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ŠƄŹźŶ ŖƁƒƈƆƄƃFamily wowed at Sundance in January
last year showcasing Pugh’s physical
dexterity and on-screen BDE; while
Ari Aster’s Hereditary 2019 follow-up
Midsommar pivoted on her vanity-free,
visceral exploration of a woman in
mourning freefall. By Christmas the
world – and Academy voters – were
falling in love with her nimble turn as
Amy in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women,
which nabbed her an Oscar nod. This
year Pugh will cement that trajectory
with a blockbuster bow, playing Yelena
Belova, Black Widow’s sister assassin in
the character’s first standalone. And
y’know, given that Belova became the
second Black Widow in the comics and
is every bit as kick-ass as Romanoff (“I
may lack your experience but I am your
equal or your better in every other
respect,” she tells Natasha in Black
Widow No 1), it wouldn’t be surprising if
we discover that Pugh is the new Widow
on the block for future instalments.)LQGLQJ+HU)HHW
Of course, she’s not saying anything
about that when we probe her for
details, deftly sidestepping to enthuse
about the training she underwent and
note the pressure she put on herself to
get this right. “When I signed on to
Black Widow, I knew that it was going
to take a lot out of me. I remember
thinking at the time: I didn’t want to
ever do one of those films if I wasn’t
mentally and physically prepared. It’s
got a massive fandom. I was aware that
this wasn’t something I could just roll
on to, because it means too much to so
many people. So when I said yes, I was
aware that I wanted to really throw
myself into it.” She pauses. “I think you
have a lot of opportunity in those films,
and I think you have a lot of power in
those films to be who you want the
world to follow and respect.”
Being someone who’s respected is
important to Pugh after an unhappy
experience in Hollywood early in her
career. The second-youngest of four
kids – all of whom act (her older
brother, Toby played Trystane Martell
in Game Of Thrones) – Oxford-bred Pugh
didn’t have acting training but landed
her first film role while still in sixth
form when she aced an open audition
for Carol Morley’s The Falling at the age
of 17. That led to a TV pilot in America,
Studio City, but Pugh – slim and petite- was asked to lose weight for the part.
“What I’ve noticed about Hollywood is,
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