Zach Braff wrote Allison, a struggling addict, for Florence Pugh in A Good Person.
Florence Pugh shaved her head for her latest film because of her early mental health difficulties.
In A Good Person, the actress portrays a woman who develops an addiction to painkillers after a calamity.
Pugh said her own story inspired Allison’s decision to cut her hair during a difficult moment.
“I think we have this terrible nature, or at least I do sometimes, that when things go wrong, I just, like, lop off pieces of myself,” she explained. “This notion originated with me when I was younger.”
“I was going through that classic adolescent bout of depression where you’re unsure if you’re depressed. So I got strange stuff to mend myself quickly, like sticky things.
“Therefore, that was an idea I had. ‘Well, what if she just cuts off a piece of herself for no other purpose than to fix something’? I adored how this resulted in the character no longer caring about anything and acquiring absurd hair.
“I always enjoy stepping into a role where I don’t have to worry about being camera-ready or anything similar. And I enjoy not having to worry about that.”
The film avoids stereotypes of drug users, and Pugh’s character is likeable and relatable.
The actress states that it was crucial – albeit challenging – for her to nail the role.
“I believe we forget that just because someone is in a terrible situation, it does not mean that they cannot be charming or make you want to assist them – that is the most difficult aspect of being in that situation.
We spoke with several individuals who helped us understand what it’s like to be in that state and how far you have to fall before you realize you need assistance.
I believe having all of those incredible characters urgently trying to help her makes it real, makes it harder, and makes it implausible that she can’t kick it – and that also helps me figure out an arc for how to carry this through to the end.
That she must be both likable and infuriatingly obstinate. And why do we still want her to get better after everything she’s done? That was a difficult question.
“Of course, it’s so difficult to do something like this because you never want to offend anyone, you never want to hurt anyone, you want to get it right – you end up beating yourself up a little bit as well – but I’m so proud of it, I’m so proud of this work.”
The film was written for Pugh by her ex-boyfriend and director Zach Braff, whom she dated for three years.
She acknowledges that it would have been difficult to suggest changes or press back if they had no history.
“I’m confident that it would be if it were someone who didn’t know me or me them as well.
“There were things in the original script that I said, ‘I don’t think it would…’ or ‘That, I’d find a bit difficult to say’ or ‘Do you mind if I try?’ and [Braff] was completely cool with that, and I think because he knows me so well and knows how I perform and knows what he wants from me as a performer, it meant that I could also then ask the same of him, which was an amazing experience to have.
“It was very free for everyone on set, not just me – he wrote the script for me, but every actor and every character could show up on set and mean something, and if they wanted to change something, they were more than welcome to bring it to light.”
A Good Person is Braff’s third film as writer-director after Garden State (2004) and Wish I Was Here (2014).
He told that he would like to do more, but that it’s not as straightforward as wanting to.
“I find it very difficult to compose scripts; they do not come naturally to me.
“I wish I were more prolific, but I must wait for inspiration to come, so it’s difficult.
“However, this idea came to me during the pandemic and definitely during the lockdown, when I had the time and no excuse – I ran out of excuses during the lockdown, when the universe locked us all in our homes, and I had no choice.”
The film examines tragedy, grief, and how individuals react to trauma, and Braff has admitted that it was inspired by his own experiences, including the loss of a close companion to the COVID-19 virus.
He acknowledges that pouring himself into the film is risky.
“What’s more vulnerable than writing an original screenplay and saying, ‘This is the pain that I’ve had, these are my wounds’? But I think good art is an artist’s courage to be vulnerable in front of an audience.
I believe that is precisely what an actor does every day they are employed.
The death of Braff’s friend to COVID and Braff’s writing during quarantine affected the picture.
According to Braff, A Good Person explores how we’ve all handled the past several years through one character’s recovery.
“I believe that one of the things that people may notice about this film is that it is also about regaining”.
I mean, the film is about recovering from tragedy and trauma, and I believe if you zoom out, you’ll see that it’s also about recovering from the experience we all went through – this insane pandemic that I don’t think we can even process yet.
“We’re just moving on, but we’re not looking at the whole picture. And I think that’s also a factor – it’s about escaping this terrible time.”
