Interview: Lewis Pullman on Becoming Calvin in ‘Lessons in Chemistry’

If you take a dash of scientific rigor, a generous helpings of creative vision and bucking 1960s societal gender norms, you get Apple TV’s Lessons in Chemistry. Starring Brie Larson and Lewis Pullman, among others, the miniseries bubbles over with vibrant, well, chemistry. Larson stars as Elizabeth Zott as she transforms from a brilliant chemist to (still brilliant) cooking show sensation and icon to millions of women across the country. She navigates grief, sexism, and more and in her unlikely path from lab work to kitchen work.

Pullman is Calvin Evans, Elizabeth’s love interest and a character who ultimately has a tragic end. Calvin is a brilliant scientist in his own right and is not your typical 1960s man. Lewis Pullman brought so much charisma and charm to the role that the creators even expanded Calvin from what it was originally envisioned as. If you haven’t seen Lessons in Chemistry, be warned that there are some fairly major spoilers ahead.

Over Zoom, we chatted with Pullman about bringing Evans to life with a ton of under-the-hood character insights. The actor shared how he feels like the first two episodes of Lessons in Chemistry are almost a prequel to Elizabeth’s story overall. Pullman praised Lee Eisenberg for his creative nimbleness and shared the responsibility he felt on taking on a character that was initially not supposed to be in more than a few episodes. He shared the details about crafting the Calvin persona, including the fascinating physical evolution he underwent to distinguish between before Calvin met Elizabeth and after.

Ayla Ruby: So this role was expanded from how it was originally conceived from what I’ve read. Can you talk about your initial journey to the project, what conversations were like when people realized there was lightning in a bottle with Calvin and how that worked?

Lewis Pullman: Yeah. It was a great process. I mean, Lee Eisenberg was the showrunner on this, and really it’s just one of the dream collaborators because he understands, I think as something that I think is really hard to balance, which is having a very clear direction and where you’re going as a storyteller, but then also leaving room for spontaneity and for things that you might want to, like you said, grab lightning in a bottle that might not be as a part of your initial roadmap, but that you’ve left room to add in and to create as you go.

I think that’s a really rare trait. So I would say a lot of the reason why Calvin was expanded upon in the TV show version of this was because of Lee and his kind of nimbleness as a creator. But yeah, I think obviously it was a little bit nerve-wracking to be… Once we finished the first two episodes to find out that there was going to be more, and it was a little bit like… Because you had an exhale like, “Okay, got it in the bag.” And then once I found that out, it was very exciting, obviously, because I was really enjoying working with everyone on this.

It was such a good team. But I was just, I guess a little nervous about tainting Calvin’s position in the story because it’s already dangerous to tell a story in this way. It was, I think a gamble in which is what was so exciting about it, but to have an audience grow so attached two people, and then to just remove one from the equation entirely is you risk some things doing that. But I think that we… I felt like we had done well. And I think that the reason why you do that is to… Because in my opinion, the show really begins on the third episode. I mean, in a lot of ways as Elizabeth’s story, that’s where it kicks off.

In my mind, the first two episodes almost feel like a prequel or a prologue or something like that. And so I was a little concerned about bringing Calvin in a way that was going to tarnish or pollute the waters of Elizabeth’s story because for obvious reasons. But I think Lee explained to me, he was like, “Everything that we learned about Calvin in this from here on out, it’s only going to make it in the show if it informs us about Elizabeth and where she is and where she’s going.”

And so once he said that, I was like, “Okay. That makes sense. I feel like that is the best use of Calvin in this sense.” I mean, not just as of service, but it’s also you get to learn more about Calvin in a great way. But everything that you learn either informs Mad or Elizabeth. And so I thought that was a really smart way to go about it.

Ayla Ruby: I thought using his daughter as kind of the vehicle for that using Mad was very interesting. And like you said, I think it didn’t take away from Elizabeth at all. It was just kind of this beautiful shift in point of view that we hadn’t seen in those first two episodes.

Lewis Pullman: Yeah. Well said.

Ayla Ruby: So Calvin is wonderfully interesting. He’s been through loss with his parents in the Boy’s home. There’s heartbreak, there’s brilliance. How do you as an actor find the truth in him? What was your approach to that and how do you build the character just as you?

Lewis Pullman: In reading the book, I was trying to incorporate things that maybe were in the book spiritually or energetically that some of it wasn’t in the scripts. And also just using all of the material that I had at hand. And then I think in a lot of ways, I’ll start with, it sounds very basic, but just like where am I similar to this person and where am I different? And then you usually start to do all the heavy lifting on the where am I different parts, or you start to just… And you learn where you can really lean into on the where am I similar parts.

