Florence Pugh Says Her ‘Midsommar’ Dress Took ‘Weeks’ to Make and Made Her ‘F***ing Hot’
In addition to accessing the emotional range of their characters, actors have to often endure physical challenges as well. At first glance, Midsommar doesn’t seem like it would be a physically taxing experience. But Florence Pugh recently revealed just how much went into the creation of and the experience working with the flower dress she wears during the film’s final minutes.
Florence Pugh delivered a standout performance in ‘Midsommar’
Pugh had already proven she was the real deal with early performances in films such as Lady Macbeth and Outlaw King. But her budding movie career took off in a big way in 2019. First, she played real-life wrestler Saraya “Paige” Knight in the Dwayne Johnson-produced comedy-drama Fighting with My Family. And later in the year, she earned an Oscar nomination as Amy March in Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women.
But sandwiched between the two was Midsommar. The Ari Aster-directed film leans into folk horror like so many movies –- including The Wicker Man –- before it. And it does so by focusing in on the trauma of Pugh’s Dani Ardor. Much like Aster’s Hereditary, Midsommar isn’t exactly what it seems like it is at first. And much of its success stems from Pugh’s committed performance as a woman lost in her own grief.
Florence Pugh’s iconic flower dress in the movie was ‘so heavy’
In a recent episode of Hot Ones, host Sean Evans asked Pugh about what it was like working with the huge flower dress the actor wears late in the film. And Pugh had a wonderfully measured response.
“That dress was so heavy. It was so heavy, and these amazing costume makers and designers spent weeks making that. And all of those flowers were individually made. They were hand-made. And they have wire in them, every single one of those flowers. So it obviously adds to the weight of the dress. It would take like 15 minutes or 20 minutes to get in and out of it. So I tried to stay still. So it meant that, on the hot days, I’d get f***ing hot. That’s why I had the fan.”
Even though Pugh has admiration for the skill that went into creating the iconic flower dress, it’s understandable that she was less than pleased by the strenuous process of wearing it throughout filming.
Ariana Grande reportedly tried to buy the ‘Midsommar’ dress
As much as Pugh might appreciate the flower dress, it seems Ariana Grande is an even bigger fan. The singer reportedly tried to buy the Midsommar dress during an auction. But she failed to get ahold of it, losing out to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures for a cool $65,000.
A dress as unique as the one from Midsommar perhaps should be in a museum and not draped around Grande on the red carpet. After all, the flower dress is perhaps the most notable piece of iconography from Aster’s film, one that – for better or worse – leaves an impression on everyone who sees it.
