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Join today<\/a><\/p>\n \n Already a member? Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n Some actors might consider keeping incredible roles even if they weren\u2019t necessarily the right person for the job \u2013 but not Florence Pugh<\/a>; the in-demand actor has revealed she nobly \u201cgives characters back\u201d if she thinks there\u2019s \u201csomeone better\u201d to play them.<\/p>\n In the last decade, Pugh has become one of Hollywood\u2019s biggest stars, appearing in Black Widow, Little Women, Oppenheimer, Dune: Part 2, and the forthcoming Avengers: Doomsday<\/a>. <\/p>\n This week, she returns to TV for the first time since 2021\u2019s Hawkeye, playing the monstrous Cathy in Netflix<\/a>\u2019s adaptation of John Steinbeck<\/a>\u2019s East of Eden. It marks Pugh\u2019s first lead TV role since The Little Drummer Girl in 2018<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pugh has now opened up about her process of selecting roles, revealing that she leads with her gut instinct, which sometimes prompts her to turn down a project if she doesn\u2019t feel she\u2019s perfectly suited to it.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a firm believer in: you can love the script, you can love the movie or TV series, or whatever it is, but we all know if we should do a role or not; we can feel it \u2013 I know we can feel it,\u201d she told The Independent.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes, there have been moments in my career where it\u2019s amazing, but I know that there\u2019s someone better for that role, and I have to give the character back to the process of finding the actor. I\u2019ve done that a handful of times in my career because I owe it to all of these characters that they find the right home.\u201d<\/p>\n Pugh, 30, said she loves \u201cfinding a personal connection\u201d to characters, which she experienced when Zoe Kazan approached her about playing Cathy in her East of Eden adaptation. This was no small task considering that Pugh was in her early 20s at the time, and the show follows Cathy from age 16 to her early 40s.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a huge moment for me and my confidence,\u201d Pugh explained. \u201cIt really allowed me to step up in a way that\u2019s affected me hugely.\u201d<\/p>\n Pugh, who has also produced the series, described Cathy as \u201ca huge beast of a character\u201d, adding: \u201cTo get my hands on something like that at the level of career I was at then, was so exciting, so thrilling. I was so young! I didn\u2019t know how I was gonna do it. That\u2019s usually the thing that terrifies me. But I had to be involved immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n East of Eden is the latest adaptation of Steinbeck\u2019s 1952 family saga, which was made into a hit film by Elia Kazan \u2013 Zoe Kazan\u2019s grandfather \u2013 in 1955. It starred James Dean and Jo Van Fleet, who won an Oscar for playing Cathy.<\/p>\n The story follows the Trask brothers, Adam and Charles (Christopher Abbott and Mike Faist), whose lives are drastically altered by the arrival of the mysterious Cathy. East of Eden is released on Netflix on Thursday (1 October).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-786292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n Log in<\/a>\n <\/p>\n![\"Florence](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-29-at-08-29-27.png\")
Florence Pugh as Cathy in ‘East of Eden’ (Netflix)<\/p>\n![\"Florence](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-29-at-08-28-10.png\")
Florence Pugh: \u2018We all know if we should do a role or not; we can feel it\u2019 (The Independent)<\/p>\n