For Florence Pugh, “Midsommar” was an emotional trip to hell

Actress Florence Pugh, 27, recently opened up about how she was preparing for her role as Dani in psychedelic horror film Midsommar. In an interview for the Off Menu podcast with Ed Gamble and James Acaster, she says she put herself in a dark state of mind in order to empathize with her character, the psychology student who descends into traumatic chaos as the film progresses.

Florence Pugh: “I ended up psychologically abusing myself to do this”

Speaking about the role, Pugh said: “I’ve never played someone who feels so much pain. I put myself in really shitty situations that other actors might not have to do, but I imagined the worst things. Every day the plot got crazier and harder to play. I set my mind on things that got more and more horrible and darker. I think in the end I probably, most definitely, abused myself to do that.”

Pugh also recalls saying goodbye to the Midsommar set and crew was difficult because of the emotional bond she had formed with her character: “I remember looking out of the plane and feeling immense guilt , because I felt like I was leaving Dani in that field, in that emotional state.”

“Why should it be a pleasure to make a film like this?!”

Pugh says she is aware that the emotional abuse of herself was her own fault. But she also mentions some less-than-ideal shooting conditions, such as hot temperatures. Still, she explains that she felt the experience was necessary for the artistic product. “We were shooting in a very hot field with three different languages, so I wouldn’t say it was all comfortable. But it shouldn’t be. Why should it be a pleasure to make a film like this?”

Pugh recently starred alongside Morgan Freeman in Zach Braff’s A Good Person.

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