Zach Braff said his former partner Florence Pugh is “one of the greatest actors of her generation” as she stars in his upcoming film A Good Person.
The 47-year-old Scrubs actor, who split with Pugh, 27, last year, produces the comedy-drama with her while he also writes and directs.
He told Vogue: “I quite simply think she’s one of the greatest actors of her generation.
“She’s just magnetic. You cannot take your eyes off of her. And it’s not just her beauty and it’s not just her acting ability, it’s that thing, that magic thing that transcends the screen, where anyone and everyone goes: I want to see whatever this person does.”
The film follows Allison, played by Pugh, a young woman whose world falls apart when she survives an unimaginable tragedy, whilst in recovery for an opioid addiction and unresolved grief.
She forms an unlikely friendship with her would-be father-in-law, Daniel (Morgan Freeman) that gives her a fighting chance to put her life back together and move forward.
At one point, Pugh cuts her hair during a tense scene for which Braff asked her not to due to filming issues.
She called it “a mistake that she has to wear on her head for the entire film”.
Pugh added: “I just wanted it to be a dreadful mess.”
Elsewhere in the piece, Oxford-born Pugh said she had bought a place in south London to be close to her friends as she says she is “more of a London girl”.
“You know, you have a daydream when you start out: What is it that means you’ve made it?,” she added.
“What is it that means you are an adult? And for me it was: You live close to your friends and you have a local pub.”
A Good Person is scheduled for release in UK cinemas in March 2023 ahead of launching on Sky Cinema in April 2023.