Zach Braff Praised Florence Pugh For Being An "Unbelievable" And "Next-Level" Actor And "Good Friend"

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Zach Braff praised Florence Pugh ahead of the release of their new movie, A Good Person.

The former couple pose together for photographers at a red carpet event for their film The Good Person
Jeff Spicer / Getty Images

For context, Zach and Florence were in a romantic relationship with one another for three years, until 2022. They lived together during lockdown, which was when Zach wrote A Good Person following the death of his best friend Nick Cordero from COVID-19, which happened while Nick was living in Zach's guest house.

A closeup of Florence with short brown hair in a scene from A Good Person. She is wearing a sweater and looking out of a window
MGM / Courtesy Everett Collection

A Good Person stars Florence as Allison and Morgan Freeman as Daniel. It follows Allison's journey as she becomes addicted to opioids after a tragedy where Daniel's daughter's died, ultimately striking up an unlikely friendship with Daniel as the two navigate their grief and guilt.

Zach has long sung Florence's praises as an actor, but at a recent screening in New York, he introduced her as, "My muse, my friend, my partner in crime." He continued, "I wrote this for this beautiful human being, Florence Pugh."

  Florence Pugh / Via Instagram: @florencepugh

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Zach said, "She's a next-level actress. I mean, she's just unbelievable and what I was writing was gonna be really challenging."

  Karwai Tang / WireImage
Karwai Tang / WireImage

"It wasn't for your average actors — I couldn't have written the part for myself," he continued. "I'm just in awe of her talent and I said, 'I wanna write this for Florence. What I'm writing is really gonna be challenging and she's incredible.'"

From left to right: Florence, Zoe Lister-Jones, Molly Shannon, and Zach Braff smile for a group photo on the red carpet
Dominik Bindl / WireImage

"It's been about four years of a lot of loss," Zach added. "My best friend was staying in my guest house and he got COVID and eventually died at 41 years old, leaving behind [his wife] Amanda Kloots and their young son. ... So when I sat down to write — because I had to write, I had to express myself in some way, there was nothing else to do during the pandemic — this is what came out of me."

  Cindy Ord / Getty Images
Cindy Ord / Getty Images

Florence has reciprocated the feeling, sharing in a recent Good Morning America interview, "Zack has written a fantastic script that matches how we deal with times of sadness."

  Cindy Ord / Getty Images
Cindy Ord / Getty Images

A Good Person hits cinemas on Friday, March 24.