Florence Pugh on East of Eden and the Tragedy of Cathy Ames

Florence Pugh (0:00)

Every now and then, I see like that image of me falling off the building, I'm like, why did I do that? But I'm so happy I did.

For every trick, you'll get a mark, and at the end of each week, we'll tally them up. May, you performed heroically last week. Not only how many tricks you turned, but just how pungent some of them were. I'll work on getting our clients to bathe. We'd obviously like to keep our business with you. Your services are undeniably superior. Fifteen pounds of laundry, twice a week, more in summer, and our business is growing.

Krista Smith (0:48)

All right, so Florence, I wore this t-shirt. All right. Now, I was at the last Sundance, the last one in Park City, and I got this a little bit of merch, which is very unlike me, but I'd been going for nearly 30 years. And I wore it today because it's the first place I met you. And you were there for Lady Macbeth. I remember. You were 19, and you came into that shooting suite. I was at Vanity Fair at the time, and I rewatched that video because the internet, everything lives forever.

And aside from the crazy curls I had in my hair, I'm not sure about that. But I had said, because I was so just gobsmacked by your performance in that film, and I have it on tape where I was just like, this talent is, everybody get used to this, we're going to be watching this for several decades to come. And I love being proven right.

Florence Pugh (1:42)

I've just got a surge of, well, it must have been like a rush of blood, as you were saying, but my cheeks are feeling very smug.

Krista Smith (1:48)

Yeah.

Florence Pugh (1:49)

Wow. Yeah. Thank you for being on this journey with me.

Krista Smith (1:51)

Yeah, it's been amazing.

Florence Pugh (1:52)

Thank you for watching and supporting and all of the things that you do.

Krista Smith (1:55)

It's great to see you. So, all right, John Steinbeck. Okay.

Florence Pugh (2:01)

Where do we start?

Krista Smith (2:01)

Where do we start? I have so many questions, right? And what I always like about your choices as an actor is you're always flipping the kind of conventional wisdom about a character on its head, right? It started with Lady Macbeth and Midsommar, and even something like Little Drummer Girl, which by the way, is having a resurgence. I know.

So exciting to see that. I know. People are watching that and it's becoming, it's evergreen, basically. There's these characters, these female characters that live on forever, right?

And Cathy Ames, so such a great choice, obviously by the writer, right? Zoe Kazan, right? Who took this novel and turned it on its head and actually focused on the female character. But for you, what was it about this character that made it just so undeniable that you had to be part of this?

Florence Pugh (2:57)

Well, I'm glad you touched upon me turning characters on their head, because I feel like it's become a bit of a thing of mine to play characters that maybe were previously unliked or play female characters that were previously unliked in literature, in scripts, in plays, in films. And I think I've taken huge pride in trying to find ways to make them relatable, human, for maybe the audience to feel empathy towards that character in that setting. And this was, I guess, another example of that. Like, how do we make this woman that is largely portrayed as evil? And how do we get the audience to pause and think and feel for her in a way that hasn't been done before? Oh, poor darling.

Why don't you rest this evening? You've been working so hard, your nerve's afraid. I can look after the others. Stay with me.

Our guests will be waiting. Can't you tell them you're sick? I wish I could, but I can't. I must think of my future.

And that was something that was just, I mean, so exciting to me. But equally at the time when I read the script, it was 2020, I was already thinking about roles that I would want to play in the future or roles that would require for me to grow up, to better my craft, to allow me to expand. And I think during that time, this fell on my lap. Literally came in an email form with an invite from Zoe saying, can you make this with me? Not only can you act for me, but can you be on this creative journey with me? And that was such an invitation as well.