Florence Pugh Says Filming 'Midsommar' Made Her Sad 'For Like 6 Months'

Florence Pugh is sharing her real feelings on what it was like to film the emotionally exhausting role of Dani in the A24 folk horror film Midsommar.

The 29-year-old actress visited The Louis Theroux Podcast recently and shared that filming that movie in particular led to “six months of depression,” per Variety.

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“I just can’t exhaust myself like that because it has a knock-on effect,” she said. “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 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.”

Her character in the film suffers from an extremely traumatic event at the beginning of the movie, so she spends the entire movie dealing with her grief while also being on a trip to Sweden with her toxic boyfriend Christian (played by Jack Reynor). As those who have seen the movie know, things become even more violent and horrific as they uncover the true purpose of the trip.

To get into Dani’s headspace, Florence said she really had to dive into that dark mindset.

“I had never seen that level of grief or mental health in the way that was being asked of me on the page,” the Black Widow star told the podcast host. “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.”

“It wasn’t just crying. I needed to sound pained,” she continued. “I’d never done anything like that before and I was like, ‘OK, 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. It really f–ked me up.”

She goes on to say that she “abused herself” to get the performance she gave, one that was acclaimed. Many believe she should have received an Oscar nomination for her work in Midsommar.

“It was very, very strange and I’ve never ever been worried about my characters from the day that I finish. But [Dani] was the one that I felt like I’d left her in that field with the film crew just filming her cry,” Florence said.

During that same podcast, the actress also opened up about her honest experience working with intimacy coordinators.