Good Person (2023) Florence Pugh Full Interview

I got involved about a year and a half ago. During the lockdown, during the pandemic, Zach really wanted to start writing again and so every day he would go to his office and he would kind of lock himself in until like 4pm and write. He finds writing quite tricky, he's very good at it but he finds it hard to get going. And so basically throughout this time where everybody didn't know what to do with their lives, he started writing and being creative and opening his mind to a story. And so throughout that whole process I was obviously there listening to the pieces of where he was going to go with this story and who he was thinking of when he wrote this movie for me. So I've kind of been hearing about it ever since the beginning. I'd never had a character that was so well matched with how I could play someone, how she sounded and also I had someone write a character for me knowing full well what I was capable of and knowing full well what he could get out of me and that was only reassuring and inspiring. And I've never been in that position where someone's written something uniquely for me because they know me and you'd think that it would mean that the other person knows exactly what you're capable of. So I read it and was very proud of him obviously but just so excited to do pretty much every single scene in the script. He writes such good dialogue that it makes you slip into those characters and that world so easily. I was really really just proud of the like our dynamic and how we understood what each other meant and why that person would get authentic unique performance from you meant that everybody just felt safe all the time and everybody felt excited to do whatever idea it was that they wanted to do. And when you have that level of safety a it means that that set is happy and b it means that you all feel completely included in the fact that this film got made and in the way that it got made. Our two characters Daniel and Alison are constantly going head to head whether it be their age is going head to head whether it be that they are needing friendship in this part of their lives. They are both coming to each other with a need for some sort of love and some sort of validation in moving on with their lives. And working with Morgan Freeman with doing that kind of matched both of our personalities perfectly. You know he's a legend. Everybody has ultimate respect for him the moment he comes on set and he commands space and he commands power and that is exactly how Daniel has possibly led his life as well. In terms of casting my mum Alison has to come from a totally loved household but also a scatty household. She's had a dad that left her when she was younger with nothing other than her mum in the house and her mum has also tried to deal and handle that as well. So casting Molly Shannon as the mum who's totally lovable but also hasn't got her ---- together was perfect casting. And just in terms of the different energies that both those two different characters then bring to set meant that Alison also could be those two different energies which was really cool. Chinaza is an incredible actor and when we were auditioning I remember Zach one day suddenly I was in Ireland filming and he messaged me one day and he was like you need to watch these tapes immediately. And I watched them immediately and was I mean I think everybody that watched those tapes had goosebumps up their arm. Like he did three of the biggest scenes in the movie that he does with me, with Molly and with Morgan. He did them over Zoom and like just smacked you in the face with the level of acting that he did and I was so excited to work with him after seeing that. He has a very, he has sad eyes when he wants them to be and it was genuinely a dream acting alongside him. I was so excited to get to set every day to talk about how we were going to do this. And also I think like when you find comfort in someone like that when you are such good mates it's even more real and sadder to portray these two characters that have just like missed each other in life. Because you still do have that twinkle and you do have that happiness. Celeste plays Ryan, this very troubled, very angry, very emotional, very bubbly, very incredible young girl. And it was really cool working with someone who was just ready to learn and being so inspired by the set around her. And I think she really loved asking questions and I don't mean that in an annoying way. I mean like it's really wonderful when you work with someone who just is dying to know more and is dying to learn from you and learn from this experience and let's figure things out together. Let's have a conversation about where we are as these two characters. And I loved working with her. She has this incredible energy that she just like brings happiness onto a set. Throughout the film you constantly see these two very fiery, kind of a bit nutty women constantly make peace, make love with each other as people and then just abuse each other and throw each other away again. And of course, I don't know, I'm not a mum, but the position that Diane is in is incredibly tricky. And it's very hard to say no to a child when clearly they're in pain. And that's a constant theme that Alison always dangles above her head. Alison's interest in music kind of withers as she withers. So at the beginning we see her completely confident and completely full of life and she's raring to go and ready to sing any song. And I used to sing and create and write songs a whole lot more than I do now. And the less I did it because I focused on acting or I focused on, you know, really trying to succeed in this industry, I left that to the side thinking that one day I'll come back to it. But the less I touched it, I had no confidence in picking up the guitar and singing in front of people. And whenever my sitting in the pain of whatever it is that we're feeling, almost as our own version of punishment. And so I, in my own way, I can resonate with those themes, even if they are in a small way.