Florence Pugh says she ‘abused herself’ while filming chilling horror movie

Florence Pugh has opened up about the abuse she put herself through while filming Midsommar.

The 29-year-old led the cast in Ari Aster’s 2019 horror movie, alongside Will Poulter, Jack Reynor, Isabelle Grill and William Jackson Harper.

It followed couple Dani (Florence) and Christian (Jack) visiting their friend in a picturesque village in Sweden during the annual Midsummer festival, where their idyllic getaway soon makes way for something much darker.

Although she was widely praised for her portrayal in the chilling flick, the We Live In Time actress revealed that she gave ‘too much’ of herself to the film.

During an appearance on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast, the host questioned how she had managed to look after herself, and her mental health, while working.

‘I’m still figuring it out,’ she replied. ‘I don’t think I’d be able to do this without going there all the way, and putting myself in all of those characters that I’ve played. There’s always a piece of me.

‘There’s always a moment at the end of filming where I protect and defend those characters until the very end, even if they’ve done god-awful things. I think that’s only natural when you’re in someone for so long.

‘Protecting myself is something I’ve had to learn how to do. There have been some roles where I’ve given too much, and I’ve been broken for a long while afterwards.

‘When I did Midsommar, I definitely felt like I abused myself in the places that I got myself to go.

‘The nature of figuring these things out is you need to go, “Alright, well, I can’t do that again because that was too much.”

‘But then I look at that performance and I’m really proud of what I did, and I’m proud of what came out of me. I don’t regret it.

‘There’s definitely things that you have to respect about yourself.’

Midsommar became an instant hit when it first premiered six years ago, and was praised by fans and critics alike – with a lot of the applause stemming from Florence’s efforts as Dani.

She was branded a ‘tour de force’, ‘astounding’, ‘astonishingly compelling’ and ‘superb’ by impressed reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes.

However, this isn’t the first time that the Oppenheimer star has shed light on her efforts in production, sharing that she would put herself ‘in really s***ty situations’ to make sure her portrayal came across accurately.

‘When I did it, I was so wrapped up in her and I’ve never had this ever before with any of my characters,’ she said on the Off Menu podcast in 2023.

‘I’d never played someone that was in that much pain before, and I would put myself in really s***ty situations that maybe other actors don’t need to do but I would just be imagining the worst things.

‘Each day the content would be getting more weird and harder to do. I was putting things in my head that were getting worse and more bleak.

‘I think by the end I probably, most definitely abused my own self in order to get that performance.’

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