen at the panel

The two parties at the red carpet, with Chris Pine as a buffer

"And we're really thrilled we'll get to celebrate her work tonight. I can't say enough how honored I am to have her as our lead. She's amazing in the film."

She then stated that she felt no need to contribute to the rumoured rift that has been reported for the past week.

"As for all the endless tabloid gossip and all the noise out there, I mean, the internet feeds itself. I don't feel the need to contribute. It's sufficiently well nourished," she said.

She also made no comments about her issue with Shia LaBeouf, who recently denied Wilde's claim that he was fired from the set by sharing several evidences of his own decision to quit the project.

Rumours of rift between the two parties sparked after many noticed that Pugh made little mention of "Don't Worry, Darling" on social media despite having previously expressed excitement about the project and about working with Wilde.

Some sources alleged that the actress was unhappy with the blossoming relationship between Wilde and her male co-star Harry Styles while they were filming the movie (seeing that Wilde was still married to actor-comedian Jason Sudeikis at the time), and the following video released by LaBeouf in which Wilde can be seen begging him to return to the movie and that his decision" might be a bit of a wake-up call for Miss Flo" - seemingly referring to Pugh.

Florence Pugh plays the lead in Olivia Wilde's "Don't Worry, Darling"