Florence Pugh is opening up about the deep emotional toll of filming Midsommar, revealing that the 2019 horror film left her struggling for months afterward.
During a recent appearance on The Louis Theroux Podcast, the Oscar-nominated actress reflected on playing Dani, a grieving woman who travels to a Swedish commune with her boyfriend and becomes engulfed in a disturbing cult ritual.
Pugh shared that immersing herself in the intense role led to a period of depression.
“I just can’t exhaust myself like that because it has a knock-on effect,” she admitted.
“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 I 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.”
Pugh said she had “never seen that level of grief or mental health” portrayed in a role before, which led her to fully inhabit Dani’s pain. “I really put myself through it,” she explained.
“At the beginning, I just imagined hearing the news that one of my siblings had died… and towards the end of the shoot, I actually was going to my whole family’s funeral.”
She admitted that the process “really messed me up,” and recalled breaking down while flying to film Little Women shortly after.
“My brain was obviously feeling sympathy for myself because I’d abused myself and really manipulated my own emotions to get a performance, but I also then felt sorry for what I’d done,” she said. “It was very, very strange.”