Itâs only been eight years since Florence Pugh made her big-screen breakout in 2016âs searing âLady Macbeth,â but the âMidsommarâ icon has taken over Hollywood.
The Oscar nominee made waves with âLittle Womenâ and MCU installments âBlack Widowâ and âHawkeye,â but Pugh is just getting started (especially when it comes to literary adaptations). The actress is set to produce her first two films, as well as voice Goldilocks in her first turn in an animated feature with âPuss in Boots: The Last Wish.â
And donât forget Pughâs steamy and already-viral portrayal of a 1950s housewife in Olivia Wildeâs sophomore film âDonât Worry Darlingâ opposite Harry Styles.
See everything that Pugh has in the works below.
âDonât Worry Darlingâ
Olivia Wilde directs the psychological thriller in theaters September 23 from Warner Bros. Pugh plays Alice, the wife of Jack (Styles), who starts to question her 1950s utopia. Per an official synopsis, the couple is lucky to be living in Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families.
âLife is perfect, with every residentâs needs met by the company,â the description states. âAll they ask in return is unquestioning commitment to the Victory cause. But when cracks in their idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice canât help questioning what theyâre doing in Victory, and why. Just how much is Alice willing to lose to expose whatâs really going on in paradise?â
âDonât Worry Darlingâ
Darren Aronofskyâs longtime director of photography Matthew Libatique serves as cinematographer for the film that already is making waves for its stunning visual elements (cue: Pughâs character Saran-wrapping herself à la âThe Batmanâ Riddler.) The film is already drawing comparisons to âFatal Attractionâ and âIndecent Proposalâ as Wilde noted her directorial influences.
âPuss in Boots: The Last Wishâ
Florence Pugh
Sipa USA via AP
Set for a December 21 release, the Dreamworks Animation sequel and âShrekâ spinoff has a star-studded cast. Antonio Banderas returns to voice the titular Puss, along with Salma Hayek Pinault reprising her role of Kitty Softpaws. âWhat We Do in the Shadowsâ star Harvey GuillĂ©n makes his franchise debut as canine Perro. Pugh plays Goldilocks, Wagner Moura is the Big Bad Wolf, Mama Bear is voiced by Olivia Colman, and Ray Winstone is Papa Bear. Samson Kayo plays Baby Bear and John Mulaney is Jack Horner in the fantastical adventure film directed by Joel Crawford.
âThe Wonderâ
âThe Wonderâ
Netflix
Emma Donoghueâs psychological thriller novel âThe Wonderâ is being adapted for Netflix. Donoghueâs other book, âRoom,â landed Pughâs fellow MCU staple Brie Larson an Academy Award nod.
Set in 1862, Pugh plays English nurse Lib Wright who is brought to a small Irish village to observe a girl said to have survived without food for month. However Lib soon finds herself fighting to save the childâs life as a journalist is also sent to cover the phenomenon. Per an official description, âThe Wonderâ is a âtale of two strangers who transform each otherâs lives, a psychological thriller, and a story of love pitted against evil.â
CiarĂĄn Hinds, Toby Jones, Niamh Algar, and Elaine Cassidy also star. âGloria Bellâ and âA Fantastic Womanâ director SebastiĂĄn Lelio helms the film and co-wrote the script along with âConversations with Friendsâ and âNormal Peopleâ scribe Alice Birch.
âA Good Personâ
Florence Pugh
Sipa USA via AP
Zach Braff writes, directs, and produces the New Jersey-set drama slated for a March 24, 2023 release. Pugh plays Allison, a woman who survives a fatal accident and forms an unlikely relationship with her would-be father-in-law, portrayed by Morgan Freeman. Molly Shannon, Celeste OâConnor, Zoe Lister-Jones, and Chinaza Uche round out the cast. Pugh also makes her producing debut with the film, which serves as a reunion for Freeman and director Braff after 2017âs âGoing in Style.â
âOppenheimerâ
âOppenheimerâ
Universal Pictures
Who isnât in âOppenheimerâ?! Christopher Nolanâs latest historical drama boasts a massive ensemble cast led by Cillian Murphy who plays the titular scientist Robert J. Oppenheimer, known as the father of the atomic bomb. Emily Blunt stars as Oppenheimerâs wife, biologist and botanist Katherine âKittyâ Oppenheimer, with Matt Damon portraying General Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, and Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Pugh plays psychiatrist Jean Tatlock, Benny Safdie is theoretical physicist Edward Teller, Michael Angarano takes on Robert Serber, and Josh Hartnett plays pioneering American nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence.
âOppenheimerâ is Nolanâs first film with Universal Pictures after his Warner Bros. falling out over the pandemic release of âTenet,â which saw a shortened theatrical window in favor of HBO Max play. The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book âAmerican Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer,â by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. âOppenheimerâ is slated for a July 21, 2023, theatrical release.
âDune: Part Twoâ
Florence Pugh
Sipa USA via AP
Pugh signed on to Denis Villeneuveâs epic âDuneâ sequel to play Princess Irulan Corrino opposite returning stars Zendaya, TimothĂ©e Chalamet, and Javier Bardem. Christopher Walken, Austin Butler, and LĂ©a Seydoux are among the fresh faces to the sci-fi franchise; âDune: Part Twoâ is scheduled for an October 20, 2023 release.
âItâs like a chess game,â director Villeneuve previously said. âSome new characters will be introduced in the second part, and a decision I made very early on was that this first part would be more about Paul Atreides and the Bene Gesserit, and his experience of being in contact for the first time with a different culture. Second part, there will be much more Harkonnen stuff.â
âThe Maidâ
Florence Pugh
AP
Pugh is producing a feature adaptation of Nita Proseâs novel âThe Maidâ about a hotel housekeeper who struggles with social anxiety. Pugh will also star in the lead role of Molly, whose life is upended after she finds a hotel guest dead in his room. Molly soon becomes the primary suspect due to her quirky demeanor, but itâs up to her to solve the case and clear her name. Drawing parallels to âClue,â the novel is a bestseller.
âEast of Edenâ
Florence Pugh, Zoe Kazan
AP
Zoe Kazan is writing and executive producing an adaptation of John Steinbeckâs âEast of Edenâ for an upcoming Netflix limited series, starring Pugh as antiheroine Cathy Ames. Kazanâs grandfather Elia Kazan famously brought the novel to the big screen in 1955, with James Dean in a star-making role. The part of Cathy Ames was portrayed by Jo Van Fleet, who earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Jane Seymour later took on the role for an ABC miniseries adaptation in 1982 and received a Best Actress Golden Globe.
âMore than anything, I have wanted to give full expression to the novelâs astonishing, singular antiheroine, Cathy Ames,â Kazan said in a press statement. âFlorence Pugh is our dream Cathy; I canât imagine a more thrilling actor to bring this character to life. Writing this limited series over the last two years has been the creative highpoint of my life. I hope that with our partners at Netflix, Anonymous Content, and Endeavor Content, we can do justice to this material, and shed new light on it for a 21st-century audience.â
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