Lewis Pullman Is Blazing His Own Trail

Timing really is everything for Lewis Pullman.

The 32-year-old — son of legendary actor Bill Pullman — can happily say he’s seen his growth as an actor from his questionable college play performances (“It’s a miracle that I even kept trying because it was not good,” he quips) to playing the complex villain Bob in Marvel’s new film, Thunderbolts*.

However, Pullman recognizes that if he had auditioned for the MCU role years prior, he likely wouldn’t have landed the part, as the “lessons and tricks of the trade” that he’s learned from “all the greats that I’ve gotten the chance to work with” have been beneficial to his growth.

“I think that’s what is so undeniably fortunate about nepotism … what’s the hardest to get is the opportunity to get experience and to find your comfortability within a very bizarre circumstance,” he explains to The Hollywood Reporter. “And it took me so long to get comfortable in front of a camera and to forget that it’s there, and I wouldn’t have gotten that if I didn’t get all these chances to do so.”

Below, Pullman opens up about his preparations for his role as Bob in Thunderbolts*, differentiating himself from his father, what he’s learned from his past roles, what’s he’s looking forward to the most with Avengers: Doomsday, how he’s channeled his anxiety into fuel and what he learned from Jeff Bridges that best describes his perfect day off of work.

Having grown up with a father in the industry, how did that play a role in your decision to pursue an acting career as well?

We were a very creative family, you know, we were all very artistic and performative and putting on shows and plays in our minds and for each other growing up. So somewhere in the arts was always where I was gonna land. But I’m a drummer, and so there was a while where I was gonna be a drummer, and I was very naive about what my dad did growing up until high school. Then I really started getting curious about it and found a love for it. And he was always very supportive, my mom was always very supportive. I was doing theater as a kid, but then when I got out of college, I really started to think maybe I could do this actually, ‘cause I’m having so much damn fun and I don’t want to stop. And it’s been a really incredible kind of blossoming for me, and we have always been such a close-knit family, but it’s great to be able to confide in my pops about certain issues or certain questions. For a long time, I was like, I’m gonna do this on my own and was very stubborn, and I’m so glad that I got over whatever that was because now it’s such a gift to be able to share different experiences with my dad and get advice from him. 

How have you navigated differentiating yourself from your father as an actor, and has there been any added pressure?

I think in the beginning there was. I felt a lot of pressure to fill his shoes, you know. And once I realized that it was an impossible pair of shoes to fill, I kind of found a sense of relief in knowing that if there was any future for me in film that it would be by doing it my own way and trying to blaze my own trail. So that really freed me up in a lot of ways, kind of realizing that I’m very different from him in a lot of ways. I don’t have the same strengths that he has, so that was a big kind of opening up for me once I was like, OK, I can find my own voice and my own thing and gave myself permission to do that. 

I’m just so lucky that I love him so much. It would be a bummer if he was a bad actor or an asshole and I had to talk about him all the time, you know, and try and follow that (Laughs). Every set I go to, somebody has worked with my dad and they love him so much and so I’m like, it’s a hard reputation to follow, you know, flying in his wake. I’m always reminded of how incredibly generous and kind and talented he is. 

Turning to Thunderbolts*, what initially drew you to the project?  

Marvel has always been such an interesting place and playground to imagine stepping into. I honestly never really thought I was going to because it just felt like this untouchable universe. I was like, I will just be forever an appreciator and an audience member for this world. So it took me a while to wrap my head around like, OK, I’m actually gonna be inside of one of these totally mythologically, massive and grand stories. So I was nervous as hell, but Jake Schreier, our director, was so well-versed in the complexity of this character [Bob] and in the kind of movie that he wanted to make to have his own stroke of signature within the movie, and so it was really encouraging. Even though there’s a lot about this universe that I’m stepping into just totally blind and just jumping in the deep end, I knew that I was in good hands because he has a love for this character. So together we kind of found him and crafted him and, and I don’t know how it would have turned out without Jake at the helm ‘cause it’s a sensitive kind of tightrope walk this character, and the rules of the world are very specific, you know, if you do one thing one way, the ripple effect can go on forever ‘cause, hypothetically, if you’re in more movies, each decision you make really is very impactful. 

