Florence Pugh has revealed that the emotional demands of portraying Dani in “Midsommar” left her struggling with depression for half a year after filming ended.
The actor discussed the experience during a recent appearance on “The Louis Theroux Podcast,” saying the intense role had lasting effects on her mental health.
“I just can’t exhaust myself like that because it has a knock-on effect,” Pugh 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 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,” she added.
Directed by Ari Aster, “Midsommar” follows an American woman grieving multiple family deaths who travels with her boyfriend to a remote Swedish commune, only to experience a psychological collapse.
Pugh said the intensity of the role left a lasting emotional impact.
“I had never seen that level of grief or mental health in the way that was being asked of me on the page,” she said. “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.”
The actor described the process as emotionally punishing.
“It wasn’t just crying. I needed to sound pained,” Pugh said. “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.”
After “Midsommar” wrapped, Pugh moved directly to the set of Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” in Boston.
The quick transition between the two contrasting projects left her overwhelmed.
“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.
She added, “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.”
Pugh emphasized that her emotional struggles were all self-imposed and not the result of Aster’s direction.
She has consistently expressed admiration for the filmmaker, telling The New York Times last year that he is “peculiar in a mad genius kind of a way” and “a stand-up comedian at heart.”
“Once you laugh at one thing, he will try and make you laugh at all the other things. He’ll keep going and everybody will be crying in fits of laughter,” she added.
Pugh, who earned an Oscar nomination for “Little Women” shortly after the release of “Midsommar,” has since said she no longer takes on roles that demand such psychological intensity.
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