Florence Pugh and Lewis Pullman appear on Kiss Breakfast to discuss their film *Thunderbolts*. The conversation blends professional promotion with personal reflections on mental health, the dynamics of their characters, and lighthearted games, highlighting the actors' chemistry and their views on the importance of vulnerability.
It will all start feeling better the moment you start talking about it.
It's so true.
And just accept that it's okay that you feel a bit weak at the moment.
Florence Pugh and Lewis Pullman, welcome to Kiss Breakfast.
Hello.
Thunderbolts is fantastic.
Thank you.
What is that on the end of it? Is it called an asterisk?
Yeah.
I never know the names of those umlaut, asterisks.
Starry thing.
That's what I do sometimes.
Thunderbolts starry thing. That should actually be the rename, I think.
Yeah, yeah.
Everyone's like, no.
We've already printed all the posters.
17 lawsuits later.
Um, your characters are actually very emotionally deep in the movie.
How many scenes would you describe as good material for your therapist?
Like, some of them are like, it gets pretty dark.
It gets pretty deep.
What would you say is the scene that stands out as like, we need to go to therapy now?
Uh, how about the first intimate chat where she's like, no, just shove it down.
Yeah.
When he's like, and he's like, everyone's better off without me.
Think I want to die.
Yeah.
And she's like, okay, so just hold that thought, put it down and don't tell anyone.
Yeah, that would have been nice to have a therapist.
Yeah, that would have been, she tries.
She does great.
She's really trying to be a good therapist.
I think you are quite good.
She definitely wants to listen, but she's kind of like, oh no, no, no.
You don't deal with it like that.
Yeah.
You just, you just pretend it's never there.
Yeah, and also you kind of just, she shows a kind of a simpatico nature.
Yeah.
That is more helpful than anything you could ever say.
But she is open.
She does want you to be trusting her.
Yeah, yeah.
Was it a therapeutic movie to make?
Was there any real life therapeutic moments for you?
I realized when we were shooting Thunderbolts that I wasn't okay.
And it was really lovely to learn from the art that we were making that like,
everything that Yelena needed to do, which was accept that she wasn't,
she wasn't feeling right and that she needed help and that she needed to ask people for help
was something that I, you know, was definitely in need of doing.
And it was quite a wonderful day when I realized that the thing that I was making
was the exact thing that I needed to learn from.
And so while we were shooting, I, you know, you have to then put your hands up and go,
I'm not doing okay.
I need help.
I need to talk to people.
I just can accept that it's okay to not feel great.
And it was just a wonderful mirrored moment in time where I was like, wow,
my art is actually teaching me.
And that is so beautiful because I think sometimes we need a bit of external
encouragement to recognize when we're not in that place.
I definitely, maybe I'm similar to you in that I will work.
I will work.
One thing about me is I will work.
I will keep myself busy so that I do not have to look at it.
But the joy is that you recognized it and then you could put it into art.
Because I think you guys, a lot of what you do is like influenced by the moments in your life.
And this couldn't have been a better film to kind of exercise that.
It's lovely to hear that you were able to get the help.
I'm so happy for you.
And it also just starts with you talking about it.
Absolutely.
That's literally, it will all start feeling better the moment you start talking about it.
It's so true.
And just accept that it's okay that you feel a bit weak at the moment.
And in a weird way, I think a lot of people watching me in this moment,
I feel a little bit healed by what you just said.
Because you're a global megastar.
You are smashing it.
UK represent.
But also you struggle and life is, excuse my language, s*** sometimes.
So it's hard.
It's bloody hard.
I didn't mean love that as in love that feeling.
No, no, no, no, no.
I understand.
It's hard.
We're all living in a very weird world at the moment.
And it's really, I remember at the time feeling such a relief of going like,
ah, I can stop pretending.
Okay, great.
Now that I've stopped pretending, I can actually be a bit bleh.
And breathe.