I think a lot of what makes Calvin, Calvin is this. He walks through life with this kind of understanding that the world is full of disappointment and most likely it is you are going to be disappointed and especially when it comes to people. So that looks a certain way on somebody in the way they carry themselves and the way they go through life whether that’s how they run or how they row. It’s why they’re doing those things. Why are they doing those things? Is it to quiet some part of their mind? Is it almost as a self-flagellation or is it almost as some sort of therapy? So there’s a lot to work with there, but I think that it was fun to do because in a lot of ways he’s two different people before he meets Elizabeth and after he meets Elizabeth. Me and Sarah Adina Smith really tried to, as best as possible, differentiate what changes within Calvin once he meets Elizabeth, both emotionally and physically in his body and how he interacts and how, I think that, that was a really exciting thing to try and figure out.

Ayla Ruby: So there’s this very unexpected death that you mentioned earlier for him in the second episode, and I was re-watching, and there’s even foreshadowing in the first episode, which I thought was lovely. I’d love if you could talk about that scene, how it evolved, if it evolved at all, and what the mechanics of that were for you as an actor.

Lewis Pullman: Yeah. Well, I never made contact with the bus.

Ayla Ruby: That’s good.

Lewis Pullman: I don’t think I ever even touched that bus, but I saw the bus. It was an interesting scene to shoot because essentially, I think on that day, they were… What’s it called technically? But they were basically overlaying those two different shots onto one. Maybe even three. But essentially I had on this curbside with a stuffed animal dog, and I had to mime him pulling the leash and then the leash coming loose and then mime being hit, and then mime on… So it was very imaginative and it was hard. It’s one of those scenes where you’re doing it and you’re like, “I am a clown. I’m a clown and this is my job.”

Because it was out in Pasadena in public, and there’s obviously some neighbors who would come out there and were watching. If you don’t understand what we’re trying to do, it looks very odd and it looks like I’ve lost my mind. But luckily you have somebody like Sarah who’s constantly reminding you, “This is going to be half a second of the whole scene.”

I do think that they came out really well. I was obviously worried that it was going to be either too gory or too… I think that they did it really well even… And the sound design was like… It’s a tightrope walk to make sure that that’s alarming enough and truthful enough without being indulgently gory or anything like that especially within this landscape of this tonal space. It’s like there’s not much of this kind of shocking maybe… I don’t know. It could have gone into body horror kind of gore, and I thought that they did it really well.

Ayla Ruby:I totally agree. So moving on a little bit, it’s been talked about before, but there’s this magic almost between you and Brie Larson as Elizabeth and Calvin. It’s such a wonderfully tear inducing thing. And it’s very natural. Can you talk about how did you both approach it? How do you find the easiness? How do you get that camaraderie? How that all works?

Lewis Pullman: Oh, yeah. I think there’s a lot of components to it, but I think that it helps when… Brie is such a deeply curious person and loves learning in this way that’s never ending. And it’s a curiosity for all things. And so I think that is really helpful when you’re getting to know somebody, because if we’re both very curious about finding out, learning why another actor is making a story, being a part of something, learning about what they’re hoping to get from it, because usually there’s a reason why we play these characters or why we… And it’s interesting to look at why she was drawn to Elizabeth, why I was drawn to Calvin at this point in my life, at that point in her life. And then on top of it just she brings these board games to set every day. And not just board games, but all sorts of games.

Right off set in between setups, they were always there. And if it was scene work that felt like it was appropriate to go and do that, we would be doing that on the side. And it was like a lot of the scenes where it was very perfect because we’d pick up the game where we left off and there was this playful competitive nature to the dialogue happening off camera that then would bleed into the dialogue happening on camera.

I don’t know if that was intentional or not. I think she just wants to make sure that sets feel good and fun as much as possible, which is a very great thing to be curating for a set. So there was something about that. I think that some of their language… I think Calvin and Elizabeth’s love language is like, it’s like this mental tennis. So having that in the board game, quality of things and then bringing that into on camera really helps a lot.

Ayla Ruby: So there are a couple of really, really cool big Calvin scenes that I’d love to ask about. There’s one, I think it’s in seven where he’s ring shopping and it’s very traditional and it’s also very… It’s a traditional moment for Calvin and what Elizabeth [would want]… But it’s the ring lady. And I’d love if you could talk about that scene, what it was like, what went into your performance with that, and just anything you can share.

Lewis Pullman: Yeah. I think I was nervous about that scene. I think I was nervous because it is such a great opportunity. I think I always get scared when I know there’s a well-written scene and the only thing that’s going to mess it up is me. I think why that scene is so important and why I loved it so much is because it’s something that Calvin, I assume had never done. So he is almost finding himself there in this moment and learning, and teaching himself how this is done. And I think if you buy a piece of jewelry for somebody… I think that buying clothing or jewelry for somebody is a very different gift giving than a book or something like that.

Because if you expect them to actually wear these things, you are both assuming that you know them very well. And you’re assuming that you also maybe know something about them that they don’t know. I think the perfect thing like the gifts or the clothes that I’ve been given that I love are, if they’re almost like, “Oh, I might not have picked this out for myself, but I like that. I like that you saw that you thought it would look good on me or something like that.”

