Some actors are more than happy to let their stunt doubles do the difficult work. “Why would I do that?” Samuel L. Jackson previously told Access Hollywood (via Buzzfeed). “If you want a long career you don’t do all that stuff. You’re gonna get hurt. Something’s gonna happen. You’re gonna twist an ankle, break a nail, something. No, you do as little as you can.”
Then there’s the opposite spectrum, such as Tom Cruise, who repelled down Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, while making 2011’s Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. Florence Pugh falls somewhere in the middle, but closer to Cruise.
Her âSassy Karenâ Emails Forced the Studio to Allow Dangerous Stunt
When Pugh found out her Thunderbolts character, Yelena, was going to jump off the second tallest building in the world — the Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — she was thrilled. But then, the studio began to get cold feet.
âI got on all the emails. It was in the script, and then slowly as we got closer and closer to shooting, they were like, ‘yeah, we donât think itâs going to happen because itâs a crazy insurance ordeal and obviously weâre not going to throw FP [Pugh] off the second tallest building in the world,’â Pugh told Fandango. âAnd I was like what the [expletive]? Of course we are! We have to do that.â
âSo I was being a sassy Karen emailing Kevin [Feige], being like, ‘Kevin, this is going to do wonders for the press tour, we have to do this!’” she recalled. “I was like, ‘weâre going to have three women break three different Guinness World Book Records, we need to do this, this, and this.’”
Her tenacity paid off, and Marvel finally agreed that it would happen. “I just had to keep on pushing, and then theyâre like, âOkay, if you want to fall off the second tallest building, weâll figure that out for you.â”
Florence Pugh Was ‘so Proud’ to Have the Mental Control to Jump
For those who are a bit more squeamish, falling off the second tallest building in the world would be terrifying — but not for Pugh.
“I do like jumping of high things,” she said. “I’ve always jumped off high rocks into the sea. I donât mind heights. I quite like them and enjoy them, but that was a whole different ballgame,” she noted. “That was insane. The mental control I had to do that day was like, that was its own super power, but I’m so proud that I did it.”
Pugh does admit that after the spike in adrenaline, her body would shut down each of the nine times she did the stunt. “When I got home, I went into what I can only say is like a three-hour coma,” she confirmed. “Just deep, deep sleep. My brain just was obviously trying to focus and process everything.”
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