Then just the rest of the team at Marvel, Kevin [Feige] and the whole gang are so excited to make this movie and make a movie that is like, I cried watching it and I don’t think that Marvel movies are … there are many tear-jerking moments, but this felt like an apt movie for me to be a part of because I was a social work major and this sort of feels like it touches on a lot of beautiful issues about mental health and community and pushing forward. 

Few details have been revealed about your character, Bob, but can you talk about your preparations to help get you in the headspace to play an all-powerful villain?

He is a very complex character and there’s a lot. He’s like rushing nesting dolls unfolding throughout the whole movie. So prep-wise, I worked really hard. I kind of went about it with an athlete’s mentality. I’m not an athlete, by the way, nor am I a huge football or basketball watcher, but I’m an appreciator of the thing itself and how much hard work goes into it. I know from my experience on bigger blockbuster movies, like [Top Gun: Maverick] — I’m like movies plural as if I’ve done it other big movies like that (Laughs) — that it’s really important to have endurance and stamina because you’re doing these scenes so many times and so many different ways. So to kind of fill my cup and have an overflowing well of both physical energy and then also emotional energy, I was like, that’s gonna be important so that I don’t dry out quick and then I’m left giving them just leftovers. I worked with this awesome trainer who really helped me build a physicality that felt like it was believable for all the different stages of Bob’s progression. Then I worked with my coach, John Markland, who’s a good friend of mine, a great actor, great acting teacher, who basically built up the history and went deep, deep, deep into the comics ‘cause wanting to do justice to that and not wanting to miss any clues that could be helpful, and there are so many clues. That’s why it’s like such a gift. Rarely do you get to do a role where there are all these road maps and all these blueprints right there for you if you’re hungry enough. So it was just like, how do we want to paint him, you know, how does he wanna come into the flesh? If I were to imagine playing any character … I didn’t know who he was before this, and I’m so glad that it’s him, and I can’t imagine playing any other character. 

Is there a moment with your Thunderbolts* character that you’re most excited for fans to see?

I hope that audience members can see the bleed over in these different parts of himself, that it’s not like a code switch where he becomes one person and there’s no longer any shreds of the other person. It is kind of messy soup, and I hope that helps humanize him. 

It was also recently announced that you’re set to reprise your Marvel character in Avengers: Doomsday. What was your reaction to that news, and what are you looking forward to the most?

It is so surreal. I did not know that it was happening. I was blown away. I was out shooting in Vancouver and I was like out on this lake and didn’t have my phone, and then I got back to my phone, I had like 87 messages, and most of them were from Danny Ramirez [who plays Joaquin Torres/Falcon] (Laughs), who was like, “We’re going to be in Doomsday together.” I was like, “What the hell is Doomsday, holy shit.” I couldn’t believe it and I was so excited to work with the Russo brothers. And that is the craziest cast list I’ve ever seen and seeing my name in there felt like some weird glitch in the matrix. … And thank God it’s with the character who I’m like in love with and there’s so much more to be explored with and so I was like, “Hell yes!” 

You also earned your first Emmy nomination last year with your role in Lessons in Chemistry. What did you take away from being a part of the project with Brie Larson?

That was a spectacular experience for me. The whole way that it unfolded was a learning process, ‘cause I fell into it in some ways. I hadn’t read the book before I got the call and then I read the book and I was like, “This is incredible.” Genuinely, I loved that book so much and [Bonnie Garmus’] words and the character Calvin. I felt like I related to a lot of things within him, all besides the chemistry part, which is a huge part, and that is not my forte. So I was like, if I do this thing, I’m really gonna be doing the whole acting thing, ‘cause I’m gonna have to act my ass off here (Laughs) to make it believable that I know what I’m talking about. But once I met with Lee Eisenberg and Sarah Adina Smith, who did the first two episodes, and they were really compelled to find me and Brie’s kind of truth within this relationship and the chemistry is just kind of a vessel for all the thematic kind of gold that was in Bonnie’s book. So it was just a team of people who really wanted to continue the life of a book that was so beloved while also remembering that it’s kind of a fool’s errand to try and replicate a book in film or TV, it’s always gonna be different from whatever the reader had imagined in their mind, and so remembering that our best strength and best tool was doing justice to what the book meant for each one of us, and hoping that would sing true for the audience members and I think it did. I loved watching that, especially once Calvin’s story kind of vanishes, seeing what Brie did was so incredible with that character. There’s nobody else who could have played that character. She just knocked it out of the park. 

