Florence Pugh won’t sign up for a role unless she feels “scared” about playing the character.

In her latest movie, A Good Person, the Don’t Worry Darling star plays Allison, a young woman struggling with opioid addiction after being involved in a car accident.

Zach Braff, who directed the film, wrote the script for Pugh while they lived together during the Covid-19 lockdown. At a Q&A following the film’s London premiere on Wednesday, an audience member asked the actress how it felt having such a broken, self-destructive character written for her and Pugh insisted those are the parts she gravitates towards.

“I wouldn’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. I think if anything, it means that he could believe that I could do it. It’s no secret that I only pick very intense roles,” she continued. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been reduced to tears pretty much every single scene that I’ve been in.

“I love being given a script where it challenges myself and I have never picked a role unless I’ve been scared of it. And this is someone that knew me, knew my potential, wanted to work with me. I think it would have been strange if he wrote a Nancy Meyers (feelgood comedy) for me.”

The Scrubs actor explained that he wrote such a complex, dark character for Pugh because he knew she would rise to the challenge.

“It’s like if you’re with the most incredible violinist in the world, and you’re going to write him a piece, you’re not going to write something that’s simple. You’re going to write something that is going to take all of them because you know that they can do it,” he gushed.

Elsewhere in the Q&A, the 27-year-old revealed Braff wouldn’t show her the script until it was finished. Reflecting on the complete screenplay, she recalled, “Reading something that is dedicated for you written by someone who knows you so well is a wonderful gift.”

Pugh and Braff, who filmed the movie in late 2021, split up last year after a three-year relationship.

A Good Person will be released in cinemas on 24 March.

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