FLORENCE PUGH - FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY
BY SKYE HUNTINGTON
 
Florence Pugh has always wanted to perform, whether it be as a musician, playing the guitar and piano, or singing and writing her own songs. Born in Oxford in the mid-1990s, she was in good company and attended the same school as “Game of Thrones” actors Emilia Clarke and Kit Harrington, as well as the great Sir Laurence Olivier.

It seemed as though acting was her way to go as her first professional audition was successful and landed her the role of Abigail in Carol Morley’s 2014 British thriller The Falling.

Two years later, Pugh was cast in Lady Macbeth, directed by William Oldroyd and for which she was nominated as a Rising Star by BAFTA, and won Best Actress in the British Independent Film Awards.

That led to another leading role, this time in AMC TV mini-series “The Little Drummer Girl” alongside dual Oscar nominee Michael Shannon. Pugh played Charlie, an English actress who is recruited by the Israelis to infiltrate a Palestinian terrorist cell.

Her latest film, Fighting With My Family, sees her take on the role of Saraya Knight who, along with her parents and sibling, auditions for a role in the multi-million dollar world of wrestling. 

However, when there’s only one place to be won, Saraya clinches it, taking on the stage-name of Paige. She then has to leave her loved ones behind and face this new cut-throat world alone. Paige’s journey forces her to dig deep and ultimately prove to the world that what makes her different is the very thing that can make her a star.

