“In science, you endeavor to control every variable of your experiment. The temperature in your lab, the number of contaminants, the correct calibration for each piece of equipment,” a solemn Elizabeth Zott (played by Oscar winner Brie Larson, Room) tells her Supper at Six audience. “Sometimes you can’t count on a formula. Sometimes, you can’t control each variable. Sometimes, many times, things just turn out messy.”
Last month, the first two episodes of Lessons in Chemistry, a new limited series, premiered on Apple TV+. The series, based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Bonnie Garmus, follows Elizabeth Zott and the patriarchal challenges she must continually confront as a young chemist in the 1950s. Created by Lee Eisenberg (The Office), Lessons in Chemistry stars Larson (who also serves as executive producer), Aja Naomi King (How to Get Away with Murder), Stephanie Koenig (The Flight Attendant), and Lewis Pullman (Top Gun: Maverick).
At the helm of episode one, “Little Miss Hastings,” and episode two, “Her and Him,” is director Sarah Adina Smith, who also served as executive producer for the episodes. She made her feature directorial debut in 2014 with The Midnight Swim. In 2016, she worked with now Oscar winner Rami Malek on Buster’s Mal Heart. Her television credits include HBO’s Room 104, Amazon’s Hanna, and Hulu’s Looking for Alaska and The Drop.
The first two episodes of Lessons in Chemistry introduce audiences to the world of Elizabeth Zott, a young chemist working as a lab technician at Hastings University. Elizabeth’s adept flair for cooking—be prepared to want to try your hand at making lasagna—unintentionally assists in adding an unexpected variable to her life in the form of Dr. Calvin Evans (Pullman).
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Smith and “Lessons in Chemistry” food consultant and chef Courtney McBroom for Art U News to chat about what went into making the first two episodes, from collaboration to Larson setting the tone on set, honoring the book, and some key advice for Academy students.
Sarah, you get to introduce Elizabeth and all her sort of different facets. We learn all these different aspects about her as far as what she goes through working with the guys at Hastings, that she’s an absolute nerd about cooking, and that she’s experienced a trauma that has set boundaries for herself. What do you like about being able to kind of establish who this character is in the first episodes and introduce her to the audience that may not have read the book?
Sarah Adina Smith (SAS): It’s my greatest joy as a director to get to work really closely with actors to help them find their character, particularly when setting up a series like this. And so it was just something that Brie and I talked a lot about, and every day continued that conversation, and every day it was about digging further and challenging each other to get to the truth of something.
And what I love about working with Brie is she is an adventurous spirit with an inquiring mind. And so she’s always pushing for the deeper truth of something. And I always try to do the same. It’s really a director’s dream when you have an actor who does that, too. The whole cast was such a joy. Working with Aja, working with Lewis, and finding those, not just one-on-one, but those relationships, was also really important to me. I like to say as a director, when I’m in rehearsals with actors, I want those relationships to feel really real and earned. So I’ll say to them, I want you guys to have your own secrets together that I don’t know as a director. So when you feel like you have a secret world that I’m spying on, I think that can be…
Courtney McBroom: That’s brilliant.
SAS: …sometimes really fun.
Probably at the Movies 