The actor reveals how embodying Dani’s trauma left her battling months of depression
Florence Pugh has never hidden the fact that Midsommar pushed her to emotional extremes, but in a recent conversation on The Louis Theroux Podcast, the Oscar-nominated actor opened up more candidly than ever about just how deeply the role affected her. According to Pugh, the psychological strain of portraying Dani—an American woman drowning in grief and trapped in a deteriorating relationship—left her dealing with depression for half a year after filming wrapped.
Pugh explained that she had long known the role was demanding, but only later realized the extent to which she had pushed herself beyond healthy limits.
“I just can’t exhaust myself like that because it has a knock-on effect,” she said during the interview. She recalled returning from the set of Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, a project she described as joyful and tonally opposite to Midsommar, only to find herself unexpectedly overwhelmed by sadness. It wasn’t until she returned home for the holidays that she recognized the lingering emotional weight she had carried from Aster’s film.
“I was so depressed, and I finally thought, ‘Oh, I think that’s from Midsommar. I didn’t deal with it, and I probably shouldn’t do that again.’”
Directed by Ari Aster, Midsommar was the filmmaker’s second feature after Hereditary, and it demanded a level of psychological immersion that Pugh had never encountered before. The script required her to portray Dani at her most fragile—someone whose world collapses in the opening minutes of the film and who spirals into a state of raw, unfiltered grief. Pugh responded by throwing herself into that emotional abyss with full force.
On the podcast, she described the escalating intensity of her preparation. At first, she tried to imagine receiving devastating news about a loved one. As filming progressed, she pushed herself further, visualizing coffins and eventually imagining the funerals of her entire family. “I had never seen that level of grief or mental health on the page,” she said. “So I really put myself through it.”
The emotional labor wasn’t limited to tears. Pugh emphasized that she felt responsible for making Dani’s pain sound and feel real, which meant accessing a depth of anguish she had never attempted before. “It wasn’t just crying. I needed to sound pained,” she explained. “I’d never done anything like that, and I thought, ‘Here’s my opportunity. I need to give this a go.’ So I basically put myself through hell. But I don’t do that anymore. It really messed me up.”
The transition from Midsommar to Little Women was abrupt—Pugh flew directly from one set to the other. The emotional whiplash hit her mid-flight, when she suddenly realized she was leaving Dani behind. She broke down in tears, overwhelmed by a strange mix of relief, guilt, and exhaustion. “My brain was feeling sympathy for myself because I’d abused my own emotions to get a performance,” she said. “But I also felt sorry for what I’d done. I’ve never been worried about my characters after finishing a project, but Dani was different. I felt like I’d left her crying in that field.”
Pugh made it clear that the emotional strain she experienced was entirely self-imposed. She has consistently praised Ari Aster’s directing style and creativity, describing him as a “mad genius” with a surprising comedic streak. She recalled how he often kept the cast laughing between takes, easing the heaviness of the material whenever possible.
Call Me Nothing: New Psychological Thriller Unmasks Trauma and Mental Health
Still, the experience taught her a lasting lesson about the cost of extreme method-style immersion. While Midsommar remains one of her most celebrated performances, Pugh now recognizes that no role is worth sacrificing her mental well-being. The film may have cemented her status as one of the most fearless actors of her generation, but it also marked a turning point—one that reshaped how she approaches emotionally demanding characters.
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