Florence Pugh will never forget her role in East of Eden
Florence Pugh says her role in the new Netflix series East of Eden is a part she will remember for the remainder of her career.
Florence Pugh will remember her role in East of Eden "for the rest of (her) career".
The 30-year-old star portrays Cathy Ames in Zoe Kazan's new Netflix series based on John Steinbeck's novel of the same and embraced the challenge of playing a character in a story that spans several decades.
Florence told The Graham Norton Show: "Because I play a character that goes across several decades the thrill for me was figuring her out as she aged. It really was amazing and I had a brilliant time. Creating the series was a dream and I will be talking about this role for the rest of my career."
The Oppenheimer star plays the lead character in the show, which is released on the streamer on October 1, and says her alter ego is "epic in every way".
Florence said: "It is a sweeping epic, and my character is also epic in every way.
"It has been the most amazing journey working with Zoe. It has been so special and it's like releasing our baby. I am very protective of it, and really excited."
Meanwhile, Pugh recalled last year how she suffered from depression for six months after starring in Ari Aster's 2019 film Midsommar – in which she and Jack Reynor played an American drawn into a violent rural Swedish cult.
The Oscar-nominated actress told The Louis Theroux Podcast: "I think [Midsommar] made me sad for like six months after and I didn’t know why I was depressed.
"I got back after shooting Little Women, which was such a fun experience and obviously a completely different tone from Midsommar, so I think shelved all of that.
"And then when I got home for Christmas, I was so depressed and I was like, 'Oh, I think that’s from Midsommar,' and I didn’t deal with it and I probably shouldn’t do that again."
Florence noted how she tried to "sound pained" rather than simply tearful on screen as she wanted to prove herself as a performer during the making of the movie.
The Thunderbolts* star said: "It wasn’t just crying. I needed to sound pained.
"I’d never done anything like that before and I was like, 'OK, well here’s my opportunity. I need to give this a go.'
"And I would just basically put myself through hell. But I don’t do that anymore. It really f***** me up."
The Graham Norton Show airs on BBC One and iPlayer on Friday (25.09.26) at 10.40pm.
