We Live In Time Director Compares Florence Pugh To A 'Heat-Seeking Missile' [Exclusive]

John Crowley's wonderful romantic drama "We Live in Time" follows a couple played by Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh as they navigate how to deal with a cancer diagnosis. But don't let that description scare you off: While there are sad moments here, there's plenty of joy to be found throughout as well. Both of the actors are fantastic, giving exactly the top-tier performances you'd hope for from performers of their talents; their work is often quiet, sometimes explosive, but always relatable and extremely human. The movie marks a reunion for Crowley and Garfield, who had worked together on 2007's "Boy A," but this was the first time the director had worked with Pugh. 

When I spoke to him in advance of the film's release and asked him what kinds of conversations he had with the superstar actress before she signed on, I was surprised to hear that he wasn't immediately convinced things would work out:

"She's very direct, Florence. She was like, 'This is great. I love it. I want to do it. Yeah.' It was very, very — in a weird way, it was like, 'Really?' And I almost didn't trust that it could work out, because the first time we called about Florence, she was not available because of the Marvel movie, and then that slid back and she got eight free weeks and she was in. And she was very keen to shave her head, that was in our first conversation. I was like, 'Wow, that's amazing,' because I had assumed that an actor who was going off to do a huge superhero franchise movie would not shave it all off. But she was absolutely adamant about it, which is fantastic."

Pugh is part of the ensemble cast of Marvel Studios' "Thunderbolts*", and interestingly, Marvel's first choice for her role of Yelena Belova was actually an actress Crowley worked with in 2015's "Brooklyn": Saoirse Ronan.

In addition to Pugh's forthrightness and her commitment to shaving her head for her role in "We Live in Time," Crowley was also impressed by her relentless pursuit of the truth in every scene during filming.

"She has a truth instinct," Crowley told me about Pugh's acting skills. "She's like a heat-seeking missile. She goes straight to the heart of something. She doesn't like to over-talk about it, she doesn't like to intellectualize, she wants to do it, get on with it. She loved rehearsals with Andrew, and I think that allowed them both the space to find each other. We had two weeks' rehearsal, and it helped that they really liked each other, which is great. And it just allowed them to study the map of the territory before they had to climb the mountain, as it were. They just understood what all these scenes were so, under pressure on the day, they could really dial it up and go for it emotionally."

That approach resulted in truly spectacular work from Pugh, who has proven again and again to be one of the most talented performers of her generation. There's a scene in this film where her character and Garfield's character are fighting over a secret that she's kept, and the explanation that pours out of her is a masterclass in how to let out pent-up feelings without dialing it up so far that it starts to feel overwrought. I was completely in the moment while watching the movie, but in retrospect, the precision she showed in that particular moment is astonishing. 

You can hear my full interview with John Crowley about "We Live in Time" on today's episode of the /Film Daily podcast:

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