Florence Pugh jumped off 2,200-foot building for Thunderbolts: Here's how she convinced Marvel boss Kevin Feige to let her do it

Florence Pugh isn¡¯t afraid of heights. In fact, she loves them. So when her character Yelena Belova was scripted to jump off Merdeka 118¡ªa 2,200-foot skyscraper in Malaysia for Marvel¡¯s Thunderbolts¡ªshe didn¡¯t want a stunt double to do it. She wanted to take the leap herself.

Marvel didn't want Florence Pugh to do her own stunts

At first, Marvel didn¡¯t want her doing the stunt. It was risky, too high, and too complicated. ¡°They said they don¡¯t think it¡¯s going to happen,¡± Pugh told Variety. ¡°It¡¯s a crazy insurance ordeal, and we¡¯re not going to throw me off the second tallest building in the world.¡±

Florence went to the Marvel boss after the refusal

Despite initial denial, she didn't give up. Pugh went straight to the top to fight for the stunt. She emailed Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige directly and asked to do the jump. She said she wanted the scene to be real and believed it would be a powerful moment for her character and the movie.

¡°I was being a sassy Karen is emailing Kevin [Feige] and saying it¡¯s going to do wonders for the press tour,¡± she said. ¡°We have to do this! We¡¯re going to have three women break three different Guinness World Records, and we¡¯ll do this and this. I had to keep on pushing, and then they¡¯re like, ¡®Okay, if you want to fall off the second tallest building, we¡¯ll figure it out for you.¡¯ I don¡¯t mind heights. I quite like them and enjoy them, but that was a whole different ballgame and insane. The mental control I had to do that day was its own superpower.¡±

She got the green light

After some convincing, the studio said yes. ¡°Okay, if you want to fall off the second tallest building, we¡¯ll figure it out for you,¡± they told her.

Florence trained for it. Even though she¡¯s comfortable with heights, she said this stunt was on another level. ¡°The mental control I had to do that day was its own superpower,¡± she said.

'Slept three hours after the jump': Florence Pugh

Jumping off the second tallest building in the world sounds terrifying to most people, but not to Florence Pugh. Nonetheless, she was proud of herself for managing to pull it off.

¡°I do like jumping of high things,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve always jumped off high rocks into the sea. I don¡¯t mind heights. I quite like them and enjoy them, but that was a whole different ballgame,¡± she noted. ¡°That was insane. The mental control I had to do that day was like, that was its own super power, but I¡¯m so proud that I did it.¡± ¡°When I got home, I went into what I can only say is like a three-hour coma,¡± she confirmed. ¡°Just deep, deep sleep. My brain just was obviously trying to focus and process everything.¡±

Meanwhile, Thunderbolts, hitting theaters May 2, 2025, brings together Marvel anti-heroes like Yelena Belova (Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and Red Guardian (David Harbour).

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