The 2015 sliding doors moment that saved Florence Pugh’s career: “I think it’s so interesting”
Florence Pugh says her career could have taken a very different path if the 2015 Fox pilot *Studio City*, in which she had a role, had become a series. The pilot was not picked up, leaving her free to take *Lady Macbeth*, the film that helped establish her as a leading actor.
Pugh said she might have become “a completely different actor” and missed *Lady Macbeth* had the series gone ahead. The film won her the best actress prize at the British Independent Film Awards and drew attention from director Park Chan-wook. That exposure preceded a prolific 2019, when she starred in *Fighting with My Family* and *Midsommar*, and received an Oscar nomination for *Little Women*.
In short
- *Studio City* was not picked up by Fox.
- Pugh says she may have missed *Lady Macbeth* if it had been.
- The film helped lead to her breakthrough roles and Oscar nomination.
Explained simply
Florence Pugh is a British actor whose early film roles brought her wider attention. In 2016, she starred in Lady Macbeth, a period drama about a young woman in an unhappy marriage in 19th-century England.
The film won Pugh the best actress prize at the British Independent Film Awards and helped raise her profile. She later appeared in films including Fighting with My Family, Midsommar and Little Women, for which she received an Oscar nomination.
Studio City was a proposed American television series, developed through a pilot episode to test whether a network would commission a full run. Pugh’s account highlights how the show’s cancellation left her available for Lady Macbeth, illustrating how early career opportunities can shape an actor’s later work.