During the most recent leg of her press trip, Florence Pugh praised Ireland for being "warm and wonderful".
The Academy-Award nominated actress landed in Dublin for a pint of Guinness before walking the red carpet for the Irish premiere of The Wonder, a story adapted from Emma Donoghue's latest novel.
The event was held at Smithfield's Lighthouse Cinema, and saw Chilean director Sebastián Lelio in attendance as well as Irish cast members Niamh Algar, Dermot Crowley, Elaine Cassidy and her daughter Kíla Lord Cassidy.
Speaking to RTÉ Lifestyle, the Marvel star said that she had been "gagging" to get back to Ireland:
"I had the privilege of, for the first time coming to Ireland a few years back with Jack Reynor [her Midsommar co-star] and I had been, like, gagging to get back just because just the people, the food, the hospitality, the life here is so warm and wonderful, so I was so excited to be here for a few months - a good few months - to actually live here."
"We had an amazing time with the crew, as Sebastián [Director Sebastián Lelio] said earlier it was one of the best crews he had worked with, and same with me, it was a wonderful, wonderful experience even though we were shooting such a dark story."
Set in 1862, the tense drama takes place 13 years after the Great Famine. Pugh plays Nurse Lib Wright, an English nurse who is called to Ireland's midlands by a devout community to conduct a two week watch over 11-year-old Anna O'Donnell who claims not to have eaten for four months, surviving miraculously on "manna from heaven".
As Anna's health deteriorates, Pugh's character is forced to challenge the faith of a devout community traumatised by grief.
Reflecting on the power house roles that she plays across genres, whether it be a Marvel action movie like Black Widow or a psychological thriller like her latest hit Don't Worry Darling, Pugh says she is drawn to strong female characters.
"I've done this era before. I've done it in Northumberland [Lady Macbeth], I've done it in America [Little Women], and now obviously in Ireland. The difference of what these women go through and the difference in power... this one in particular, this particular character really fascinated me that she had every qualification under the sun and yet she was still being pushed back again by men."
"It was a time when women didn't have power, they didn't have a voice, they weren't essentially their own beings, so for someone to be so qualified and still being up against something that was an up-hill battle was really fascinating to me."
The thrilling story has been adapted from Emma Donoghue's latest novel of the same name. Speaking to RTÉ Lifestyle, Director Sebastián Lelio praised Irish author for her creativity.
"It was a luxury to inherit the amazing story that Emma created and start from there working on the script along with Alice Birch. I felt really lucky to receive such strong and powerful material and have the chance to explore it."
The movie, which was filmed in Dublin and Wicklow last year, is Netflix's first fully filmed project on the island of Ireland, and will enjoy a short run in Irish cinemas before dropping on the streaming service on November 16.
Watch our interview with Florence and Sebastián at the top of the page. By Cathal Mac An Bheatha.