So all those parts, elements of gift giving, but then put into the biggest gift of all time, the wedding ring. And so it’s big and. It’s an important… And you’re kind of wondering, “What is he doing?” They had this whole conversation in bed about marriage and everything and kids. What is his proposal going to look like? I think that in a lot of ways I knew that you weren’t going to get to see him propose to her, so you get to see his intention without him saying it in that moment. You get to why he picks out the ring that he picks it out.

I think he says something like it’s simple but complex or something like that. Or it’s clear, but complex or like something that. Boiling down the representation of what the ring is and was basically you get to learn almost in some way how he’s going to propose and what he’s going to say to her through the act of purchasing the ring in itself.

Ayla Ruby: Again, that episode appropriately titled, The Book of Calvin has so many Calvin things. We learn more about the relationship between the Reverend and Calvin, and it’s really wonderful. But beyond that, there’s this incredible monologue told through one of the letters. It’s about what Elizabeth means to Calvin. And I would love if you could… It’s sincere. It’s remarkable. What kind of went into that, I guess, monologue for you?

Lewis Pullman: Is that the monologue where he says, “She’s my why?”

Ayla Ruby: Yep.

Lewis Pullman: She’s my… Yeah.

Ayla Ruby: She’s my why. The reasons why he loves her, basically.

Lewis Pullman: Yeah. Oh, gosh, my memory is foggy. I wish I had in front of me, but I think that those were… In some way he was with the Reverend kind of having this beautiful dialogue about religion and science, and in some ways they kind of fuse into the same thing by the end of their dialogue. And I think that despite Calvin’s reluctance to accept any sort of religion into his world and heart, I think what he’s discovering is in many ways what enriches somebody’s life with religion he was finding with Elizabeth.

She was providing him almost with this proof that there is something, there is magic in this world. There are things that are unexplainable. And I think that that was kind of where he arrived at. It was a beautiful way for their letters to come to a bit of more closure before Calvin went.

Ayla Ruby: I don’t want to laugh over it, but I’m thinking of the dog puppet now. So I’m not trying to… So there’s also a lot of physicality in this role. You mentioned the rowing, the running. I’d love if you could talk about that. And also there’s a dance. I’d love if you could talk about how you came up with that and anything about all of that.

Lewis Pullman: Yeah. I think it was important for me to even in just my body language change the amount of tension and almost physically representing almost like a shell of a turtle for protection or something. And once he falls in love with Elizabeth, it’s this curtain of warmth. It’s a bath of confidence or at least of calm that comes over him. And just trying to figure out how best to represent that in my body.

I think that the dancing… There’s a couple different moments of dancing, but I think that the moment where we are drinking and we’re walking, we’re both, I think Calvin does a little walk around the table, and I think we were just improving there and I had a cup, I had a mug, and I just improv that the mug, this was full or I wouldn’t do it, but that the mug was a hat or something. But that was all just improv dancing. And then the crazy moment of dancing.

There’s a moment that’s a lot more kind of… It feels like a convulsion or almost like violent moment of expression is something that Sarah Adina Smith… I did that. I think that’s in there for probably maybe four seconds or something.

Ayla Ruby: It’s short.

Lewis Pullman: But we did it so many times that I threw my neck out because I was trying to figure out. It was supposed to be like this moment of… To show that he’s able to lose himself entirely. I think that Sarah and I both agreed that there’s something really admirable or endearing about somebody who can unapologetically express themselves in a way, I think in a way, whether they know that it’s embarrassing or not, that it doesn’t really matter. If that is some sort of representation of him almost on a cellular level, almost short-circuiting in a way that he’s making himself to… Because he loves controlled chaos and he loves jazz music, and so it’s in this way of almost like shaking the etch-a-sketch of his brain to kind of restart or rejump or spit fire into a new direction. He’s all about that. That was a fun one to do though.

Ayla Ruby: Yeah. I know we’re getting close on time, but was there anything super challenging besides everything you’ve talked about or really gratifying to just bring to life and for you to just accomplish with this?

Lewis Pullman: I think, there was a lot that was really gratifying. I would say that the thing that was most gratifying was it’s always such a relief to walk on set or on a project and discover that the creative team behind it is not just posing that they love to be open collaborators. I think a lot of people can often say that this is a collaboration, so your opinion really is important. But knowing it comes down to it, that’s actually just kind of a nice thing to say or something. But in this case, it was very much true.

It was a true blue collaborative experience. Everybody’s voices were being heard and considered in a very beautiful way. That’s rare. And so that’s kind of why you do it, that’s why I do it, is to have those moments in time where you can try and fail and everybody just picks each other back up and they celebrate that, the attempt to at least to try. That kind of cushion and freedom is where I think relaxation is bred. And then with relaxation comes the confidence or the willingness to try and fail. I think some of those moments are what you see in there where it feels like they’re flying or it looks like we’re a little bit without ground because we are just exploring and trying things, and I think that that’s where beautiful art is made, in my opinion.

Ayla Ruby: That’s awesome. I think that’s a wonderful sentiment to end on too. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk.

Lewis Pullman: Thank you for the wonderful questions. It was great to see you. Great to meet you.

Ayla Ruby: Great to meet you.