Florence Pugh says she 'can't do' certain movie roles again because she feels like she 'abused' herself
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- Florence Pugh said certain film roles have left her "broken for a long while afterwards."
- Pugh said she felt like she had "abused" herself while taking on roles like "Midsommar."
- She added that she's had to learn to protect herself as an actor over the years.
Florence Pugh has said she "can't do" certain movie roles again because they have left her feeling "broken."
Appearing on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast last week, the Oscar-nominated star said that she learned the hard way about the importance of setting emotional boundaries while working on the 2019 horror film "Midsommar."
"Protecting myself is something I've had to learn how to do," Pugh said.
"There's been some roles, and I've given too much, and I've been broken for a long while afterwards," she added. "Like when I did 'Midsommar,' I definitely felt like I abused myself in the places that I got myself to go."
The movie, which propelled the British actor to global stardom, saw Pugh play a woman named Dani who, having experienced a family tragedy, travels to a remote Swedish village with her boyfriend (Jack Reynor) to participate in a mystical summer festival. The couple's relationship deteriorates throughout the film as the idyllic weekend reveals increasingly violent and bizarre customs.
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Despite pushing herself to a dark place, Pugh said she wouldn't change things now as throwing herself into a role is part of her process.
"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," she said.
"I don't think I'd be able to do this without going all the way and putting myself in all of those characters that I've played," she continued. "There's always a piece of me, and there's always a moment at the end of filming where I, like, protect and defend those characters to 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."
She added: "There's definitely things that you have to respect about yourself."
"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.'"
Pugh also recently opened up about what it's like to be a young woman in Hollywood, describing the experience as "exhausting."
While promoting her latest movie, "We Live in Time," the 29-year-old actor told The Times of London that female movie stars face being called divas if they don't follow stereotypes.
"There are fine lines women have to stay within," she said.
"I remember godawful headlines about how Keira Knightley isn't thin anymore, or watching women getting torn apart despite being talented and beautiful," she continued. "The only thing people want to talk about is some useless crap about how they look. And so I didn't care to abide by those rules."