A meet-cute it ainât. When brilliant, arrogant chemist Calvin Evans (Lewis Pullman) first encounters brilliant, guarded lab tech Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson) in âLessons in Chemistry,â the sparks are practically toxic. But when he sees her again at a work event, and then starts vomiting at her feet from an allergic reaction to another guestâs perfume, she takes him home and cares for him, and both their wary hearts start to crack open.
He teaches her to row. She feeds him exquisite meals. They work on a theory of abiogenesis together, as couples do. Life is bliss, until â spoiler â he is cruelly snatched away. But in the Apple TV+ limited series, based on the book by Bonnie Garmus, their love story continues to permeate her life long after he has left this plane of existence, due in no small part to Pullmanâs indelible performance.
Series creator Lee Eisenberg, who was writing and shooting almost simultaneously, recalls watching the actorâs dailies. âWhen you see Lewis, youâre like, âOh, my God, Iâm seeing a once-in-a-generation talent, and if anyone feels a fraction of what I feel watching this, he is going to take the world by storm.â I went back up into the writersâ room and said, âHow can we find ways of keeping Calvin alive in a way that doesnât feel like a cheat?ââ
First they had Calvin appear to Elizabeth in moments of deep need, not as a ghost so much as a physical manifestation of her grief. âIt was great to do those scenes because I got to experience brief flashes of what Calvinâs existence wouldâve looked like had he not passed,â Pullman says, sitting in an otherwise empty patio at a spot in Silver Lake.
âMy favorite parts of this whole series are watching Elizabethâs story after Calvin,â Lewis Pullman says.
(Apple TV+)
Then they wrote an entire episode in which Calvinâs Dickensian background is revealed. âI was definitely surprised and really, really grateful when Lee came to me and said that he wanted to expand Calvinâs story, because I was already having such a good and creatively fulfilling time on this project,â Pullman says. âFor them to invite me in for a little more time was very meaningful, and for me to get to spend more time fleshing out Calvin with this group of creatives was huge.â
Calvinâs brief visitations âallow the audience to care about what that relationship means to Elizabeth without it feeling like theyâre being derailed too much into a different story. Because so many of my favorite parts of this whole series are watching Elizabethâs story after Calvin,â adds Pullman, son of actor Bill Pullman.
Pullman, who made an impression as Bob in 2022âs âTop Gun: Maverick,â hasnât played a romantic lead as such before, but he didnât even read the role with Larson before he was offered the part. âIt does feel like a bold move to not have a chemistry test on something that is called âLessons in Chemistry,ââ Pullman notes wryly. He credits Sarah Adina Smith, who directed the showâs first two episodes, with helping him find his way to Calvinâs heart. âInitially, I came in playing Calvin a lot more outwardly prickly. She was like, âI think that once he falls in love with Elizabeth, something settles inside of him, and thereâs a sense of calm and of purpose and of confidence that fills him,â and she was absolutely right. That helped me have someplace to go.â
Mastering the other type of chemistry was harder. Originally, he tried to understand Calvinâs area of expertise, âand rapidly realized that I would need a lifetime of education to really be able to wrap my head around it.â So he learned the essentials and turned to the showâs technical advisors to coach him on how to say the lines authoritatively.
He was in awe of Larsonâs grasp of her many jargon-filled monologues: âI think she actually understood what she was talking about.â She was also a crack student at rowing, a hobby of Calvinâs that he shares with Elizabeth. âIf there ever was a sport where, as an actor, youâre worried about little gives that are going to make you like a blaring, obvious fraud, it would be rowing,â he says. But he wanted to get it right, especially for the bookâs fans. âAnd also, I wanted to at least look like I was as good as Brie was, otherwise it wouldnât play.â Here again, a coach helped.
He felt lucky to work opposite Larson, who was also an executive producer of the limited series. âShe led the whole operation stoically,â he says. âAnd she would still bring this very bright and warm light into the whole set, which makes everybody want to do an even better job, because it feels like youâre really doing it with your friends and your family, and you want to bring your best self to that.â Even when itâs not in corporeal form.