Warning: Major spoilers for the show “Lessons in Chemistry” ahead.
“Lessons in Chemistry” is an underdog story – a show about a woman taking back control of her life after unfortunate circumstances, about how it’s never too late to find yourself. But before it turns into that, it’s a love story.
Based on Bonnie Garmus’ book of the same name, “Lessons in Chemistry” stars Brie Larson as Elizabeth Zott, a woman working as a lab tech in the 1950s who dreams of being a scientist. Eventually, Elizabeth will go on to host her own cooking show, but at the beginning of the series, her aspirations continue to fall flat, time and time again. That is, until she meets Dr. Calvin Evans (Lewis Pullman).
Over the course of the show’s first two episodes, the relationship between Elizabeth and Calvin evolves from cordiality between colleagues to a blossoming romance between two people who, up until this point, were perfectly content to be alone. Watching these two intensely guarded people begin to open up to each other is almost cathartic, in a way, and the chemistry between Larson and Pullman is quick to ignite. For a moment, it feels like everything is falling into place – until tragedy strikes, and Elizabeth is left to deal with the fallout.
“Lessons in Chemistry” premiered on Apple TV+ last October, but Rough Draft Atlanta recently got the chance to speak with Pullman about his role in the show. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I read an interview with you where you said that you didn’t audition for this show. What is that feeling like? Not having to audition, just being asked to come in for a part?
Lewis Pullman: It’s a good question, because it is a different thing, you know? You’d think it would be entirely good, but there are some parts of it that … can be a little alarming. You’re like, well what is it that I have done that makes you think [I’d be good]? I don’t know what I’m gonna do, so how do they know what I’m gonna do if I don’t know what I’m gonna do yet?
I think there are two very intriguing reasons to do something. One is when somebody sees something in you that they believe in that you don’t. That is always a good reason to plunge into something. And then the other is when somebody doesn’t see something in you, they don’t think you can do something, but you know that you can. I think those are both very intriguing paths to follow.
It’s interesting you bring up that duality. Which one do you think this was for you, and what made you say yes? What drew you to the role?
Pullman: This was something that I really felt like – when I read it, I was very flattered that I was being thought of, but I didn’t know exactly what they were looking for. It’s such a specific story. It’s not like it’s just a [romantic drama]. It’s so many things, and it’s not really Calvin’s story, you know, at all. So where does he fit in, how does this character best serve Elizabeth Zott’s story, were all these questions that I had.
Once I got the answers – which were essentially like, it’s not trying to really fit into any sort of genre, we’re trying to just tell a truthful story, which is what Bonnie Garmus’s book was. It’s a very unique, beautiful story about a woman conquering a whole minefield of misogyny despite all odds, and being very distinct despite [living] in a time where being distinct was not celebrated. So it was cool to just try and figure out the puzzle piece of how Calvin fits into that.
I read a couple of interviews with you, to get a jumping off point for this, and I think you’ve spoken pretty thoughtfully about trying to fit yourself into the story in an interesting way. Not to jump into spoilers right away, but your character dies after two episodes. I think that creates a difficulty of crafting a relationship that we only get to spend so much time with, but it has to be really upsetting when it’s ripped away. I think you and Brie Larson achieved that, but what was the process of building up that chemistry? Did you do a chemistry test? How much time did you spend crafting that relationship?
Pullman: We didn’t do a chemistry test. Lee Eisenberg, the showrunner, and Sarah Adina Smith, the director of the first two episodes, and Brie – obviously, Brie Larson, she’s a producer on this – I think that they were all on the same page from the get that it was going to be an open dialogue, and we were going to be able to do rehearsals and have conversations about what we wanted to bring into it. That kind of created a landscape of very, you know, you can bring a little bit of yourself to this story, which I think immediately makes you feel like you can bring more humanity to it, you know? Sarah Adina Smith really encouraged those small moments that maybe weren’t on the page, you know? Finding those little beats and those little things that make a relationship feel four dimensional. I think I gotta just give all the credit where credit’s due. It was designed really well. The writers really made it – you know, it’s like a mini movie, the first two episodes, which is beautifully arced out and very intricately designed. It feels full, and right when it feels full is, you know, obviously when it’s taken away.
I was supposed to just be in the first three episodes, and I think that they realized that they were able to do that, actually, within the first two episodes. Because if you give them too much time with [Calvin and Elizabeth], then it’s really not very nice [laughs] to an audience.
