Credit: Marvel StudiosMarvel star Florence Pugh is giving new insights into Yelena Belova’s iconic Hawkeye entrance, proving once again that she’s one of the best actors to grace the MCU.
Hawkeye, a six-episode miniseries following the titular archer-turned-Avenger, first landed on Disney+ in November 2021. The miniseries saw Jeremy Renner reprise his role as Clint Barton and introduced his new apprentice, Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). Throughout the season, audiences watched as Kate teamed up with a reluctant Clint to take down old enemies from his troubled past. The season ended with Clint giving Kate the mantle of Hawkeye, meaning her presence in future MCU phases is imminent.
The character of Yelena was first introduced in 2021’s Black Widow, which built the relationship between her and her sister, Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). As viewers may remember, Yelena tracks down Kate to her New York City apartment in Episode 5 of Hawkeye after being recruited by Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and immediately helps herself to a mac and cheese dinner. Yelena proceeds to interrogate Kate about her partner, Clint, as she still blames him for her sister’s death in Avengers: Endgame (2019).
And recently, the multi-hyphenate actor dished on her character’s appearance in Disney+’s Hawkeye miniseries during an episode of Hot Ones, where she provided some new context behind that hilarious scene.
NEW #HotOnes episode with @Florence_Pugh 🔥 Will she make it through the wings of death? Watch now: https://t.co/iOMx0bh7og 👀
Presented by @MACcosmetics pic.twitter.com/sxwJNPJKJZ
— First We Feast (@firstwefeast) March 30, 2023
The 10-minute scene, where Yelena gradually smothers her mac n cheese in hot sauce, ended up being one of the more memorable moments of the entire Hawkeye show. And according to Pugh, the decision to make Yelena chow down on a pot of mac and cheese was her idea. While talking to host Sean Evans during the interview, Pugh revealed that she loves to eat on-camera during shoots, where she admitted that one of her pet peeves is seeing actors not actually eat in movies and TV shows:
That was pretty much my idea to have essentially a dream day at work and eat mac ‘n’ cheese all day long. And then they had sriracha on the table as a prop and I was like, ‘is this real?’ The props guy was like, ‘yeah, it’s real.’ And so every single take I’m just shoveling in mouthfuls of sriracha. I had a fantastic day. It was great.
After discovering that the prop hot sauce was real, Pugh decided that Yelena would share her passion for mac n cheese and that she would be eating the meal throughout the entire scene. Little did she know that this improvisation, in addition to her onscreen chemistry with Steinfeld, would become a major highlight of the series.
For now, MCU fans can look forward to seeing Pugh back in action in the upcoming movie, Thunderbolts (2024). Yelena will have a significant role in the film along with Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, Wyatt Russell’s John Walker, and her pseudo-adoptive father, Alexei Shostakov, AKA The Red Guardian (David Harbour). While plot details have been kept under tight wraps, one thing’s for sure: if Pugh has any say in it, her character’s love for boxed mac and cheese will surely get a nod.