Florence Pugh is diving into an exciting new territory in the forthcoming Marvel movie Thunderbolts. She ended up pulling off one of the coolest stunts in the show as her character, Yelena Belova, jumps off the Merdeka, now the second-tallest building in the world. This breathtaking stunt was filmed at the iconic Merdeka, located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and has become a focal point of Marvel’s featurette “The Jump” as well as the film’s trailer.
Pugh outted herself as a real chicken when it comes to this particular stunt. Though she was petrified, she showed remarkable composure, performing the stunt an incredible nine times. Even during the ordeal, she was able to stay zen as she kept mindful of her breath to calm her jangling nerves.
I could convince myself to do anything,” Pugh admitted, recalling her resolve to confront the duplicity-inducing, super-awkward scene. Her enthusiasm for the film was palpable from the moment she opened up the first page of the script.
Despite the physical impossibility of its claims, the production team faced significant pushback from Disney about pulling the stunt. For Pugh and director Jake Schreier, these challenges presented an opportunity to work together creatively to break through barriers. To make it work, Schreier noted, Pugh’s fierce conviction of the project’s necessity was key. Perhaps that’s what it took to convince everyone else to proceed with the stunt.
“It’s only ’cause she believed in it so much,” – Jake Schreier
Pugh plays Yelena Belova as a true antihero, the kind of character audiences love to root for. Given her seriousness about being this kind of role model, she tackled the stunt seriously with equal parts enthusiasm and care.
Naturally, I was!” I’m nuts, but not that nuts,” Pugh confessed. As she offered a blooper reel’s worth of evidence for her characteristically frank demeanor, Diaz opened up about the trauma she endured on set.
