How Andrew Garfield & Florence Pugh Built Chemistry for ‘We Live in Time’ (Exclusive)

Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh star in the romantic drama “We Live in Time,” an unconventional and decades-spanning love story about a couple facing a devastating medical diagnosis. 

“Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi spoke with Andrew and Florence about developing their chemistry after first meeting at the Oscars, months before filming. 

Florence noted that she was “nervous, excited” about their first meeting, saying, “That was really exciting because we knew that we were going to shoot this in a few months’ time… I knew that in a few months’ time, I was going to know a lot about the man that I was standing in front of, but then, I knew nothing… I knew how deep the script was and I knew that in order for me to do half of the stuff I would have had to feel safe and trust and I knew that was hopefully going to be inevitable in a few months’ time. That was quite special to know that we were going to go through that.”

Florence enjoyed working with Andrew, calling it a “beautiful experience.” She elaborated, “I really did get to understand him and fall in love with him through these characters and I got to enjoy how much more we felt safer with one another each day that we worked together… By the end of it, my Andrew understanding was full.”

“We got to know each other in a very bizarre and beautiful way,” Pugh added while stressing the importance of feeling safe and seen throughout production. 

She believes that their on-screen chemistry “was made better” thanks to their connection. 

When they wrapped shooting, she revealed that they “were both just crying and hugging each other.”

Andrew also reflected on the inevitability of loss in their doomed romance and the need to “suck the life out of every second.” 

He explained, “We’ve been conditioned to see struggle, difficulty, sickness, loss, death, the ending of things as something unfortunate or something that we try to avoid and I understand that as a human impulse and I think we’ve been conditioned to really try to avoid something that is inevitable, which is that everything is going to end…. The inevitability and it’s actually that fact that makes all of the stuff that happens while we’re here as profound, mysterious and meaningful as they can be, so I actually see it as something very fortunate, weirdly.”

The movie features a moment where Florence’s character shaves her head. As for why she was actually “excited” for the scene, Pugh said, “When I read the script for the first time, that was my favorite scene to read because I felt like for the first time, we were seeing a different version of how these events could go down and I was reading a different way of processing a different way of accepting and actually allowing them to enjoy the moment as opposed to being terrified of it… When we shot it, I was never scared to shave my head… I was excited to feel what it felt like to be Almut without hair, all the things that I couldn’t have been prepared for, I really need to feel things.”