When Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” took the Ensemble in a Motion Picture honor at the 2024 SAG Awards Saturday night, one member of the cast was conspicuously missing. It turned out Florence Pugh, who played the pivotal role of Jean Tatlock, wasn’t in attendance. Many assumed it was due to Pugh’s commitments to the promotional tour for Denis Villeneuve’s already celebrated “Dune: Part II” which opens in theaters on Friday. It turns out that wasn’t the case. Instead, Pugh was in Georgia where she’d already begun filming Marvel Studios’ “Thunderbolts.”
Speaking to ETOnline from the New York City premiere of the “Dune” sequel, Pugh noted, “I’m honored that I’ve been able to do the most bizarre press tour for both movies at these same time. And I’ve just started my next movie, my next Marvel movie, ‘Thunderbolts’ and I’ve been shooting that.”
She continues, “I couldn’t make it last night, unfortunately, because I was working, but I managed to squeeze this one in. I feel very grateful that I’ve managed to juggle all of them at the same time.”
Pugh added, “It’s a huge honor to be part of such amazing productions and to be part of such an amazing set of crew, the cast. It’s truly like one of those bizarre moments in my life where I know I’ll never be juggling this much level of pride [again].”
An Oscar nominee in 2023 for “Little Women,” Pugh reprises her role as Yelena Belova, aka, the new Black Widow, in “Thunderbolts.” Directed by Jake Schreier (“Beef”), the thriller centers on a group of outcast heroes or supervillains (take your pick) including Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Red Guardian (David Harbour) and, potentially, Antonia Dreykov (Olga Kurylenko). The group has been assembled by the devious U.S. espionage chief Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and the movie should feature the big-screen debut of the mysterious figure known as The Sentry (Lewis Pullman, replacing Steven Yeun).
Based on Pugh’s comments, the production is well under way in the Atlanta, Georgia area and, if changes to the state’s production incentives move forward, it may be one of the last.
Also a two-time BAFTA Award nominee, Pugh’s win as a member of the “Oppenheimer” cast was her first SAG Award win and the most prestigious trophy so far in her relatively short career. Pugh also voiced a character in the English language version of “The Boy and The Heron” which could potentially win this year’s Animated Feature Oscar.
“Dune: Part II” opens nationwide on Friday. “Thunderbolts” is currently scheduled for release on May 2, 2025.