Well, I'm really happy to hear that it's hopefully things a bit better now.
Yes.
And Thunderbolts is a sort of unlikely motley crew of kind of bonkers people in a good way.
Very unhinged.
Really unhinged.
You don't necessarily work that well together.
Oh no, terribly.
But Yelena and Bob, how would they go down in the office?
Where would they fit by the water cooler?
How would they deal with someone taking their lunch from the bridge?
Yelena, not so good, I would imagine.
I think she'd be good.
I think she'd be the person that would like constantly be...
I feel like if she worked in an office,
she'd be really irritated that people kept on catching her not working.
Like she'd be like, oh, again, just caught me again.
She'd be like over by your desk, like trying to **** with you.
It's like you need a privacy screen.
And then confused that she kept getting emails being like,
hey, Yelena, can you please get back to work?
Can you please respond to these emails?
Are we talking about offices as a whole or the show, The Office?
No, no, no.
Offices as a whole.
They had an office job.
Okay.
I think that I would, I think Bob would probably just like
really try and make a lot of copies of stuff.
So it looks like he's doing a lot of things.
But actually like everyone's like, I don't need any more copies.
Bob, please do some other work.
Please do anything else.
Or he'd be really good at paperclipping things together.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Or back in the day, faxing.
I feel like you'd know how to fax.
Yeah, yeah.
Something simple, quick and, you know, just straightforward.
Always eating a donut.
Oh, that's nice though.
And if not a donut, then a bagel.
Yeah.
But only round things.
Yes, I mean, as we all should be just eating round things.
Have you ever heard of a game called Don't Break the Chain?
No, but I cannot wait to play it.
Yeah, we're gonna, it's gonna kick off in here right now.
Kick off.
This is the Don't Break the Chain Thunderbolts edition, funnily enough.
And basically, it's a word association game.
I start you off with a Thunderbolts inspired word.
Okay.
You then bounce off each other until one of you fails.
And then I shame you for the rest of your life.
Oh my god, wait, what does failure look like?
I can't tell you that until we see it.
And we feel it.
Yeah.
Okay, we're gonna kick off.
This is quite a niche word, but I picked it because it was my,
after watching the film, it was the word that stood out to me.
Limousine is gonna be our kickoff word.
I know it's not literally based around Marvel,
but it is a big part of the film.
Wait, every word has to be Marvel related?
No, no, no.
It just has to be related to the word.
Yeah, but it can be Marvel related.
Yeah.
Okay, here we go.
Limousine.
Long.
Tall.
Wait, what?
Oh, Florence, you failed.
Can I go over the rules again?
Does it have to be associated with limousine or am I now going off tall?
That's a good point.
Actually, Lewis, you failed.
Wait, wait, wait.
I thought I was going off of long.
No, we have to stick to limousine.
You have to stick off the word.
Wait, which word?
The next word.
Okay, so the moment we move away from limousine, it's fine.
Yes, it's fine.
Sorry, that's my fault.
Neither of you failed.
I'm gonna give you another go because I failed.
No, and failure is all part of the process.
Yes, thank you, Lewis.
I appreciate that.
All right, okay, next word we're changing it is gonna be Yelena.
Blonde.
Hair.
Face.
Nose.
Smell.
Armpit.
Deodorant.
Stinky.
Chamomile.
Tea.
Toddy.
Friend.
In need.
Wait, why is toddy and friend linked?
Because there's a person called toddy.
Carry on.
Friend.
I'll do TV show.
Rachel.
Rachel getting married.
That's not a word, I'm afraid, Lewis, you failed.
I felt it.
I feel what we were talking about beforehand.
I am experiencing it.
I'm going through it right now, real time.
How does it feel to be a failure, Lewis?
A little queasy.
Queasy?
Yeah.
I like that.
You did a little bit of a British accent there, which I want to get into that quickly because
Bob, your character is not British.
Is not.
