Florence Pugh jumps into ‘Thunderbolts*’ superhero mode

As Russian assassin spy and martial arts master Yelena Belova Florence Pugh takes a cue from Tom Cruise and makes a spectacular entrance in this week s Marvel adventure Thunderbolts by jumping off the second tallest building in the world That would be the Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia This new adventure begins as Yelena mourns her late sister Black Widow star Scarlett Johansson s Natasha Romanoff Obviously I d like to say Pugh began in a virtual press conference none of the stunts are manageable without any of the stunties and riggers and that s been designed for weeks prior to shooting As much as I like to say that I did my stunts there s also plenty that aren t me But in terms of coming at it from Florence it s such an impressive way to start the movie It really allowed me to understand where she was Reading it on a page it did feel she was stepping off a building as if she was taking her own life and how powerful it was to start a movie like that I was just so impressed by it And also impressed instantly how as an audience member we knew exactly where she was feeling It was only because she s obviously an assassin that she can land it But for someone to jump off a building like that with the voiceover it s harrowing It s not a nice image to have Which is why when she indeed measures off everybody s stomachs do just flip It s an image we all associate as something really bad Coming at it from Yelena the way I thought about her in that opening is that she is at such a loss She s lost her sister her family The relationship with her father has dwindled to nothing She s in such a state of mind that she s happy to put herself at peril That s why for example in early fittings I was going to be in my super suit And I was like No no no If she s in fact to be put in these situations to potentially get killed she demands to be in something that doesn t protect her like a tracksuit If she s going to do these missions and fight let s take away the added layer of protection her super suit So even though she s still doing cool things realistically she s going into a mission altogether bare That s how desperate she is for someone to end it for her And then of class You have to act on top of the tallest building and pretend it s not scary Pretend as if you want to jump off it Just mad What s really so impressive beyond the fact that she did it stated director Jake Schreier is that the shot starts on her face and you re starting the movie in this real moment of character Thunderbolts is in theaters May Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova in Marvel Studios Thunderbolts Photo Chuck Zlotnick Marvel Studios