大象传媒

1. She got the acting bug at school

It wasn’t a teacher or a favourite movie that sparked Pugh’s early ambition, it was an amateur costume designer. Linda Mace was a parent at Pugh’s primary school who made all the costumes for the children’s plays. “It wasn’t her job… but it was something she was amazing at,” says Pugh. “The most exciting thing when we did plays was to go into her warehouse… to find your character’s costume. It was the best.” It made Pugh understand the excitement of acting. “I think her passion was infectious. It was like it rubbed off on everyone.” Pugh’s first acting role was as Mary in the school Nativity, which she decided to do with a Yorkshire accent. She remembers telling her mum, “I love the power of how everybody is silent, waiting for my next line.”

2. She got her big break at 17

Pugh’s first professional job, which she won by sending in an audition tape shot by her mum, was in Carol Morley’s The Falling, playing an ill-fated pregnant teen. She says that first role taught her an enormous amount about acting and how to be truthful: “Carol insisted there were no monitors near set, so we couldn’t see ourselves. She did that because she didn’t want us acting for vanity. My first experience on film, I never really saw myself, which was amazing… What she did in that simple action… she was saving us from falling into the trap of ‘girls need to be beautiful… or anxious about how they look’. It was a wonderful gift she gave us. In my first movie I wasn’t in any way acting [out of self-consciousness].”

3. She loves the 1800s

Pugh has made a lot of period movies in her career, particularly stories set in the 1800s. They include Lady Macbeth, Little Women and her new film, The Wonder. It’s not accidental. “Something I love about the 1800s and something I clearly keep coming back to is that there were obviously always powerful women and strong-minded, opinionated women, but they were dealing with a completely different set of cards,” she says. “A set of cards that were against them.”

Florence Pugh in King Lear 2018

4. She was terrified she didn’t know ‘proper acting’

Because she went straight from school – not drama school – to professional acting, Pugh has never had any training. She says that when she played Cordelia in the film King Lear, with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, she realised she didn’t do it like everyone else. “It was absolutely terrifying,” she says. “I constantly thought that at some point someone was going to be like, ‘oh goodness, we should have gone for someone with a theatre background.’” She remembers a table read when everyone else got their scripts out, covered in notes and highlights and bookmarks. Pugh’s had none. “It’s very easy to suddenly feel like you’re not supposed to be there.” But she views her career as her training. “Every single job at the beginning of my career, [I was] working with unbelievable actors and directors. I was constantly learning.”

5. She only does jobs that make her nervous

Pugh says she can tell when she needs to take a role because, “I’ll instantly become nervous. Not scared about the character, but nervous about how I’m going to pull it off. The moment I have those nerves, because I’m excited, I know I’m going to end up doing it. In every single film I’ve done, there’s been a scene within the first 20 pages where I’m instantly nervous.” She remembers in Lady Macbeth, in which she plays a woman trapped in a loveless marriage, there’s a scene where she must appear naked. “I wasn’t nervous about taking my clothes off, but I thought, ‘If this is done well, it will be a really powerful and horrible way to set up the rest of the story’… When I read it, I remember thinking, ‘If I do this right, if the shot is right, this film should be amazing.’”

6. Little Women was the first time she saw her success

The press tour for Little Women, which came out when Pugh was 23, was the first time she felt aware of any buzz around her. “I’ve always ended up just missing the moment things pop off,” she says, because she’s usually working, not doing press tours. “Even though it’s sad in a way to miss those mega moments, in a wonderful way it kept me away from what it means to suddenly be wanted and then not be wanted… That’s what happens every time a film comes out, everybody recognises you for a second and then they don’t because you’re not on a bus anymore.”

7. She’s thankful her TV career flopped

In 2015, when she was still just a teenager, Pugh was offered a role in a new American TV show called Studio City. She shot a pilot episode, but it never aired. The show was immediately cancelled. What should have been devastating, Pugh calls a huge relief. “I was not built for that,” she says. “After I did that American series, I remember coming back home and I didn’t feel good in myself at all… I thought ‘If this is the top of the game, getting a lead in a big series, and I’m not happy, then maybe I’ve got the wrong industry.’” Two weeks later she got the role in Lady Macbeth that sent her career rocketing. “In a bittersweet way, I’m so grateful [the TV network] didn’t like [Studio City].”

8. She’ll probably release an album

Before she was an actress, Pugh had a bit of a following as a singer on YouTube, going by the name Flossy Rose. “I would have put money on me being a singer far more than being an actor,” she says. “To me, being an actor was so far away. I knew I could do it, but I didn’t know how to get there. Whereas me with my guitar being recorded and going on YouTube… was far more accessible.” She hasn’t ditched her dreams of being a musician. She’s recorded songs for A Good Person, an upcoming film by Zach Braff, and wants to release her own album. “I intend to release music. It’s something I’ve been so conscious of ever since my acting career [took off], that I do miss it.”

9. She’d love to direct

Pugh’s career is still relatively young. There’s plenty more she wants to do. “I’d love to do theatre,” she says. “I haven’t done any… There are offers, but I’m terrified! I want to do it. I want to find the right role.” She also wants to get behind the camera. “I’d love to direct. I’d love to understand films in a deeper way.” With Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneueve, Greta Gerwig and Carol Morley already on her CV, she’s certainly learning from the best people.