The last-minute “fluke” that launched Florence Pugh’s career: “I nearly didn’t do it”
There are few working actors more exciting right now than Florence Pugh.
Just when you think she’s reached the peak of her powers, suddenly, something else comes along and takes her to the next level. As capable of delivering knockout dramatic performances as she is, actually knocking people out in her role as Yelena Belova in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there’s no telling what she’ll do next. One thing that is certain, however, is that she will do it brilliantly.
It all started for the British star with her first film, 2014’s The Falling. Directed by Carol Morley, the movie stars Pugh as Abbie, a young woman studying at an all-girls’ school in the 1960s. Along with her friend Lydia (Maisie Williams), Abbie experiences a strange epidemic of fainting at the school, which is tied to much darker goings-on.
Prior to this, Pugh had only ever been in amateur productions. It was only when she saw an advert asking for self-tapes to play the role of Abbie that she decided to give it a shot. However, as she explained to Scottish publication The Herald, she was almost put off applying because of bad experiences she had witnessed firsthand.
“My brother’s in the industry, and I had been watching him for a couple of years before I had done that audition,” she explained. “I knew how mean the industry was, I knew how cut-throat it was. I knew that you just don’t get auditions like that,”
Pugh clearly belives in some kind of kismet and saw the ad as a sign to pursue things more purposefully: “So obviously, when I saw that ad – to hand in a tape – I didn’t do it, because there was no point, because I wasn’t going to get the part. And then my mum said, ‘Well, this is what you want to do at some point. You’re not going to get the role, but we can always just give it a go because you need to start knowing how to do tapes…’ It was all pretty much fluke, and being in the right place at the right time.”
Pugh’s older brother Sebastian, known professionally as ‘Toby Sebastian’, is an actor and musician in his own right. Fans of Game of Thrones will recognise him as Trystane Martell, the prince of Dorne who is betrothed to Cersei’s daughter Myrcella. He’s released two full albums of music and several singles, one of which, “Midnight”, was a duet with his sister. His other sister, Arabella, is also an actor.
The Falling turned out to be a major coup for the then-unknown performer. It was nominated for ‘Best Film’ at the BFI London Film Festival and Pugh was nominated for the event’s ‘Best British Newcomer’ award. After a TV pilot she filmed failed to get picked up, she starred in her second feature film, Lady Macbeth, which once again earned her critical adulation. Following that, the roles began tumbling in, and the path to superstardom lay clear in front of her.
Not every actor has it this easy but, then again, not every actor is Florence Pugh. The acting world can be as cutthroat and conniving as she says, but if you don’t try, then you’ll never know how far you can go. I’m not saying everyone will land a role like The Falling on their first try, but it’s certainly worth a shot.
