Brie Larson executive produced and stars as Elizabeth Zott in Lessons in Chemistry. The season finale is now streaming on Apple TV+.
Set in the early 1950s, “Lessons in Chemistry” follows Elizabeth Zott (played by Larson), whose dream of being a scientist is put on hold in a patriarchal society. When Elizabeth finds herself fired from her lab, she accepts a job as a host on a TV cooking show, and sets out to teach a nation of overlooked housewives — and the men who are suddenly listening — a lot more than recipes.
“I was always amazed and surprised by how much I could find that I related to her. There’s certain things in her field in terms of science that are just beyond my understanding. I’m just simply not intelligent enough to understand abiogenesis. I’m just not, but I was always able to get into really beautiful, creative, and poetic conversations with our consultants and I could find ways to understand and to feel like it was true. She has to do things that are so difficult in my mind, like the level of dedication and patience that she has, the way that she gets really like tunnel vision on something, I really related to all of that. I get really focused on my work and I care a lot about what I do,” she explained. “She’s just one of those characters that was just a pleasure, you know? There’s sometimes you finish your job and you just can’t wait for that character to be put to bed and this was one that I loved every second being with her. I loved walking in her shoes. And so, yeah, I learned and I grew a lot from being with her.”
I spoke with the actress about why she loved her time bringing this character to life and the most rewarding part of executive producing the series.
Watch my full interview here:
