‘I Need To Wake The F–k Up’: Florence Pugh’s Been Really Career-Focused. What Changed For Her In Hollywood This Year
Florence Pugh is, seemingly, one of the most diligent working actors today. She had two major 2024 movie schedule hits but has had seven titles to her name over the past two years (and with more on the way). The British actor has taken account of her professional successes, amongst them are comedies, blockbusters, iconic indies, and Oscar awarded films, but is on a new path. She opened up about what changed for her this year and how she plans to move foward in the coming years.
The Black Widow star has astonishingly been in the industry for only a decade and has already cemented her place as a fan favorite. In that time, she’s learned a lot of valuable lessons and paved a path that works for her (including being one of the many leaving Los Angeles to live a life that makes sense for her). The Little Women alum got candid with The Times about these lessons and how We Live in Time instrumentally changed her perspective on her personal life. On her experience after filming the romantic movie, she said:
When I finished filming my life changed. Relationships came and went, and I had this opportunity to look at my life away from my work. And I realised, OK, I need to wake the fuck up.
John Crowley’s romantic dramedy centers around the lives of a couple — played by Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield — who face life’s ups and downs over the course of a decade. A good story, no matter the formatting, has the power to change lives, and Pugh seemed to have taken deeply to it. It’s great that she saw the opportunity to take the time to examine what she needed personally and not just rush through the feeling.
After all, she is no stranger to speaking up and advocating for herself and others, especially when it comes to Hollywood and its perspective on female bodies. The Oppenheimer actor expanded on exactly what she was critically diving into and where she’d like to go from here. She said:
I had to look away from my career, from movies, from wanting to be this kind of actor, that kind of actor. Or how many awards I would love to get before I pass away. That’s been my focus for ten years, but I want to make sure that the things I need to do, whether children, family, change, change in relationships … well, I realised I need to make changes now. Because I’m a worker bee and that is why I’ve never wanted a break. Everything was just, wow! What’s next? And it is only ten years in that I can now go, oh, I need to do a bit of my life.
I just love the fact that the Oscar nominee took a pause and looked at what she wanted personally, even amongst all of her continuing professional successes. I don’t know how many other public figures would commit to the same examination and be open about it. The whole thing makes me love the Dune actor more. And this comes after I absolutely adored her reaction to Andrew Garfield totting a cardboard cutout of her at their We Live in Time premiere this past fall.
With all of this said though, Florence Pugh does have plenty coming in the next two years, and a lot of it pertains to Marvel. We can expect the much anticipated Thunderbolts*, which is part of the 2025 movie schedule next year. In the film, she’ll reprise her role as Yelena Belova. That’s a role that Pugh will also play on the Marvel Zombies series, which is part of our 2025 TV schedule.
Even with all the projects and successes, I do hope and believe that the Fighting with My Family alum will find what she is looking for outside of work. Right now, though, it sounds like she now really understands what’s important for her life.
