The three movies that cheer up Florence Pugh
Few stars in recent memory have experienced an ascension as rapid as that of Florence Pugh, who was a relative unknown less than five years ago but now finds herself as one of the most popular, in-demand, and fastest-rising young talents in the entire industry.
Pugh’s credentials were never in doubt from the beginning following strong notices for 2016’s period drama Lady Macbeth and episodic John le Carré adaptation The Little Drummer Girl two years later, though, followed by the rapid-fire releases of Netflix duo Outlaw King and Malevolent later that same year.
However, it was in 2019 when her career had a rocket strapped to its back after Dwayne Johnson-produced biopic Fighting With My Family, acclaimed folk horror sensation Midsommar, and Greta Gerwig’s Little Woman were all released within the space of ten months, with the latter landing her an Academy Award nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actress’.
These days, Pugh is a certified superhero as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will dip her toes back into blockbuster waters with the impending arrival of Dune: Part Two, and has won a legion of fans with her outspoken and affable personality. With that in mind, there are many people keen to discover what movies she revisits when she needs cheering up, even if they couldn’t be more different.
As the actor revealed to IGV, the first is a family affair after Pugh noted that both she and her father are huge fans of Four Weddings and a Funeral. Her reasoning is “just because it’s a classic,” which is a hard assessment to argue with, considering it’s one of the most enduringly beloved romantic comedies of the modern era.
Keeping up her coincidental obsession with the number, Chris Morris’ sensational satire Four Lions is listed by Pugh as “one of my pick-me-ups” for the sole reason that “you can’t go wrong with Four Lions“. As a top-tier British comedy that masterfully skirts the line between being brazenly tasteless and subversively whip-smart, it’s another sentiment that’s difficult to contend with.
There may only be three of them and not four, but Pugh nonetheless appears to harbour the most love for Charlie’s Angels, albeit one member of the cast in particular: “Drew Barrymore’s Charlie’s Angels. She was my star when I was younger,” she gushed. “I mean, she’s my star now, she was my star star.”
As it turned out, those feelings were reciprocated entirely, with Zach Braff making a point of telling Pugh of his plans before he appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show: “I just texted her before I came on, I said, ‘I’m doing Drew’s show,'” he announced. “She goes, ‘Oh my god, will you please tell her that I was obsessed with Charlie’s Angels? I know her fight choreography.'”
Upon finding that out, Barrymore demanded Braff inform her that “her name should officially be changed to The Great Florence Pugh.” Unfortunately, Charlie’s Angels was very recently remade to fairly dismal results, but Pugh may yet get her chance to really live the dream given how often IP is repurposed these days.
