RIGHT ON PUGH
If you set out to dismiss Amy March in Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of Little Women , it’s safe to assume you failed. You probably protested just as much against Paige Bevis in the wrestling comedy Fighting with My Family , before coming around to her side of the ring and cheering on the anti-protagonist from the nosebleeds. And, if you dared to watch Ari Aster’s folk horror film Midsommar , you’d be forgiven for warming to the troubled Dani, even as she smiles at the sight of her boyfriend trapped inside a bear’s body while being burnt alive. That’s because in this strange trilogy of diverse performances, Florence Pugh’s distinct ability to soften the edges of disagreeable characters comes into focus on screen, as everything we dislike about them recedes into the background.
Born in Oxford, England, Pugh made her film debut in , a mystery-drama set in an all-girls school rocked by sexual exploits. The titularcame next, followed by the part of Cordelia in a 2018 adaptation of . But it was the following year that solidified Pugh as an ascending star. Appearing in three blockbuster films, none resembling the other, each proving her unique power to try different characters on for size. Slipping back into the 19th century – where she held her own next to Meryl Streep, who played Aunt March in – before returning to the 21st in and , Pugh deftly circumnavigated Hollywood’s trap of falling into a predictable repertoire. Her next three films will be equally diverse: Pugh will soon star as a killer robot in a sci-fi courtroom drama, produce and star in a whodunnit murder mystery, and lead , a 1950s domestic drama directed by Olivia Wilde and co-starring Harry Styles.
