Florence Pugh Raves About Working w/ Zach Braff & Reveals One Of Her ‘Love Languages’

Florence, wow. Hi. I watched the film this weekend. You took me on a journey, girl, an emotional roller coaster. It was incredible. Talk to me a bit about why this film is so emotional and somewhat cathartic, I found it, by the end. Well, I mean, that's the whole point of this movie, is it's dealing with grief, it's dealing with addiction, it's dealing with how this person is pulling themselves back up. I think, you know, Zach wrote this during the pandemic, just at the very, very beginning, and it clearly was just something that was coming out of him. He had dealt with a lot of grief as his father had passed, his sister had passed during the time we were both going through losing our friend Nick, who was ill with COVID at the time. And I think this was just like something that was just needing to come out. And so all the feelings that you have at the end of the movie, that the need to cry and release, the need to laugh at those bizarre moments in the movie, which only Zach can do so well. I think this really is a movie that we've needed after the pandemic. We've needed after so much loss and so much shock. It's something that is important to highlight how people come back from such a low. I felt that release for sure. I mean, speaking of the laughing, you had me, of course, sobbing. You had me laughing. You had me holding my seat. How did you kind of develop and move into the role of Alison? Well, so I was a part of the process whilst he was writing the script. I wasn't allowed to read anything. I wasn't allowed to go through, read a dialogue with him at all. He wanted to make sure that it was written perfectly by the time that I read it. But every aspect of creating Alison and creating these characters, he'd come up from the office and we'd just chat about things over dinner. We'd chat about character arcs. About where they're going. Oh, that's amazing. What do you think this is going to lead to? So I was very, very much a part of the blueprint of who she was. And it meant that when I came to the script, I knew so much about her already. Even if it wasn't completely on the page, I knew who she was. I just cut like seven corners, basically. I had that dialogue with the director already. He knew exactly who he was writing for. He was writing dialogue for me in my voice. And then I just needed to breathe life into her. She was amazing. Thank you. I feel like I've met her at some point, right? You mentioned kind of this dialogue about the movie. And I heard or I read somewhere that obviously brought you to tears every scene. I'm glad I wasn't alone. But that the cooking was kind of like the release at the end of the day. How is that so? Making a big meal. That's the cathartic release. I think for me, food and cooking has always been such... It's a full stop at the end of the day. Yeah. It's something that my family have been always very... It's crucial, basically. And I don't know. I think chopping and providing and hosting and feeding is clearly, I've been told, is one of my love languages. It clearly is. But yeah, I'd come home from work and would feed everyone. I'd just start chopping up a ratatouille or a bolognese. Casual. It would just genuinely be something that I'd need to do. And I think especially when you go through those big days and you go to the places that you need to go to to get whatever performance it is that you need. I need love. Food is love. I need love and cooking and providing and chopping and focusing on something. It's one of those hobbies that... Yeah, it's good for me. I've seen your Instagram. It looks very delicious. I just got a new air fryer. So we'll see if I can... I've never used one. Well, it's a smart oven. I made a pizza in eight minutes last night. That's not, that can't be real. So I'm going to compete with you. Magic Willy Wonka food. I know, it's pretty wild. You know, you mentioned going to these kind of intense places for this film. Is it helpful having somebody that you know and trust behind the camera to get there? What's that like? Totally, I mean, I always need to have, you know, complete trust and respect with people that I'm working with because you go to such deep places. And if you don't have that, it feels really scary. And it does feel very, very scary when you're not in sync. And, you know, for example, working with Zach, A, I'd had months of talking about who this person was prior to when we got shooting. But also just the collaborative nature of what Zach offers is pretty crucial and key as to why the movie feels like this. He allows space for people to come in and to do their thing as well. He allows crew members to be proud of the work that we're doing. He creates a tone on set that encourages people to want to do better tomorrow. And just having him also be an actor, knowing and understanding how to approach you when you're in these spaces is crucial. It allows me to be free and it allows me to feel like I can go further. Yeah, it felt like everything clicked. I could feel it in watching the film. What else clicked for me was, I want to ask you a couple of days ago, you had quite the splash at the Oscars on the carpet. I mean, this was like, this broke my Instagram. This broke my Instagram feed. It broke your Instagram? I feel like it just kind of erupted. There was smoke coming out of it. Everybody was posting this. And not one, but two. Oh, yeah. Valentino looks. What was the inspiration behind these moments? You know, I think for me, a red carpet or a champagne carpet is so crucial to be having fun. I need to have fun. And I can't just do... I can't go... They're so serious, you know, red carpets. But otherwise, I think I'd just go crazy if I was trying to align myself with some sort of beauty standard. I can't do that. And every single creation, whether it's the dresses or whatever it is that Valentino Pierpaolo has designed for me, my glam team, I work with Alex Babski and Peter Lux and Rebecca Corbin-Murray. And every time, it's like, okay, what can we do this time? How can we wow people? And how can we have fun? How can we keep on having fun? That's the most important thing. When that look came down the runway, I clocked it. And I was hoping somebody would wear it. Yes. Yeah, with the boobs. Yeah, with the boobs and the short and the thing. Yeah. And I was so glad it was you. Thank you so much. Yeah, I had a lot of fun in that dress. Thank you so much for this amazing film. I feel like it made my entire last 48 hours. Thank you. It was really... I mean, I had to go shopping after, but... Yeah, yeah, yeah. As soon as you got the outfit. But it was amazing. Thank you. It's lovely to meet you. Such a pleasure. Cheers. Have a wonderful day.