The 2014 breakthrough role Florence Pugh was warned against auditioning for: “I was definitely gonna fail”
Credit: Far Out / YouTube Still
Fri 31 July 2026 12:30, UK
Since playing the role of Dani in Ari Aster’s technicolour folk horror Midsommar in 2019, Florence Pugh has seemingly been everywhere.
The same year, she played Amy March in Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women, then in a quick succession of years, she went on to star in some of the most talked-about films of the decade so far, like Don’t Worry Darling, Dune: Part II and Oppenheimer.
But none of this might have happened if she’d taken the advice she was given about her breakthrough role in The Falling. In 2014, while still studying in sixth form, Pugh decided to join an open casting call for the film. In hindsight, it’s a surprise to no one that she got the part given her clear acting chops, but at the time, she was heavily discouraged from even auditioning.
“I had two teachers who heavily suggested I shouldn’t [audition], ’cos I was definitely gonna fail to be an actor,” she explained to Vogue. While Pugh felt that the only thing she was actually good at was acting, after being cast in any school production she could get her hands on, her teachers obviously didn’t feel the same.
Thankfully, Pugh had supportive parents who cut through the nonsense spouted by the teachers and let her go to the casting call. And, as she herself admits, it was what “ended up starting [her] whole career”. Despite being just 18 years old at the time, Pugh delivered a mature and convincing performance as high school student Abbie, the best friend of protagonist Lydia (played by Maisie Williams) and the first student in her school to suffer from an epidemic of fainting spells.
While the film was a tiny independent offering that has fallen (pardon the pun) under the radar since, it certainly changed Pugh’s life. “The only thing that I was good at at this school was the thing I’d just been given this opportunity for,” the actor said. Not only that, but she was then nominated for the ‘Best Newcomer’ award at the BFI London Film Festival and went on to garner acclaim in her next role as Katherine in Lady Macbeth.
The rest is history, and something tells me we still haven’t seen the best of Pugh, but if she had listened to her teachers, she might not even have gotten the chance to show us her best. While teachers are meant to be the ones to inspire us, teach us and encourage us in what we are good at, so often they can dampen the more ambitious dreams of the children they teach.
Further reading: Cutting Room Floor
Sure, not every child who dreams of being an actor will make it, because it’s a tough industry, but they certainly won’t if they’re not even given the encouragement and opportunities. It’s easy and perhaps gives caretakers, teachers and those in positions of power over children more peace of mind to encourage them in more ordinary endeavours like teaching itself, yet who knows what you’re stopping that child, that young person from becoming.
Thankfully for Pugh and all of her fans, she had other supportive people in her life to encourage her to follow her dreams, but if she hadn’t, maybe there would be a very different face we’d be used to seeing in the next big hit.
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