Florence Pugh didn’t have to shave her head for her highly anticipated movie, We Live in Time, but to her, it was always âno-brainer.â
In the film, award-winning chef Almut (Pugh) has her partner Tobias (Andrew Garfield) shave her head amid her battle with stage three ovarian cancer. And while director John Crowley had looked into ways the makeup and hair team could fake the drastic cut, Pugh wasn’t interested in faking it. “Before I even got to say anything about any of that, she was [like], ‘I’m shaving my head by the way,'” he recently revealed at the Toronto International Film Festival, per People. âSo she’s fearless, Florence, and really committed.â
Pugh herself didn’t see another option. âFor any actor taking a role like this, it is completely important that you see her head and we see her shaving itâit was just always a no-brainer,â Pugh told British Vogue during her October cover interview. âYou have the honor of doing something to yourself that is totally in support of the character.â
Florence Pugh says living with a buzz cut was âbizarre,â adding, “my head was so sensitive and so many people were trying to touch it and it was so alive.â She even says her “body went into a bit of trauma from it,” noting, “I was cold all the time.â
Her scene partner, Andrew Garfield, did the honors. âIt was a privilege to be given that job,â he told British Vogue, though he said it was a âterrifyingâ endeavor. âWhat if I somehow destroyed the head of one of the best actors of her generation? It was terrifying, but ultimately it was a very beautiful, intimate scene to shoot and thank God she has such a nicely shaped melon.â
