‘50s-style movie thriller Don’t Worry Darling has been the talk of the town for some time now, with reportedly stellar performances from star Florence Pugh and her co-star, pop icon Harry Styles. I love many things in this world, so when they collide in one way or another, I am a delighted human. And this time, this convergence throws my love of music in with my love of movies, and I can’t wait to listen to this song on repeat. (I’ll find a way to stream it; mark my words.)
Just when I thought I couldn’t be more excited for this movie (because Chris Pine and Gemma Chan are also in this movie), director Olivia Wilde shared that there’s a song in the film that Styles wrote for Pugh to hum.
Described as the “trigger song” in the script, the explanation that both Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles give for it seems as if it is just a tune without lyrics (I do hope that I am wrong and that we get lyrics in the film in some way), but it is still exciting to know that Styles wrote it.
Wilde discussed its origins in a new interview with Variety:
“In prep,” Wilde says, “Harry called me and said, ‘What’s the trigger song? Like, what’s the melody?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. I’m going to different writers to write it. Do you have anything in mind?’ And he said, ‘I’ll think about it.’” She pauses. “Five minutes later, he sent me a demo from his piano, and it was what ended up in the film. He called me and said, ‘What about this?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s it. That’s it. And that’s really insane that you did that in five minutes.’”
Styles, known as being a song and dance man thanks to his days with the band One Direction, as well as his work as a solo artist, wrote the song for Pugh to hum throughout the film. “I remember first playing it on the piano, and it had a sort of homemade nursery rhyme feel to it,” Styles told Variety. “Applied to the different moments in the film, I think it takes on a couple of different lives — I hope.”
Bring back original songs for movies
We saw a slight return to this trend with the Lady Gaga song “Hold My Hand” for the film Top Gun: Maverick, and while, yes, I understand that this is just meant as the tune that Pugh’s character Alice is humming in the film, I wouldn’t be upset if the team got together and had Harry Styles write lyrics and a whole little eerie song for Pugh to sing.
That’s mainly so I can sing it at karaoke just to make everyone angry. But until then, I can just delight in the fact that Styles is so talented that when intrigued about the music, he quickly came up with something for the film to use all within a few moments of thinking about it. Now, it’s just about waiting until September 23rd until I can see Don’t Worry Darling.
(featured image: Warner Bros.)
