Florence Pugh on Bringing the Drama in ‘East of Eden’… in Fabulous Clothes! (Exclusive)

Florence Pugh, Christopher Abbott and Mike Faist are dishing on their new series “East of Eden,” which is a modern interpretation of John Steinbeck’s masterpiece.

“Extra” spoke with the three about the series, in which Florence plays Cathy Ames, who she described as an “unbelievably complicated” character.

“She is so large, not only in the lifespan, but the decisions that she makes have a knock-on effect to her future,” Pugh noted. “I had so many people helping me through that process.”

According to Florence, her character brings the drama “in fabulous clothing.”

Florence’s comments had Mike laughing. She quipped, “I think she just came out of me then.”

To prep for the role, Pugh studied and read up on her character “endlessly.”

Pugh wanted to understand her character’s decisions, saying, “How that might affect things and try and find ways to bring a lot of love from me into her.”

Florence also praised Mike and Christopher.

She said, “My performance wouldn’t be anything without these fantastic actors on either side of me right now because we got to really go head-to-head in so many moments.”

Pugh noted that the scenes they shared wasn’t like anything she imagined.

She said, “I felt like what we created was totally alive and in the moment and really responded to what the other person was giving.”

Florence recalled a scene that she and Mike were struggling with and how they resolved things. She shared, “There were so many voices and there were so many people giving their two cents and eventually we both just were like, ‘Everybody back off and let us figure it out and let us just be actors and be alive and awake and intuitive in this moment.’”

Pugh stressed the importance of trust with your scene partner. 

Showing love for the cast and crew, Michael added, “Whenever you step into something, a project of that sort, that’s what you’re hoping for is that everybody is going to show up and give it everything that they got, and that’s what happened here.”