No, no, no, but wait for it, guys.
Wait for the link.
I got this, guys, don't worry.
Florence is British, don't know if you knew that.
There is a phrase in the UK called Bob's your uncle.
Yes.
Did Florence teach you that during filming?
If not, Florence, what were you doing?
I was clearly f***ing up, that's what I was clearly doing.
No.
Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt.
Yeah.
And what do you think that means?
Bob's, it means, you know, and there it is, you know, and that's that.
And why do you think it's Fanny's your aunt?
Because butts.
No, does that make sense?
Fanny is not your butt.
What is Fanny?
Fanny is your vagina.
Fanny is your front bum.
Okay.
I said it like a three-year-old and you said it like a normal human.
Fanny's your front bum.
Okay.
Okay, cool.
So Fanny's your aunt.
Fanny's this, bum's that.
And then also there's a person called Fanny.
But also Fanny can be a name.
Okay, Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt.
Fun fact, in Black Widow, Yelena gets a dog and she names it Fanny.
Fanny's your dog.
Fanny Longbottom.
Yeah, so let's make that a thing.
Florence, Fanny's your dog.
Big time.
Um, I've only got one more question before we go.
Yeah, we have gone so off topic.
No, that's my favourite.
Okay.
I think you're like confused.
Please let everyone know that they don't know what's going on.
Okay.
Okay, um, Thunderbolt's poster is not super, not here, is not giving up.
Love that.
But I want to know what Florence and Lewis's not slogan would be.
So Florence Pugh, not.
Give me three nots.
The poster says Thunderbolt's not giving up, is what it says.
I basically am giving you so many confusing things to do.
But I'm getting you to tell me three things about you that are not.
So Lewis Pullman, not.
Okay, Florence Pugh, not tall.
Good one.
Florence Pugh, not quiet.
Thank God.
Florence Pugh, not normal.
Nice.
Lovely.
Lewis?
This is gonna take me hours.
Perfect.
Let's drop in.
Not.
Boring.
That's so, so sweet.
Because it looks like she was just calling you boring.
Um, not, um, not, not say.
Not awake.
Yeah.
Not awake.
I feel like you're one of those people that doesn't like saying nice things about themselves.
Yeah, but that's too long.
We gotta, we gotta.
You gotta say, you gotta say nice things about yourself.
So not boring.
Not boring.
Wow.
Not, um.
Not unfunny.
Thanks.
Double negative, love it.
Not.
Um, not ready for a nap, you know, at all times.
Every day.
Yeah, you are ready for a nap.
I'm always.
Perfect.
I can sleep anywhere.
I will, it's good to know if I see Lewis sleeping somewhere.
Not, never wearing, not cowboy boots.
Do you know what?
This could be a new film.
Is always wearing, all the time.
Never.
Not.
Cowboy boots.
Perfect.
Do you love cowboy boots?
All the time.
Didn't know that about you.
Oh, that's a thing, isn't it?
I do not.
I just went to Nashville.
I learned about cowboy boots for the first time.
I caught him having a nap once and he only was wearing cowboy boots.
Do you carry like matches in there as well?
They're weird stuff and I don't know.
And sausage rolls.
I saw one in there.
Really?
Sausage roll.
Sometimes I'll put my phone in there.
Have you got any snacks?
You're joking.
No.
You got any snacks in there now?
I should.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I've got some.
Where do you put your phone?
Got some Greg sausage rolls.
Yeah.
British, British.
You should actually put a little pouch in there so you could put like a little pocket.
You guys are innovators of the best kind.
I'll do it.
I'll throw it in there.
Thank you.
New brand deal, but she's taking 20%, okay?
I think you take 80, you know.
50.
Oh, I get 80.
Okay, yeah.
Guys, thank you so much.
Chaotic and perfect.
I loved it.
This has been a blast.
So chaotic.
I love it.
Thank you, guys.
Have a good day.
Thank you.