Florence Pugh and David Harbour Miss Black Widow Stars

As Florence Pugh and David Harbour enter into the home stretch of Thunderbolts’ press tour, a couple key absences are on their minds from their collective MCU debut in 2021’s Black Widow. 

When Pugh joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Yelena Belova, she was introduced as the heir apparent to Scarlett Johansson’s outgoing Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. After all, Johansson’s character had died two years earlier in Avengers: Endgame, as her sacrifice played a key role in the Avengers finally taking down the almighty Thanos and restoring the population he blipped out of existence, including Yelena herself. 

Johansson’s long-overdue solo movie was then meant to shed light on Natasha and Yelena’s origin story and also pass the torch to Pugh’s adoptive sister. In the early ‘90s, they spent three years together in Ohio, posing as the daughters of Alexei Shostakov (Harbour) and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz). One day, their undercover mission was abruptly completed, resulting in the two young girls being shuttled off to the Red Room’s Black Widow Program.

Once Yelena returned from the blip, CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) wrongfully blamed Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) for Natasha’s death until he clarified the matter on the Disney+ series, Hawkeye. That wouldn’t be the first time de Fontaine decided to mislead Yelena, as Jake Schreier’s Thunderbolts has Louis-Dreyfus’ character set a death trap for Yelena and several other MCU loners, forcing them to team-up to stop a much greater threat.

With Pugh positioned as the lead of the Thunderbolts ensemble, she acknowledges Johansson’s hand in her MCU ascent and how much she misses her presence on set. 

“My whole journey with Marvel was because of Scarlett trusting me and Scarlett wanting me to join her movie [Black Widow] six years ago,” Pugh tells The Hollywood Reporter in support of Thunderbolts’ May 2 theatrical release. “So I always miss her presence. It was such a mean thing … that [Black Widow] was the first and the last time I would get to experience this world with her. But I am genuinely always just hoping that she’s proud.”

For Harbour, he can’t help but wonder where Alexei’s beloved Melina is at the moment. The ending of Cate Shortland’s Black Widow had Yelena, Melina and Alexei lead the Red Room’s now-liberated Widows to safety, and so one might have assumed that Melina and Alexei’s reconnection would stick, especially with the knowledge of an intimate deleted scene. Of course, unused footage is rarely considered canonical, but it seems that Harbour has been making the case for more Melina/Weisz behind the scenes. 

“I’ve talked to [Marvel] people about Melina, and I think there’s still very much potential for Melina,” Harbour says. “There was a beautiful [deleted] scene with me and Rachel [kissing] after the crash. It was one of my favorite moments from that movie. But I do think that there’s potential for Melina’s reemergence in some kind of interesting way, and I would love to have her back in Alexei’s life.”

There’s been a great deal of talk surrounding Pugh’s impressive skyscraper stunt at the beginning of Thunderbolts. She personally lobbied Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige to not only restore the sequence after it was omitted for a period of time, but also allow her to make the leap herself off of Kuala Lumpur’s Merdeka 118, the world’s second tallest building. Schreier told THR in an upcoming interview that the stunt and its marketing opportunities were meant to be their own spin on Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible playbook, and now Pugh is also confirming that Cruise was an inspiration for the jump.

“When it got taken out [of the movie], that was when I really got sassy,” Pugh says regarding her email to Feige. “But, of course, anything that Tom Cruise does, stunt-wise and acting-wise, is just totally impressive. I don’t think I’m going to be flying any machines or riding any motorbikes, but this was a perfect amount of stunt for me. So it certainly was fun to pretend to be Tom Cruise for a few seconds.”

Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Harbour also discusses how Disney and Netflix worked together so he could film Thunderbolts and Stranger Things 5 simultaneously. 

***

Well, Florence, despite having a new guinea pig, Yelena is lonely. She misses her sister, Natasha. But this set did have a version of Natasha in the form of stunt coordinator Heidi Moneymaker, Scarlett Johansson‘s longtime stunt double. Did you ever feel Scarlett’s absence and comment on it like Yelena does?

FLORENCE PUGH That’s a good point. My whole journey with Marvel was because of Scarlett trusting me and Scarlett wanting me to join her movie [Black Widow] six years ago. So I always miss her presence, and I always feel like it was such a mean thing to begin the journey with someone and then you never get to work with them again on it. (Laughs.) It was kind of wild that [Black Widow] was the first and the last time I would get to experience this world with her. But I am genuinely always just hoping that she’s proud. I always have that in the back of my head, like, “Oh, I hope she’s happy that we came in.” So I do miss her a lot on set, yes. We would have a lot of laughter. 

David, when Alexei is not gargling Palmolive dish soap …

DAVID HARBOUR (Laughs.) He doesn’t gargle it! He was just brushing his teeth with it. Actually, he might gargle a little bit, sorry. 

Do you think he still pines for Rachel Weisz’s character? 

PUGH Aww.

What happened to Alexei and Melina, post-Black Widow?

HARBOUR That’s a great question, and in fact, I would love to get into that.

PUGH We don’t know what happened to Melina. 

HARBOUR No, [we don’t]. I’ve talked to [Marvel] people about Melina, and I think there’s still very much potential for Melina. 

PUGH Hope!

HARBOUR It’s funny, when we shot Black Widow, there was no time for this scene in the movie itself, because the movie is clearly about Scarlett’s character. But there were some DVD extras that came out … 

The kiss!

HARBOUR Yeah, there was a beautiful scene with me and Rachel after the crash. I touch her face and everything. It was one of my favorite moments from that movie. 

PUGH It was cut? 

HARBOUR Yeah, it was cut. You can’t focus on those two when Natasha is fighting Taskmaster at the end of the film. “Let’s go to the two supporting characters and see how they worked out!”

PUGH & HARBOUR (Laugh.)

HARBOUR But I do think that there’s potential for Melina’s reemergence in some kind of interesting way, and I would love to have her back in Alexei’s life. She would add such an interesting complexity. 

Florence, before “Sassy Karen” emailed Kevin Feige about the skyscraper stunt, were you watching Mission: Impossible featurettes when inspiration struck?

PUGH So what I will say is that it wasn’t my idea to go up there. That was already in the script, and it was already such an impressive way to start a script by having someone fall off a building. I was just really, really amazed that they had written that version of an opening. And then, when it got taken out, that was when I really got sassy. (Laughs.) But, of course, anything that Tom Cruise does, stunt-wise and acting-wise, is just totally impressive. I mean, I’d be mad if I didn’t want to pretend that I was him for two seconds. I don’t think I’m going to be flying any machines or riding any motorbikes, but this was a perfect amount of stunt for me. So it certainly was fun to pretend to be Tom Cruise for a few seconds.

David, last time we spoke, your summer of being way-too-employed had come to a screeching halt due to the strikes. Did you still end up shooting Thunderbolts*, Stranger Things and A Working Man at the same time? 

HARBOUR (Laughs.) Yeah, I was doing Stranger Things 5, Thunderbolts and A Working Man.

PUGH Way too employed!

HARBOUR [A Working Man] was a day and a half in London; I just went over for the weekend. So the scheduling was a bit insane, but I do love all the projects, and I’m not very good at turning things down.

PUGH Yeah, me neither. 

HARBOUR When I love something, I try to find a way to make it work, and these franchises understand how important they are to each other. So I think Disney and Netflix try to make things work out, and people try to take care of you to make you happy. So it’s been very nice that everyone can work stuff out.

***
Thunderbolts* opens in movie theaters nationwide on May 2.