Florence Pugh has opened up on the 80s-set Netflix horror movie she “probably” wishes she had never made.
Released in 2018, Malevolent sees Pugh in the lead role of Angela, who, alongside brother Jackson (Ben Lloyd-Hughes), runs a scam as fake paranormal experts hired by those who believe their homes are haunted.
That is, until one case changes the trajectory of their lives and leaves them questioning whether the sinister entities they have always been skeptical about are, in fact, real.
It received a mixed reaction from critics and fans alike, holding a lukewarm 54% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
And lead star Pugh was among those criticising the supernatural horror film, telling Louis Theroux on his podcast that she has never watched the film.
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“I love horror. I’ve even seen Malevolent, not for research. I just happened to have seen it,” Theroux said, to which Pugh shared that she had not seen it since making it.
“It’s probably the one movie that I wish I never did. I think everybody has one of those movies,” she continued.
When asked why she wished she hadn’t done it, she replied: “I think it was just a movie that I did when I was younger, and I needed money. And I was like, well, obviously this is great. And then I got there and it wasn’t great.”
Elsewhere on the podcast, Pugh explained how her role as Dani in the iconic horror film Midsommar “f****d her up” and how she “manipulated her own emotions” for her performance.
Ari Aster’s award-winning film follows Dani as she, boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor), and a group of their friends travel to a small Swedish village to visit Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren).
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While there, Dani is forced to reflect on her relationship with the increasingly distant Christian, a recent, devastating personal tragedy, and the roots of the cult as their visit becomes increasingly bizarre and violent.
Speaking about the film, Pugh said: “When I did Midsommar, the character [Dani] is in such a horrible state in her life. She’s constantly on the brink of a panic attack or an emotional breakdown.
“I’d never ever been through anything close to that or knew anyone that had been through that or feels like that. I had never seen that level of grief or mental health in the way that was being asked of me on the page.
“So for that, I really put myself through it. At the beginning, I just imagined hearing the news that one of my siblings had died, and then towards the middle of the shoot, it was like, oh no, I actually needed to imagine the coffins. And then towards the end of the shoot, I actually was going to my whole family’s funeral.”
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She continued: “The thing that I was being required to do was something that I didn’t know how to get there. It wasn’t just crying. I needed to sound pained.
“I’d never done anything like that before and I was like, okay, 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.”
She went on to say she “manipulated herself” to achieve the haunting performance, and that she had trouble separating “Dani and Florence” between takes.
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Freelance Reporter, Digital Spy
Rebecca is a freelance journalist who specializes in TV and film. After beginning her career as a digital entertainment journalist for the Express & Star and Shropshire Star, she embarked on a freelance career in 2021 contributing to the likes of Metro UK, The Sun, WhatCulture, Screen Rant, FilmHounds Magazine and more.
Her particular field of interest is horror cinema and she has written for genre publications such as Ghouls Magazine and Moving Pictures Film Club.
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