Between all the projects you’ve worked on in your career so far, how have those past experiences helped inform the actor you are today? And do you find yourself reflecting on them?

It’s an ongoing process of collecting. I’m not a big collector of anything, but I do feel like I’m a collector of lessons and tricks of the trade from all the greats that I’ve gotten the chance to work with. In such a boring, kind of logical way, I think that one of the best ways to learn is by working. So I think that’s what is so undeniably fortunate about nepotism … what’s the hardest to get is the opportunity to get experience and to find your comfortability within a very bizarre circumstance. And it took me so long to get comfortable in front of a camera and to forget that it’s there, and I wouldn’t have gotten that if I didn’t get all these chances to do so. I keep thinking so much about the whole screen test for Marvel. Had I done that four years prior, I don’t think I would have gotten it. I would have been panicked and I think the experience that I’ve been so lucky to get and have, I was able to maintain a real sense of calm. I was proud of myself in that moment for just being like, I’m excited to be here ‘cause always as an actor, you’re lucky to have an audience for three minutes.

Is there a dream project, genre or role you hope to take on in the future?

I really wanna try and weasel my way into the David Gordon Green, Danny McBride world. I think that is one of my favorites. They’ve kind of created their own genre of comedy and it’s right up my alley in so many ways, and it looks like so much fun that they’re having. Like whenever I’m bummed out, I literally watch bloopers from Eastbound & Down or Vice Principals or Righteous Gemstones, and it is an immediate blast (Laughs). 

What does your perfect day off from work look like?

I definitely like to have a blend of like full hermitizing, as Jeff Bridges calls it. I’d be like, “What did you do this weekend?” He was like, “Uh, just did some more hermitizing,” [Pullman says in his best Bridges’ voice]. And I definitely have that, so sometimes that’s just sleeping, and then it would involve me taking my dog on a hike and seeing my family, and maybe reading, playing some drums. And then driving over and maybe hanging out with my nephew and sister and brother and mom and dad and brother-in-law, hanging out in the yard and throwing and using sticks for swords and that kind of thing (Laughs). 

What’s one of the biggest challenges you’ve been able to overcome to help get you to where you are today?

I think anxiety has been a big one that has followed me around my whole life, and so making it a friend and knowing that it’s actually there for a reason and that it’s actually trying to help you and kind of distinguishing when it’s right and when it’s wrong, but not shaming yourself for it. And figuring out how many different shapes it can take, and anxiety doesn’t always look like anxiety. So kind of morphing it and kind of channeling it into whatever fuel I might need, but sometimes I’m like, thank God I’m anxious about stuff because otherwise I’d just sleep all day (Laughs) and just be lazy. Like I watch footage of me in a play in college and I’m like, it’s a miracle that I even kept trying because it was not good (Laughs). It must have been so hard for my parents to be like, just let it happen. He’ll find it or he’ll lose interest.

If you had to describe what makes Lewis Pullman, Lewis Pullman, what would you say?  

Definitely one thing that makes me me, which I’m working on, is never feeling like it’s good enough. That is both hard to grapple with because you’re always dissatisfied, but it also is the thing that makes you keep going and keep trying. I’m not never satisfied, there are glimpses, and when you get those glimpses, it’s like the pot at the end of the rainbow and it’s fleeting, but you get to see new colors for a brief moment, and I think the chase for that is probably what makes me me.