It's been almost two years since the release of Ari Aster's A24 horror Midsommar, but Florence Pugh is still feeling some intense effects from the shoot. In particular, the actress has shared a memory about filming that iconic crying scene, looking back fondly on the "sisterhood" she felt with her co-stars and the emotional toll the scene had on them.
In a new Instagram post featuring a behind-the-scenes shot of the actors involved, Pugh explained that there was a lot of pressure on her crying scene, and that filming it was especially hard because of the "scary" part of getting her tears flowing for the camera.
She wrote:
I've been waiting for a long time to post this picture. I knew when I took it that I had captured a special moment/day between all of us. This was THE scene. The scene which, all who were included knew exactly how many days there were until we shot it.
The scene where we would all throw our guts out on the floor and war-cry and scream in each other's faces. Luckily, Ari wrote exactly what we needed to do. We needed to grieve within under a minute. We needed to start every take fresh-faced and end it with snot and salty tears on our arms, chest, cheeks, and hands.
In the film, my character had just seen something truly horrifying, so heartbreaking that she vomited 10 seconds after viewing it. The Hårgan women collect her in pieces and instantly march her to a quiet place and mirror her emotions back at her. Hårgan way is to share emotions, feelings, and pain. They want to share any form of trauma (and joy) so that you don't go through it alone.
So every single woman in this scene knew, that on this day, we would attack something truly scary and truly hard and this picture captures the moment our first AD said we wrapped on the scene. I remember the first take being so long, much longer than is displayed in the film that you all watched. When Ari said cut, we all clung onto each other's arms and dug our nails into each other's palms and wept. Sobbed. Heaved. I remember it being really hard to stop.
I've never been an actor that finds it easy to cry on camera, it's something very personal to me and despite finding all other aspects of acting exciting and thrilling, I find crying very scary and at some points in my career, directors having to change the scene because I couldn't do it. On this film, in this scene, I found a true sisterhood.
We all looked at each other before we started rolling and knew it would be hard. And awkward. And strange. And unnatural. We knew it wouldn't be pleasurable. But by the end, we would roll in each other's laps and cry and allow our bodies to keep heaving. That's the funny thing about filming, you get it all ready to shoot and then someone says cut and sometimes (and beautifully) your body doesn't understand 'cut!' And just keeps feeling.
Watch a clip of the scene below, where you can also read Pugh's full post.
In a new Instagram post featuring a behind-the-scenes shot of the actors involved, Pugh explained that there was a lot of pressure on her crying scene, and that filming it was especially hard because of the "scary" part of getting her tears flowing for the camera.
She wrote:
I've been waiting for a long time to post this picture. I knew when I took it that I had captured a special moment/day between all of us. This was THE scene. The scene which, all who were included knew exactly how many days there were until we shot it.
The scene where we would all throw our guts out on the floor and war-cry and scream in each other's faces. Luckily, Ari wrote exactly what we needed to do. We needed to grieve within under a minute. We needed to start every take fresh-faced and end it with snot and salty tears on our arms, chest, cheeks, and hands.
In the film, my character had just seen something truly horrifying, so heartbreaking that she vomited 10 seconds after viewing it. The Hårgan women collect her in pieces and instantly march her to a quiet place and mirror her emotions back at her. Hårgan way is to share emotions, feelings, and pain. They want to share any form of trauma (and joy) so that you don't go through it alone.
So every single woman in this scene knew, that on this day, we would attack something truly scary and truly hard and this picture captures the moment our first AD said we wrapped on the scene. I remember the first take being so long, much longer than is displayed in the film that you all watched. When Ari said cut, we all clung onto each other's arms and dug our nails into each other's palms and wept. Sobbed. Heaved. I remember it being really hard to stop.
I've never been an actor that finds it easy to cry on camera, it's something very personal to me and despite finding all other aspects of acting exciting and thrilling, I find crying very scary and at some points in my career, directors having to change the scene because I couldn't do it. On this film, in this scene, I found a true sisterhood.
We all looked at each other before we started rolling and knew it would be hard. And awkward. And strange. And unnatural. We knew it wouldn't be pleasurable. But by the end, we would roll in each other's laps and cry and allow our bodies to keep heaving. That's the funny thing about filming, you get it all ready to shoot and then someone says cut and sometimes (and beautifully) your body doesn't understand 'cut!' And just keeps feeling.
Watch a clip of the scene below, where you can also read Pugh's full post.
