Florence Pugh suffered from depression for six months after "abusing" herself on Midsommar.
The 29-year-old actress has admitted she "just can’t exhaust myself like that because it has a knock-on effect", after she threw herself into her character in Ari Aster's second feature film in 2019.
She told The Louis Theroux Podcast: “I think [Midsommar] made me sad for like six months after and I didn’t know why I was depressed. "I got back after shooting Little Women, which was such a fun experience and obviously a completely different tone from Midsommar, so I think shelved all of that.
"And then when I got home for Christmas, I was so depressed and I was like, ‘Oh, I think that’s from Midsommar,' and I didn’t deal with it and I probably shouldn’t do that again.”
Florence made it clear she pushed herself during Midsommar, and her actions had nothing to do with Aster, who she has been full of praise for in the past.
The character of Dani was "in such a horrible state in her life", and the actress "had never seen that level of grief or mental health in the way that was being asked of me on the page".
She explained: “So for that, I really put myself through it. At the beginning, I just imagined hearing the news that one of my siblings had died, and then towards the middle of the shoot it was like, ‘Oh no, I actually needed to imagine the coffins.’
"And then towards the end of the shoot, I actually was going to my whole family’s funeral.”
Florence noted how she tried to "sound pained" rather than simply tearful on screen, and she wanted to prove herself as a performer.
She said: “It wasn’t just crying. I needed to sound pained.
"I’d never done anything like that before and I was like, ‘OK, well here’s my opportunity. I need to give this a go.’
"And I would just basically put myself through hell. But I don’t do that anymore. It really f***** me up.”
