Loyalty is essential to a person’s character, and breaking away from the norm to explore other avenues often comes at a price. For Florence Pugh, her signing to play Yelena Belova in the Marvel Cinematic Universe rubbed people in the indie film community the wrong way. Some actors see the Marvel community as a blight against their craft. In contrast, others embrace the opportunity to star in a money-printing blockbuster alongside some of the biggest names in Hollywood. In a TIME Next Generation Leaders profile, Pugh admits she’s experienced backlash for starring in Marvel properties like Black Widow and the Disney+ series Hawkeye.
“So many people in the indie film world were really pissed off at me. They were like, ‘Great, now she’s gone forever,'” Pugh told TIME. “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. You just have to be a bit more organized with your schedule.”
Regardless of her Marvel status, Pugh says she does her best to oscillate between indies and mega-budget productions. After playing Yelena in Black Widow and Hawkeye, she’s returning to the MCU alongside David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, and Sebastian Stan for Thunderbolts. Still, Pugh also showed up for Sebastián Lelio’s The Wonder and Zach Braff’s emotional roller coaster A Good Person. While she enjoys indies as much as the next star-studded epic, Pugh is unafraid to expand her catalog by starring in movies like Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. For some, variety is the spice of life, and working on blockbusters can be just as rewarding as modestly-budgeted indies.
Pugh says she has respect for all actors across the Hollywood spectrum. Nowhere in the unwritten Hollywood rulebook does it say you have to stick to one thing for your entire career? Many actors branch out to try different things, meet other people, and work alongside other creatives in their field. Why should Pugh be any different?
Do you support Pugh in exploring indie and blockbuster films? Who are these people judging her for carving a unique path? People are weird, man.
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