Chris Pine insists Harry Styles did NOT spit on him at Venice Film Festival

Chris Pine insisted Harry Styles didn’t spit on him at the Venice Film Festival because he remembered hearing their interactions had gone viral in a long interview with Esquire magazine.

The actor, 42, said he was woken up mid-flight by his publicist to respond to video that the internet mistakenly believed was Styles, 29, spitting on him.

“I was on a plane with my publicist, who says I look like Rachel from Friends (with my current haircut), we’re flying back from Venice. And I sleep, have a great time on the plane. I like airplanes,’ he explained.

“And she wakes me up, in a, you know, in a state. She says, “We need to make a post about what happened in Venice.” And I’m like “About what?” “About Harry spitting on you.” Which I have no idea what happened. She showed me the thing. It does indeed look like Harry is spitting on me. He didn’t spit on me.’

Pine remembered that Styles might have told him a joke they all started making about straining while jet-lagged.

“I think what he said, he leaned over, and I think he said, ‘It’s just words, aren’t they?’ Because we had a joke because we’re all jet lagged we’re all trying to answer these questions and sometimes when you do these press things your brain gets all messed up you know you start speaking gibberish, and we had a joke like, “It’s just words, man.”‘

At the time, a Pine representative commented on the spitting scandal: “This is a ludicrous story…a complete fabrication and the result of a strange online illusion that is clearly deceptive and allows for foolish speculation.”

“To be clear, Harry Styles did NOT spit on Chris Pine,” she continued.

“There is nothing but respect between these two men, and any other suggestion is a blatant attempt to create drama that simply doesn’t exist.”

Pine also addressed the Don’t Worry Darling press tour, which was dominated by perceived drama on the film’s set.

“If there was drama, there was drama,” he told Esquire during the filming of the movie. However, he clarified for the record: “I knew absolutely nothing about it, nor would I care. If I feel bad, it’s because the vitriol the movie got was absolutely out of proportion to what was on screen.

“Venice was normal for things to be dragged into a story that people wanted to make, compounded by the metastasis that can happen in the Twittersphere. It was ridiculous.’

He praised his co-stars and director Olivia Wilde, who also appears in the film. The star referred to Styles as a “sweet guy” and described the love for Florence Pugh “to f**king death.”

As for those viral memes of him broadcasting a press conference, Pine found them hilarious.

“All the memes I saw about my face in Venice made me laugh,” he said. He found a meme of his with the caption “me on an important Zoom call watching my cat throw up on the couch” particularly funny.

Pine said the meme captured him appreciating the ceiling of the Palazzo del Casinò, in a state of jet lag.

“Sometimes the question isn’t that interesting,” Pine said, “and you’re fucking outside, looking at a ceiling because it’s so pretty.”

Pine also weighed in on a fourth Star Trek movie, which has been years in the making. For now, the actor insists he knows nothing about the status of the film.

Esquire contacted producer JJ Abrams about the film, who said they were still looking for a director.

“I will say it’s the first time (since the original reboot) that we’ve had a story that feels as immersive as the first one,” Abrams said of the upcoming film.

According to Esquire, Abrams’ comments were news to Pine.

“I don’t know anything,” he said. In Star Trek land, the actors are usually the last to discover something. I know costume designers who have read scripts rather than actors.’

Pine thinks it’s unfair to compare Star Trek to other huge blockbuster movies like Marvel.

“I’m not sure Star Trek was ever built to do that sort of thing,” Pine said. “Why don’t we just call on this really rabid fan group and make the movie for a good price and get on with it merrily, instead of trying to compete with the wonders of the world?”

For now, the franchise feels “cursed” for Pine.

“After the last one came out and didn’t bring in the $1 billion everyone wanted, and when Anton — Yelchin, who played Chekov — died, I don’t know,” he continued. “It just seemed… feels like it’s cursed.”

Next, fans can catch Pine in the upcoming Dungeons and Dragons movie.

Laughing, Pine recalled directors telling him they were “so grateful that you are willing to expose yourself on screen.”

“I was like, ‘Guys, this isn’t the way to compliment me.’

But Pine is happy to be the comic relief, with Esquire citing his role in Wonder Woman as an example.

“I’m willfully emasculate myself because I just don’t care. If it makes me laugh, it makes me laugh. I love being silly.

“Kirk is like that,” he continues. “In (Star Trek) he’s James Dean, and then he walks in to meet Bones and he hits his head. I want to show that you can be cool and manly without it being a pissing contest all the time. And when you’re pissing, sometimes you piss on your foot and look like a goddamn idiot.”