Florence Pugh received an apology from Christopher Nolan over ‘Oppenheimer’ role
While Florence Pugh’s performance in the most recent Christopher Nolan film Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy in the lead role as the titular physicist, has been hugely celebrated, that hasn’t stopped Nolan from feeling guilty about the size of the role.
Pugh played Jean Tatlock in the historical biopic, an American communist party member who was involved in a romantic relationship with Murphy’s character, also known as the father of the atomic bomb.
In a new interview with MTV UK, Pugh explained that Nolan was rather apologetic when it came to him offering her the part. “I didn’t really know what was going on or what it was that was being made,” Pugh began.
She continued: “Except I knew that Chris really, really wanted me to know that it wasn’t a very big role, and he understands if I don’t want to come near it. And I was like, ‘Doesn’t matter. Even if I’m a coffee maker at a cafe in the back of the room, let’s do it.’”
As to how the conversation between the actor and director went down, Pugh added: “I remember he apologised by the size of the role. I was like, ‘Please don’t apologise.’ And then he said, ‘We’ll send you the script, and honestly, you just read it and decide if it’s like… I completely understand the sizing thing.’”
Still, given the fact that Oppenheimer is a Christopher Nolan film, Pugh didn’t mind how small the role was, noting, “And I remember that evening when I got the script being like, ‘I don’t need to… I know I’m going to do it.’”
Check out the trailer for Oppenheimer below.
