In a short amount of time, Florence Pugh went from a rising star in the indie movie scene to a blockbuster star having joined the MCU. But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. In an interview with Time magazine, she revealed that people from the indie community were “pissed off” that she joined Marvel Studios’ mega-franchise as Yelena Belova, the sister to Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff.
Before joining the MCU, Florence Pugh had made a name for herself in the world of arthouse films. She earned a name for herself in films like Midsommar, Lady Macbeth, and her Oscar-nominated role in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women. When she made the jump to blockbusters with Marvel, she debuted in Black Widow and followed up in Hawkeye. She is set to film Thunderbolts for her first big team-up movie.
“So many people in the indie film world were really pissed off at me. They were like, ‘Great, now she’s gone forever.’ And I’m like, no, I’m working as hard as I used to work. I’ve always done back-to-back movies. It’s just people are watching them now.”
Florence Pugh Joined the MCU, Faced Backlash From Indie Movie World
It is not the first time the star has spoken about the pushback for the jump in her career that took her from arthouse films to blockbusters. She revealed to Total Film that she was told she would not be cast in a small film now that she jumped into a superhero suit. For her, she finds “beauty in all types of those films.” Whether it is something small like A Good Person or an epic sci-fi flick like Dune, she finds value in those different films.
Florence Pugh is undoubtedly one of the busiest stars working right now. She starred or will star in three movies in 2023 as she was in A Good Person and will come out in Oppenheimer (July 21) and Dune: Part Two (November 3). Beyond that, she will star in Thunderbolts, The Pack with Alexander Skarsgård, and We Live in Time with Andrew Garfield.