Florence Pugh ‘abused’ herself over ‘Midsommar’: ‘I felt huge guilt’

Florence Pugh talks about the “tremendous guilt” she felt while wrapping up “Midsommar”.

The Oscar-nominated actress looked back on the 2019 psychological thriller written and directed by Ari Aster. Pugh plays Dani, a psychology student whose toxic relationship unravels while visiting a cult community in Sweden.

“When I did it, I was so wrapped up in it, and I’ve never had that with any of my actors before,” Pugh said in “Exit menu” podcast. “I’ve never played someone who’s been in so much pain, and I’ve put myself in shitty situations that maybe other actors don’t have to do, but I’d only imagine the worst.”

The ‘A Good Man’ star continued: ‘Every day the content gets weirder and harder. I put things in my head that were getting worse and bleaker. I think by the end I probably abused myself to get that performance.”

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Pugh added: “We were shooting in very hot territory in three different languages, so I wouldn’t say it was all pleasant. Also, you shouldn’t. Why would it be pleasant to make such a film?”

Right after “Midsommar,” Pugh moved to Boston for Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” and suffered emotional whiplash between the two roles.

“I remember looking out (of the plane) and feeling a huge sense of guilt because I felt (Dani) was leaving in that (emotional) state in that area,” he said. “It’s really weird. I’ve never had that before. Obviously it’s a psychological thing where I felt huge guilt about what I went through, but I definitely felt like I left her in that area to be abused, almost like I created that person and just left it there to go and make another movie.”

Pugh paid tribute to the “Midsommar” cast, calling them a “true brotherhood” in a social media post at the time.

“I remember the first one was so long, so much longer than the movie you all saw,” Pugh said, referring to the climactic crash scene he and Dani made famous. “When Ari said cut, we all held each other’s arms, dug our nails into each other’s palms and cried. she was sobbing. He rose. I remember it was very difficult to stop… Indeed, these women made this scene possible. I knew I would never again be as open, raw and exhausted as I was that day. The scenes that make you cringe or cringe or turn away from the screen when you watch them are the scenes that can feel the most human for at least ten seconds. But it took hours for us. Beautiful, tough, proud watches.”

The “Don’t Worry Darling” actress recently also referred to the enormous weight of the floral dress she wore in the final sequence of the film.

“That dress was so heavy,” Pugh said in “They are hot” YouTube series. “These amazing costume makers and designers spent months and weeks on this. And each flower is individually and hand made and each one has wire. So each flower obviously adds weight to the dress. It takes about 15-20 minutes to get in and out. So I tried to stay calm. This meant that on hot days I would be damn hot.

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