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 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.
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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.”
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.”
“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.'”
“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.”
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.”
A Good Person hits cinemas on Friday, March 24.
