Florence Pugh explains why she is attracted to “very intense roles”
Florence Pugh, at 28, is without a doubt one of the biggest stars in Hollywood right now. Thrillingly talented, famously down-to-earth, and never one to shy away from a challenging role, Pugh has gone toe-to-toe with some of cinema’s greats in her career so far.
The actor famously worked with Christopher Nolan in his ‘Best Picture’-winning Oppenheimer, starring as Jean, a psychiatrist struggling with personal demons. She has also starred opposite Morgan Freeman in Zach Braff’s A Good Person as an opioid addict and recently joined the cast of Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic Dune series to play the calculated Princess Irulan. Even in the upcoming A24 romance We Live In Time, Pugh is to feature alongside Andrew Garfield, the pair portraying a decade-spanning love story of chance encounters and devastating truths.
Like many of cinema’s best, Pugh seems to be firmly attracted to roles which challenge her, and only a quick glance at her filmography will confirm it as no two roles are even remotely the same, allowing Pugh to showcase her impressive range and talent. After all, there are not many working actors who could master the roles of both the spoiled, head-strong youngest sister of the March family in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women and the grieving college undergraduate led into a deadly cult by her manipulative boyfriend in Ari Aster’s folk-horror sensation Midsommer.
Pugh’s characters are always deeply layered, anxious, traumatised and fascinating to watch on-screen. Even when the rest of the film perhaps struggles to match Pugh’s talent, as is the case of Olivia Wilde’s controversial psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling from 2022, where Pugh stars as a paranoid housewife, Pugh is somehow still able to consistently deliver enthralling performances.
Speaking to Variety in early 2023, Pugh spoke of A Good Person, in which she also worked as a producer, remarking, “It’s no secret that I only pick very intense roles. This isn’t the first time I’ve been reduced to tears, pretty much every single scene that I’ve been in. I like finding the ugliness in humans. I love being raw. I love being given a script where it challenges myself and I have never picked a role unless I’ve been scared of it. And this is someone that knew me, knew my potential and wanted to work with me. I think it would have been strange if [Braff] wrote a Nancy Meyers thing for me to be like, ‘So… you’re not going to cry in this movie.’ I’d be like, ‘Oh God!'”
It must be acknowledged, however, that not all of Pugh’s roles have been quite as challenging. As a young actor, Pugh starred in the wrestling comedy Fighting With My Family alongside Dwayne Johnson and, in 2022, voiced Goldilocks in the animated family blockbuster Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. These roles, joyous and charming, showcased Pugh’s winning personality and, hopefully, offered a well-deserved break from Pugh’s usual choice of taking on emphatically difficult roles.
Whatever roles await Pugh in the future, it is unlikely we will see her in a Nancy Meyers romance or many more blockbuster comedies, but rather those productions set for Academy Award glory.