Well, I hadn’t read the book and I was completely shocked. So it definitely worked on me.
Pullman: That’s good to hear.
And the added aspect of having the dog narrate the death – I mean, if you want to talk about kind of a mean thing to do, I was a little bit of a wreck.
Pullman: The dog. The dog!
I know. The dog. What a great dog. Wonderful actor.
Pullman: A beautiful dog. Truly.
In relation to that idea of trying to find an aspect of yourself in a character, I was reading another interview with you where you said that’s part of the reason you choose characters, but you also like to choose roles that intimidate you, or scare you in some way. I wondered if you could elaborate on that, and what type of roles give you that feeling?
Pullman: I think there are scripts that you can read one day and feel extremely connected to it. In indies sometimes, they take a long time to take off. So then, it can be two, three years later and you revisit the script and you’ve already developed, or moved on, or explored some sort of realm that was intriguing about that [script] … you’ve already either explored that, or you’re not interested in exploring that, or it doesn’t scare you anymore, or it doesn’t feel like some sort of hill you want to climb.
I’ve found that, strangely, the fear is – well, it’s those two things. There’s the duality of it, like you were saying. You can read something that’s so far from yourself and feel a challenge – you know, I think the word “problem” is interesting, because I think it can have a negative connotation. But there’s two different types of problems, right? There’s one problem where it’s daunting and it’s not exciting to solve the problem. And then there’s a problem where it’s almost like a puzzle, and it’s intriguing, and you’re pulled in and you want to try and feel challenged to solve it.
[I look for] problems that light you up in that childlike way, where you’re challenged to figure it out. You’re like, can I do this? How do I do this? There’s something exciting and kind of scary about that, walking into the dark. But I do think it’s that fear that kind of forces you to make choices. You have to be in a very inebriated, kind of inhibitionless state, because there’s no other way to discover those things except to be fully free. You cannot be restricted. So, there’s something exhilarating about that.
It’s interesting, the word “problem.” Did Calvin make you feel like that? He ends up being a pretty warm presence throughout the show, but he starts off kind of thorny.
Pullman: I think he might even be thornier in the book, maybe. That’s also, in my opinion, what the book did so well, and what Lee Eisenberg and the writers just nailed, was the two characters, at the point that you meet them, they’ve accepted that they’re better off alone. You know, they have found their part of the world that they like existing in, and most of that doesn’t involve interacting with other people. So I think there’s such reward when they finally collide, and they’re actually [with] this other person.
Brie did this thing – I don’t know if she did this intentionally – but I think one of the reasons why the chemistry reads so well is she rarely smiles … in the first episode until she’s with Calvin. And there’s such reward in seeing her kind of open up. You read that as trust, and you read that as willingness to fall in love with somebody, which Elizabeth had been so protective and resistant against. Nobody had interested her or challenged her.
That’s a really good point. Calvin appears in the show after his death, but as sort of a manifestation of Elizabeth’s grief, in a certain way. How do you, or do you at all, alter your approach to the character in that instance, from an acting standpoint?
Pullman: I think I went into it and was like, he is more kind of this ethereal thing. But then I realized, you know, it’s basically a glimpse or a little flash of where he would be, where they would be, what they would be doing if he was still there. But it is a little bit from her perspective, because it is, technically, from her imagination of what he would be doing, I guess. But she knew him better than anybody, so I just basically tried to play it like it was any other moment – except for the very last moment, which is sort of more like he was kind of leaving her.
Yeah, some kind of peace.
Pullman: Yeah.
I know that you’re also a musician, and obviously jazz plays a big part in Calvin’s story at the beginning. Were you really into jazz before? How did you approach his relationship to music with your own background as a musician?
Pullman: You know, I played in jazz band growing up, but I was never drawn to jazz, personally. I think originally, Calvin listened to a lot of like, Frank Sinatra. I can’t remember if it was Lee or Sarah who came up with the idea of having his music, his love for music mirror … the way his brain worked, [which] was very much sporadic and this kind of improvisational, kind of like manufacturing chaos in order to find the patterns and find the inspiration within.
That was a very helpful part in getting into him, was listening to a lot more jazz, and trying to feel that little more frantic, more searching for something [feeling]. There’s something very uncontrolled and controlled about jazz, and I think he had certain parts of his life that he really needed to be in control of, and then other parts he had no regard for.
