- Florence Pugh says authorities tried to change her image early in her career.
- The star was told to lose weight and change her “look”.
- Pugh initially thought she had made a mistake by joining the film industry.
“Darling” star Florence Pugh has quickly become one of the most popular stars on the planet thanks to her roles in the likes of “The Alien King,” “Madsmar,” “Little Women” and “Black Widow.” But her career took off in 2014 when she starred in “The Falling” opposite “Game of Thrones” alum Maisie Williams.
But after Pugh landed her first leading role, she was told by executives that she needed to lose weight and change her image if she wanted success. The actress spoke to The Telegraph as she recalled her experience starting in the industry.
The British star revealed that when she was 19 she went to the US to audition for a new TV show and was cast as an aspiring musician in the failed pilot “Studio Steve”. But the executive working on the series wanted to change her look as part of the job.
Pugh said: “All the things they tried to change about me – whether it was my weight, my appearance, the shape of my face, the shape of my eyebrows – it wasn’t what I wanted, or the industry. I I wanted to work in it.”
The actress felt like she knew what to expect after starring in “The Falling,” but the stark contrast was shocking to her.
“I thought the movie business would be like this,” Pugh said [my experience of making] ‘Falling’, but in fact, that was what the top of the game looked like, and I felt that I had made a big mistake.
The show never got past the pilot stage and Pugh returned to England, where she played the lead in William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth, which rekindled the actor’s love of film.
She added: “It made me fall in love with cinema again – cinema was the kind of place where you could give an opinion, and out loud, and I stayed in it.”
Pugh’s career has grown since then, most recently starring in Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Be Too Darling” alongside Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Gemma Chan, and Nick Kroll. Rumors surfaced that Pugh clashed with Wilde on the film over the director’s relationship with Styles, which reportedly ended in a shouting match.
The star will next be seen in the 2023 Netflix period drama “The Wonder,” as well as Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” and “Deon: Part II.”
