Lessons in Chemistry’s issues were so heavy, Brie Larson sometimes needed a break and cry

So heavy were the issues raised by Lessons in Chemistry, star Brie Larson would sometimes just need to take a break and cry.

Rape. Racism. Police brutality. And sexism – oh the sexism. So heavy – and important – were the issues raised by Apple TV’s Lessons in Chemistry, that sometimes star Brie Larson would just need to take a break and cry.

Cry because her character – lab tech and should-be chemist Elizabeth Zott – holds it all in. Such is the life of an actor, laughs the Marvel star, talking to Insider on Zoom ahead of the hit show’s finale this week.

“It was (a rollercoaster) but I had to learn really quickly how to just cycle through it – because, you might see one scene that’s really emotional – but that’s one of maybe six scenes we’re doing that day,” Larson explains in her only Australian print interview since the SAG strike ended.

“So you’re in it and you’re present – but then it’s over and you can’t think of it anymore and it’s on to the next thing.

“And that can be very confusing sometimes.

Brie Larson in Lessons In Chemistry. While the character Elizabeth Zott holds it all in, Larson admits sometimes she would just need to take a break and cry.

“But there’s something about that speed that actually made it really healthy because you couldn’t linger too long.

“It also breaks your heart sometimes when you’re doing a scene that was fun and that you loved and then you’re like, ‘oh no’. I remember there was one day and it’s Christmas and it was just all Christmas stuff and us dancing – and I was like, ‘I just don’t want this day to end’ because I know that, tomorrow, her heart’s gonna get broken.

Brie Larson said there were times “I just don’t want this day to end’ because I know that, tomorrow, her heart’s gonna get broken”.

“It just felt like this speed up of what life is – where you don’t get to stay in anything forever.

“And it’s the beauty of it.

“The bad stuff passes, the good stuff passes, and you just don’t know what’s coming next.”

Based on the novel of the same name by Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry is set in the early 1950s and follows Zott’s dream of being a scientist at a time where female chemists didn’t exist – and certainly not ones like Larson’s character, who was smarter than the men desperate to keep her in her place.

One might have argued, back then, that was the kitchen – a place she often found herself because, well, cooking is chemistry when you think about it.

“There’s a lot of her that I relate to,” the Academy Award-winner tells Insider.

“I love cooking. It’s a huge part of how I communicate and how I create, and how I show care for the people that I love and show care to myself.

Brie Larson believes she and her character, Elizabeth, are pretty clear communicators.

“I also think that I’m a pretty clear communicator – and Elizabeth is too, and I just love that about her.

“But she’s just far more emotionally reserved than I am.

“I’m not capable of holding my emotions in the way that she can.

“And that was the hardest part, I think, for me – but I didn’t know would be hard because I just, I’m just very used to – if it’s a scene or something’s happening, and I’m as the character and I feel emotional – I would just feel it. But, with her, she’s actively trying to control it and push it down.

“And I’m just not used to that experience.

“And that stuff would make me feel very tired, because you don’t get the release.

Brie Larson at the Academy Awards in 2020. Picture: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

“So those very deep breathing episodes – those were times where I was very tired, and sometimes I was like, ‘just let me cry’ – and then we can just do a take afterwards where I don’t – but I can’t keep holding this all in.

“It’s just not how I operate.”

The show is a powerful one, and one sure to draw attention during awards season. And while aspects are so confronting, anger isn’t an emotion Larson likes to entertain.

“There was a lot of things I felt while making this show, but I would offer that, in my experience, anger is an opportunity to know what you value,” she says.

“So instead of being angry, instead of just taking anger at face value – to me, I go, ‘Oh, well, what is it a yes to … what is it that I love … what is it that I’m trying to protect? And then how can I go towards that?

“(Making this show) was just a pleasure.

Brie Larson said making Lessons In Chemistry “was just a pleasure”.

“It was hard to see all the time, because my job is – you just can’t let go.

“The end is coming, but we can’t relax and say ‘the show’s amazing’ and you still have two more months to go.

“You constantly have to be like, ‘OK, what am I bringing? What more can I bring? Have I thought about this enough?’

“So you’re very much in this process with everyone else just going ‘are we doing our absolute best, have we thought of everything?’

“And then it’s over.

“And that’s a strange feeling.

“Because all these people and these characters, and all of these decisions, you’re suddenly not doing any of that any more. And nobody in your life knows what that life was.

“So, over the holidays, I had a lot of great time reflecting on that, and it was just such a wonderful experience.

“And it was wonderful because we were making something that we believed in and loved, and we were doing it with people that we loved.

“And that’s just very rare.”

Lessons in Chemistry is on Apple TV now