Florence Pugh Says Her Acting Debut In The Falling Was A 'Complete Fluke'
Florence Pugh is one of the biggest movie stars out there right now — but it wasn't that long ago that she got her start. Her breakout role may have been the 2019 A24 horror film "Midsommar," but her career really got started with the 2014 mystery drama film "The Falling," acting opposite "Game of Thrones" star Maisie Williams. In "The Falling," Pugh plays a young schoolgirl plagued by a fainting epidemic.
Audiences are now well aware that Pugh has the type of talent that can land her a role in just about any type of project — after all, she earned an Oscar nod for her supporting role in the drama film "Little Women," then went on to co-star in a Marvel action film with "Black Widow" playing Yelena Belova. But despite her obvious talent, Pugh claims that she landed her first role due to total luck instead.
While speaking to BAFTA about her film firsts, Pugh very humbly recounted how she landed her part in "The Falling," stating, "My first ever audition was 'The Falling' and that was a complete fluke and no one should ever learn their lesson that way." Pugh then went on to tell the story about how she reluctantly sent in an audition tape — only to get the part.
Pugh had to be pressured to send in her audition tape
Speaking to BAFTA, Florence Pugh explained that to cast the role in "The Falling," all of the schools in the Oxford and London areas were asked for the students to send in tapes for the film. Pugh explained, "They basically just needed loads of girls that didn't have their hair dyed or their nails done, they just needed girls that had individual faces."
The actor then recounted how, for months, everybody in her life kept asking her if she had sent in her tape yet, but she was reluctant because she didn't think she would land the part by being one of many, many audition tapes. She continued, "I didn't do the tape because my brother [Toby Sebastian, of "Game of Thrones"] was in the industry and I knew that's not how tapes work. My mom [asked] had I done the tape and I was like, 'What? Even you know that that's not how auditions happen.'" In response, her mom said that she agreed that Pugh probably wouldn't get the part but that it would be practice. So Pugh sent in the tape — and received shocking news in response.
Pugh concluded, "I ended up receiving an email on Monday morning and it was mind-blowing."