Why Did People Think Harry Styles Spit On Chris Pine?

Last night (September 5), there was a screening of Don’t Worry Darling at the Venice Film Festival, but most of the drama seemed to be in the audience instead of on the screen: A video from the event seemed to depict Harry Styles spitting on co-star Chris Pine, with Pine reacting with a smile.

However, further examination showed nary a particle of saliva exiting Styles’ mouth during the alleged incident. Drag queen Dr. Panti Bliss-Cabrera offered a succinct explanation of what seems to have happened: “Chris Pine is holding a pen (?) which he puts down on his seat to clap, then realises that the glasses he’s just been looking for have been there on the seat the whole time too. ‘Silly me!’ (then puts them on in longer clip).”

https://twitter.com/TheHSUpdate/status/1566998647266574336

Beyond that, why did people think Styles spit on Pine?

Well, people thought there was some tension between the two. At a press conference earlier in the weekend, Styles said, “You know, my favorite thing about the movie is, like, it feels like a movie. It feels like a real, like, you know, ‘go to the theater’ film movie.” As Styles spoke, Pine stared blankly ahead, which some interpreted as a reaction to Styles’ perhaps not-so-coherent thoughts.

https://twitter.com/rohmerfilm/status/1566799179694964737

Furthermore, after Florence Pugh reportedly had a falling out with director Olivia Wilde, Pine enthusiastically and effusively interacted with Pugh on the festival red carpet, so some speculated that was another source of tension between Styles and Pine, since Styles and Wilde are reportedly dating.

So, while imaginations had plenty of jumping points for running wild, Styles seems to be cool with Pine, or at least cool enough to not spit on him in public.