Vogue would like you to know that Florence Pugh is cool, but not like TOO COOL, she’s just the right amount of cool. She’s an It Girl, but she’s not an It Girl because she doesn’t trip or do cheesy late night talk show bits. Vogue will tell you all about newcomer Florence Pugh, who has been on the international cinema scene for three entire years, but they won’t mention her breakout role is Lady Macbeth, that’s just some “corset drama” she did in jolly old England.
I get the impulse to talk up Florence Pugh in the wake of the Black Widow trailer this week. I want to talk up Florence Pugh ALL THE TIME. What I do not appreciate about Vogue’s write-up of Pugh is that they start out building her up by tearing down Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone. That’s not cool. Let’s not pit young women against each other just because they work in the same industry. All three of these women are busy, they will each undoubtedly have rich and rewarding careers. There is no need to pretend like Florence Pugh can only thrive if first she defeats her nemeses in single combat. This kind of reminds me of that creepy Margot Robbie profile that was like, American women are garbage, you have to go to Australia to find a REAL woman.
But Vogue is not wrong in trying to get you on the Florence Pugh train. We should ALL be on the Florence Pugh train. She is an incredible actress, who is not only obviously talented, but also super fun to watch—half the joy of Midsommar is simply watching Pugh hold the screen. There is a reason I’m so excited about her being in Black Widow, and that is that having her in Marvel means we will get to see a lot of Pugh over the next several years. I want to live in a world where we have a steady diet of Florence Pugh movies, and also a world in which her Marvel salary supports her while she makes more movies like Lady Macbeth and Midsommar. Give me all of the Florence Pugh, from corset dramas to action movies to breakup movies in which she burns terrible men. Also, I want to live in a world where Vogue has to deal with Pugh doing cheesy late night talk show bits, probably as soon as next spring while she’s promoting Black Widow. No one escapes Jimmy Fallon’s clutches.
