2020-04-01_Total_Film

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most upsetting thing.” But in a

testament to Pugh’s star power and

Gerwig’s assurance that she was the

only person for the role, the schedules

of both productions were moved to

allow Pugh to do both. “It’s her

confidence,” Gerwig says when TF

asks why Pugh is so unique. “It’s

her directness. It’s her total self-

possession. She’s not silly. She’s totally

in control. And that’s how I saw Amy in

the book.” Sounds very Belova too...

Pugh may be all of those things but

she’s also relatable, something she

works hard at after having something of

a feminist mentor in Emma Thompson

when the two co-starred in TV’s King

Lear in 2018. She was recently appalled

when her new iPhone filtered her face

as standard (“I have a spot here!’ she

railed, “this phone should not

automatically decipher what it’s been

programmed to believe is beautiful!”)

and regularly posts unapologetic,

unflattering selfies plus photos of her

glam team on her social to show the

difference between screen magic and

real life. And she’s thrilled that

whatever else happens in Black Widow

(and like a trained agent, the girl is

really not saying), it shows strong,

capable women who are also fragile and

vulnerable. “[Natasha and Yelena have]

got a bit of pain... they’re not strong,

leading superheroes,” she teased at

Comic-Con last summer. “They are

actually quite broken, they’re hurt and

they’re equals and they know

everything about one another – there’s

a lot of history there.” And, as she told

Beanie Feldstein during a pre-Oscar

chat in early 2020, “The fact that I got

to do one of those films with a lead

actress and the most beautiful and

warm director, Cate Shortland, was a

very, very unique and special

experience. I don’t know what the other

[Marvel] films are like and working on

them, but I remember being on set

many times and thinking, ‘I know this

isn’t like this, I know this is unique and

I have to take it all in.’”

She may not need to take it all in for

posterity if she keeps going as she has.

But for now, Pugh – who admits to living

out of a suitcase for the last couple of

years – is settled in LA and knows exactly

who she is this time around. A

marmalade-making cactus lady who

affectionally calls Timothée Chalamet

‘Timmy Chalamala-bing-bong’ – and

who also happens to be the hottest

young actress out there right now.

BLACK WIDOW WILL OPEN IN CINEMAS ON A

FUTURE DATE TO BE DETERMINED.

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if you go out there shouting about who
you are, they will love you for it,” she
told The Guardian last year. “But if you
go out not knowing what it is that
you’re representing, and you are just a
canvas, they will make you into the
thing they need you to be.”

0HWHRULF5LVH
Lucky for us, the pilot didn’t work out,
Pugh returned to the UK and a few
months later she won the lead in
William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth playing
a young Victorian wife who isn’t about
to let her circumstances dictate her life.
Pugh may not have known what she
represented in La-La Land, but her
assured, knowing and glorious
performance here (“A tour de force,”
TF said in our review) confirmed a new
confidence and won her a BIFA and got
her nommed for a BAFTA. That success
led to a run of calling-card turns;
Fighting With My Family, BBC prestige
drama The Little Drummer Girl, Netflix’s
Outlaw King and Midsommar. She nearly
didn’t get Little Women due to sheer
busy-ness. About to start work on
Midsommar, the original production
schedule for Little Women ruled her out,
but she took a meeting with writer-
director Greta Gerwig and producer Amy
Pascal anyway. “By that point, I didn’t
think it was within reach,” Pugh recalls.
“I just thought that I was in a very lucky
position, and that I was meeting them.
You always have to say goodbye to
projects that you can’t do, and it’s the





FLORENCE PUGH