KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 — Was British actress Florence Pugh filming the upcoming superhero film Thunderbolts* in Kuala Lumpur?
It is speculated that she filmed at Medan Pasar and another stunt scene at the Merdeka 118 skyscraper.
This comes after a X (formerly Twitter) post on June 24 by Pugh’s fan account @bestofpugh which claimed that the actress was in Malaysia filming for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film.
Florence Pugh was recently filming a sky diving scene in Malaysia for Marvel’s ‘Thunderbolts*’ pic.twitter.com/Dc2ij5wOo3
— Florence Pugh Daily (@bestofpugh) June 24, 2024
Pugh’s sister Arabella Gibbins shared a picture of the Petronas Twin Towers on Instagram on June 22 and tagged her in the post.
“Taking it all in so many moments and sights to savour, it’s been a very surreal few days! Never thought I’d be in Malaysia this year so thank you thank you thank you lucky stars,” Gibbins wrote.
According to a fan account @tbolts_news, various stunt performers working on the film have also reportedly finished filming in Malaysia.
RUMOR: ‘THUNDERBOLTS*’ may feature a skydiving stunt in Malaysia.After a few random comments found on Twitter and some investigating, it looks like several stunt performers were recently in Malaysia for a few days.Photo: sarah__irwin on IG pic.twitter.com/EJAh8bjFB4
— Thunderbolts* News (@tbolts_news) June 24, 2024
Deadline reported that the film’s production wrapped in mid-June, with Pugh’s co-star Stranger Things actor David Harbour wrapping his scenes at the end of the month.
Fans online have put these clues together and speculated that an action scene with Pugh’s character Yelena Belova — who is the younger sister of Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson — is set in Kuala Lumpur.
Addressing these rumours, the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) chairman Datuk Kamil Othman has since told Astro’s entertainment news site Gempak that Thunderbolts* was not a part of the Film in Malaysia Incentive Scheme (Fimi).
However, Kamil said that this was proof that Malaysia is still a popular shooting location for international productions.
Thunderbolts* is set to be the MCU’s take on The Dirty Dozen and Suicide Squad which features a group of anti-heroes that go on missions for the American government.
The film also stars Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Harrison Ford as Thaddeus Thunderbolt Ross.