The underrated movie Florence Pugh called a “bizarre experience”
There’s a new young crop of actors defining Hollywood these days, rising over the past few years to become icons of the modern silver screen, such as Anya Taylor Joy, Timothée Chalamet, Paul Mescal and Florence Pugh. The latter has appeared in everything from gritty indie dramas to blockbuster hits and Netflix Originals, securing herself a place in the public eye as one of cinema’s most beloved fresh faces.
Her rise to stardom has been impressive, with her most recent roles including Princess Irulan in the epic Dune: Part Two and Jean Tatlock in the Oscar-winning Oppenheimer. She even lent her voice to the English dub of the Oscar-winning animation The Boy and the Heron, proving herself to be just as capable of acting solely with her voice.
Perhaps more recognisable is her role in Midsommar, Ari Aster’s 2019 folk horror movie. Playing the main character, Pugh’s Dani gets sucked into a terrifying cult after the death of her parents. The image of her covered in flowers remains one of the most recognisable in recent cinema history, and the film is sure to be considered a stone-cold horror classic further down the line. That same year, she also appeared in Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women, playing the youngest sister, Amy March. For her performance, she was nominated for an Academy Award, although she lost out to her Little Women co-star Laura Dern, who won for Marriage Story.
While Pugh is perhaps still finding her feet in the industry, trying her hand at a range of genres, and even appearing in a Marvel movie, it seems inevitable that she’ll win an Oscar in the near future. She’s already given some incredibly underrated performances, such as her first leading role in Lady Macbeth back in 2016. The job came after she’d made her debut in The Falling by Carol Morley and proved her to be one of cinema’s most promising newcomers.
Yet, only two years before, when she’d landed the role of Abbie in The Falling, she was convinced that it was a “fluke”, experiencing a feeling of disbelief that she’d managed to bag a role in a feature. Starring opposite Maisie Williams, who had risen to prominence in Game of Thrones several years prior, Pugh’s character begins experiencing fainting spells, leading to an epidemic in the all-girls school she attends. Set in the late 1960s, the film is a compelling exploration of sexuality, coming-of-age, and mystery, with Pugh earning herself a nomination for ‘Best British Newcomer’ at the 2014 London Film Festival.
Talking to the BBC, she called the whole experience a “big, flashy bizarre experience”. She wasn’t used to acting in front of big cameras, so she found the whole thing rather strange. “I kept on saying at the time it was a fluke because I did the audition, and I didn’t think anything would come of it.”
Before she knew it, she’d landed critical recognition and a subsequent leading role in a film. “Now I’ve gone from working with Maisie to doing a lead role. Lady Macbeth is a great opportunity for me to prove that maybe the outcome of The Falling was not necessarily a fluke,” she added. Clearly, it wasn’t a fluke, and she can now safely call herself one of Hollywood’s most celebrated new stars.
