Florence Pugh says she feels ‘a lot of pressure’ over Thunderbolts role

Actress Florence Pugh has said she feels “a lot of pressure” over her role as assassin Yelena Belova in Marvel’s Thunderbolts.

Speaking at a London screening of the film, the 29-year-old said the pressure stemmed from the fact that fans of the superhero franchise already had a perception of her character before she stepped into the role.

Pugh told the PA news agency: “There’s a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure when you’re doing any Marvel creation.

“I think what you have to balance and understand is that the character you’re playing has been loved by people before you even stepped into those shoes.

“And even if Marvel had given you the opportunity to give it a go, people will have their own preconceived ideas of what they want that character to be.

“So it’s a huge responsibility, and it’s not something that should be taken lightly, and it’s not something that you should just expect people to like, and that’s part of the challenge and part of the joy of being a part of something so mega.

“I’m so grateful that those at Marvel wanted to give me a movie and wanted to give me a second chance.”

Pugh previously appeared as Yelena in Black Widow (2021), and her character will embark on a dangerous mission that forces her to confront the darkest corners of her past as part of a team made up of Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker in the 2025 film.

She continued: “They wanted to give me another chance, they wanted to see where Yelena went.

“I’m also so impressed that they’ve wanted to make this kind of movie with this kind of story, with the story that Jake (Schreier, the film’s director) has really championed.

“It’s not an easy superhero movie, it’s not a movie about talents that you can’t see yourself in, it’s actually about flaws that everybody can see themselves in, and it’s humongously brave.

“I’m just very, very lucky that my first experience was with Scarlett Johansson (who plays fellow assassin Natasha Romanoff who is also known as Black Widow), who wants to talk about women and the behaviour of people around women in the world.

“And on my second movie, it’s about mental health and the behaviour of how we accept people with mental health.”

The film also stars Sebastian Stan as Bucky, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, and Wyatt Russell as John.

Thunderbolts will be released in UK cinemas from May 2.