Florence Pugh Didn't Read A Good Person Despite Living With Zach Braff While He Wrote It

Cohabitating with a creative person means that sometimes the act of making art can spill out into other aspects of life. For actor Florence Pugh, however, living with writer and director Zach Braff while he wrote the film "A Good Person" was surprisingly un-invasive. In fact, she didn't read any of the script at all until after Braff was completely finished with it and they were headed into production with her as the star. 

In the film, Pugh plays a young woman who becomes addicted to opioids after a catastrophic car accident and has to try and put her life back together and pick up the pieces without painkillers. Braff wrote the screenplay to deal with some grief of his own, and input parts of Pugh's own life and personality into her character, making it a deeply personal role that took a great deal out of the actor. 

It must have been a surprise to read the finished screenplay and finally know what her partner had been writing about for all of that time (the two began dating in 2019, and have since split). Nonetheless, Pugh tackled the role with aplomb. In an interview with Variety, she revealed her personal history with "A Good Person," and shared her feelings on having a role written specifically for her. 

Braff wrote the role specifically for Pugh while they lived together during the COVID-19 lockdown, but that doesn't mean that he let her have any sneak peeks at what he was writing. He would only give her some vague ideas about the story while they talked about it later:

"I wasn't allowed to read any of it. I wasn't allowed to read any of the scenes as he was writing it and he'd come up from the office [having] locked himself in there for a few hours and then would just start telling me all the pieces that he had discovered and I really wasn't allowed to read anything. And so I kind of got to know the script and I got to know the character through us discussing it over dinner."

At least Pugh got some idea as to what the story was going to be about through their dinner conversations, but it must have still been frustrating not being able to read the written page. After all, Braff used parts of Pugh's personality to fill out her character, and also included things from her life, like her musical talents. Eventually Pugh would write some original songs for the film — and I hope she didn't let Braff hear or read them until she was done, just to be fair. 

Pugh went on to tell Variety that Braff implemented Pugh's way of talking, how she loves to "take the piss out of people," and he created a character that would be easy for her to slip into in many ways. Though she had to wait to read the screenplay, it seems that it was worth the wait, and she appreciated what he had written. "Reading something that is dedicated for you written by someone who knows you so well is a wonderful gift," said Pugh.

It's not unusual for filmmakers to create roles specifically for their performer partners, but it's interesting to hear about the process in a bit more depth, at least for this duo. Maybe Braff didn't want Pugh to influence his decisions too much, or maybe he was just nervous to share, but either way, we got a great Pugh performance with some stellar singing out of it, so we're all winners in the end.