STRIPLV: How did you get attached to this movie?
PUGH: Well, there is a real-life documentary about the actual family, so if anyone has the chance to watch it before this film comes out, then they should. This family is very characterful, and I think that was the best thing about it, reading the script, and Stephen (Merchant, the writer, and director) did an amazing job. He really got the characters down, and I was just so excited to play and just to be a part of that family, because they are mad, and they are these amazingly colorful people. They have so much love in them, and I think that was the most amazing thing, as I say. This family is a real family as in, very much back to its core. But as in the documentary, that was one of the tricky things about their story that both Paige and her brother auditioned to be with WWE, and only she got called back. That is basically the theme that the film is going for. It’s about the family and what happens to the family, what happens to her, what happens to Zach. And it was just a fantastic film to be a part of because we were allowed to wrestle, we were allowed to fight and to get bruised and to get thrown about. That’s really cool.
STRIPLV: You got to go to WWE Raw, which is a huge deal, and you got to meet The Rock.
PUGH: Yeah, and he is all part of the real story. Dwayne Johnson “The Rock” was the person who told Paige that she was going to go on and win, which is incredible. So obviously Dwayne was there, and we filmed at Monday Night Raw, and that experience was totally mad. Dwayne went out at the end of the show just as people were about to leave and I was totally nervous just as I was about to go on. He just goes out there and basically butters up the crowd, and the audience would just not stop roaring and screaming, and I think that he tried to speak about eight times. But they just carried on going, and at one point I touched the wall, and it was just vibrating, it was absolutely amazing. It was utterly incredible. When it was my turn to go out there, it was absolutely terrifying. I did do a lot of training, and I did do a lot of wrestling, but I’m not a wrestler. And I think that it is something which is worth noting that these guys in the crowd they expected a fight. So, we had trained as hard as we could, and I was in the rehearsal wrestling ring with Thea (Trinidad, who plays AJ Lee), Dwayne and everybody else who was a part of making those fights. Thea helped me out hugely and come that performance, it was terrifying for both of us all, you know, she had never wrestled a non-wrestler before, and they did their best to help me with the choreography. It was incredible, but we were both kind of terrified, and it just ended up being epic.
STRIPLV: Were there any other professional wrestlers who ended up training you?
PUGH: Yeah, basically Jack Lowden who plays my brother, we both started the wrestling training at the same time, and we started training in America. Robbie Brookside who is a wrestling trainer came over, and he was preparing us, and then we went over to NXT, and we started training there. We have a little look around, and just basically we needed to watch these wrestlers and to see what the life is. And it’s such a hard life because they work all day, every day. That made me totally find a new appreciation and respect for them. Then of course when I got in that ring I was like: “Whoa, this is a whole new thing.”
STRIPLV: That is amazing that WWE would just let you into their world for a little bit, so you could start training and learning from them.
PUGH: Yes, it was amazing just to learn. I knew what wrestling was and my brother used to watch it when we were kids and to say I was a fan, I wasn’t. And so, when I got this role, it was so crucial that I understood what I was getting into and what these people do and where the passion lies. We really learned a lot in a short amount of time, and it just opened my eyes hugely. It was so hard to do, and it was amazing how ”up for it” they are, as Thea completely trusted me, and she was throwing herself off the ropes at me.
STRIPLV: It must also have been tough for you to be portraying those characters in front of an audience who knows who the real people are and there are expectations.
PUGH: Yeah, of course, there are expectations, and I completely agree with that, and I also understand it. I am playing this huge wrestler who won in one of her earliest fights, and that’s a really big thing to do, and I understand why people were obviously very precious and kind of apprehensive about me doing it. I completely understand that I hope that it paid off. (Laughs)
STRIPLV: Did you talk to Paige about it and get to know her?
PUGH: On the day what I did when we were preparing for it, this fight, I just messaged her and you and said: “I am about to do what you did. Can you help me please?”. (Laughs) So, she sent me some pointers to help me out.
STRIPLV: To go from playing Lady Macbeth to this movie, that is a considerable change. You’re creating a lot of variation in your career.
PUGH: Well, they are both incredibly feisty women. Lady Macbeth was her own storm in 1865, she is this a very modern woman in a period time, and that’s what I loved about her. She broke all of the rules, and she set out to get her freedom back. Paige kind of does a very similar thing. She doesn’t stop until she gets it and she’s very, very strong and forceful. I am lucky enough to have played both of those characters.
STRIPLV: Did you pick up any particular reason why Dwayne Johnson is just so universally liked?
PUGH: I think that the thing was that when I knew I was going to meet him because he helped make this film as the executive producer, I was thinking I know that there has to be something wrong with him. He can’t be that perfect and that well liked. There has to be something. Maybe he’s a bit weird or something like that. (Laughs) But when I met him, he was just incredible, and he is just such an amazing man. I think the most fantastic thing about him is that he just speaks to everybody exactly the same. That for me was the greatest thing, and it pleasantly surprised me. Also, the hierarchy on the set, there was none. Dwayne is universally liked and such a big name, absolutely huge. To see somebody like that so humble and doing as well as he is, that was really cool.
STRIPLV: This film is a very humorous one. Who were your influences going into shooting?
PUGH: For the humor, I think that we have to give Stephen Merchant complete credit for that. I remember that when Sony wanted to do this film, I remember talking to my friends and saying: “How am I going to be funny? I am going to be around all of these funny people, and there are going to be so many funny lines.” I funny lines.” I remember them saying: “You are literally doing a film with the ‘king of comedy.’ He is going to make you funny; don’t worry.” That made me think and feel really fine about everything. But what I did love about Stephen was that if you weren’t saying your lines right, he would be completely blunt and tell you: “Yeah, that’s not funny the way that you’re saying it. So, say it like this.”
STRIPLV: Do you think that you will keep up the training that you learned in this film?
PUGH: Yes, absolutely. I already have kept in touch with my same trainer yeah. When we started training, we got heavily into Crossfit feel and my trainer James Shields, got me ready for the film and he has got me ready for a couple of other things that I have done since. So, we have carried on training together, and I really enjoy it.
STRIPLV: Why do people love your character Paige so much?
PUGH: The reason why people love her, and the reason why she is so famous and supported, is she is this amazing person. So, of course, I had to impersonate her to tell her story. I had to keep as real as I could. But Paige is a woman, and Paige is a performer, and Paige as a performer in the spotlight is something that I hope I can take with me because we love her, because she is so loud and outspoken. She doesn’t care who says what to her. She’s going to play it the way that she wants. She is going to represent the exact personality of who she wants represented. And that’s a very impressive, and cool thing that she has kept with her considering her fame in the last chunk of time. She’s so feisty, so feisty and rocks black hair which I don’t know if I did as well as she did, but I gave it a go.
STRIPLV: What did you learn about Paige as a person and how was it playing her?
PUGH: What did I learn about her? Well, I pretty much had to learn everything about her. Paige as a person when I watched the documentary, I was so terrified of playing her because she was so big and loud and beautiful and powerful. She is so talented. But, that was also the reason that I was so invested in wanting to play her as well. She has changed wrestling. She has made anybody that felt different in any way feel ok to be different. I suppose that is what I learned from her and about her and she was an utter joy to play.
STRIPLV: Talk a little bit with us about the family. It’s a really unique family. Could you relate at all?
PUGH: That’s what Stephen has done very well in this film. He has taken the exact essence of that family and how hard they worked to get their kids there as well and how supportive they are no matter what. Even if they decided they didn’t want that dream anymore. He got it right.
STRIPLV: Tell us about acting with Dwayne Johnson. You had a few scenes with him. What was that like?
PUGH: Working with Dwayne was everything you could imagine that it was. He’s very big. He eats a lot. He’s very talented. He shouts very loudly. We were so impressed with him. The first day Jack and I worked with him he came out, and we went over our scene, and he went over his promo that they had just written about 10 to 15 minutes beforehand, and he went away for about 20 minutes and came back and had learned the whole thing and then just shouted at us for about 40 minutes. Done in five takes, it was utterly incredible.
STRIPLV: Before taking on this role, what was your appreciation and or relationship to the wrestling world?
PUGH: I would watch wrestling before, and I thought it was impressive. I don’t think I understood it entirely because I didn’t grow up on it. I didn’t watch it from a young age. I can now say watching those matches now it’s magnificent because I know what it feels like to be in that ring. And whenever I see any video of even them working out or even stretching before they go on, I take my hat off to anyone that goes and enters or even takes part in that world. Because it’s really hard, and it hurts, and you are an athlete; your life is completely orientated around that. So, I am really impressed and continue to be impressed by them. I hope my relationship with wrestling doesn’t end. I’d love to meet more of them; they are such fascinating people. And they have such incredible stories.
STRIPLV: Would you like to wrestle one more time?
PUGH: I’d love to step in that ring one more time. I probably wouldn’t do it as pro as they were doing it though. It would be an interesting twist. Let’s see if Paige is up for it.
STRIPLV: What do you hope audiences will take away from the film?
PUGH: I hope they take away that it’s hard and that to get to the top it takes a lot and you do suffer as well. You have to pay the price. But in doing that you also have to have a really core family or anyone that surrounds you to help you get there. They are the ones that are going to be picking up the pieces. The ones that I suppose are going to be pushing you to be better and better. That is the main thing about our film. You don’t have to be a wrestling fan to enjoy it. You just have to appreciate this family in all the shapes and sizes that they are.