Lewis Pullman Is Becoming More Powerful

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LEWIS PULLMAN KNEW he was going to have to look ripped—he just wasn’t sure how much of him anyone was actually going to see.

There’s a moment fairly early on in Thunderbolts*, the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, when the 32-year-old actor’s character—then just known as a dude named Bob—is shot many, many, many times with machine guns. But Bob isn’t just a dude named Bob; he’s actually the Sentry, the end result of a secret government project led by CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) to create the perfect superhero. And, as it turns out, Bob will rise from the literal ashes. But how much of someone’s shirt remains after getting shot approximately 1,000 times? Pullman worked out his whole body extensively in the months leading up to filming; whatever happened with the big reveal, he was going to be ready.

“I had to be prepared for whatever felt plausible for when people are shooting you with automatic machine guns,” Pullman says on a late-April morning at Men’s Health’s Manhattan offices, just a couple days before the movie will officially be unveiled to the world. “How much of your shirt is actually going to come off?”

The answer: only about half of it, if that. The result looked like a singed crop top, a comparison Pullman himself makes and later laughs about. “It was the most extreme transformation I’ve ever done,” he says, “and you don’t even see that much of it on camera.”

He had experienced a certain type of last-minute physique cramming before, on the set of Top Gun: Maverick (coincidentally, another movie in which he plays a character named Bob). While he keeps his shirt on during that film’s famous football scene, many others did not. It was there, Pullman says, that he first saw costars dehydrating themselves to increase their vascularity and doing pre-shoot workouts until the very last minute. (“In the days leading up, there was more male insecurity than you’ve ever seen on any set ever,” Glen Powell told Men’s Health in 2022.)

“I was just sitting on the sidelines for that one,” Pullman says. “But now I got a taste of it—and a heavy dose. You look shredded, but you feel like shit.” He adds, however, that it was all worth it to look exactly how he needed to look. In that Thunderbolts* scene, it becomes clear that Val’s experimentation is affecting not just Bob’s mental state (he’s experiencing bouts of amnesia, exacerbating his history of mental health issues), but his physical state as well. And, well, the superhero part sure appears to be working, because this guy just survived a wave of bullets and has a core that would make Thor jealous. “After that scene was done, I had one of those ice cream Snickers. Maybe three of them. And then I had a milkshake. And a burger, and ice cream, and French fries,” he says. “Just going all in. It was a serious Last Supper moment.”

As we talk, Pullman has the easygoing, down-to-earth demeanor of someone who’s been around the movie business his whole life, someone who takes the work seriously but doesn’t need to make a big deal out of all its attendant fanfare. At times, he can be the spitting image of his dad, movie star Bill Pullman, exhibiting the same charm and artistic curiosity that have made his father such a unique presence in films as varied as the blockbuster Independence Day and David Lynch’s surreal Lost Highway. Lewis, too, has already been in a diverse mix of movies and major TV shows over nearly a decade—highlights include the cult-favorite 2018 film Bad Times at the El Royale, Hulu’s Catch-22 series, and Apple TV+’s Lessons in Chemistry, the latter earning him an Emmy nomination—but his complex and surprisingly intimate role at the center of Thunderbolts* feels likely to launch him to a new level of stardom.

With Thunderbolts* now leading the charge in the MCU’s run toward next summer’s Avengers: Doomsday, Pullman spoke with Men’s Health about landing the role, playing a superhero whose story revolves around mental health, and what comes next.

MEN’S HEALTH: I want to start with a quote from writer-director Drew Goddard about casting you in Bad Times at the El Royale: “It was one of those good old-fashioned casting searches. After meeting with lots and lots and lots of actors, Lewis came in and you just felt that immediately. The last time that happened, quite honestly, was when Chris Hemsworth walked in for Cabin in the Woods. You’re just looking for actors who inherently fit the role—and then also transcend the role.”

LEWIS PULLMAN: Jesus. God love Drew Goddard.

MH: He was referencing Chris Hemsworth partly because you were both in Bad Times at the El Royale. But now that you’re also playing a superhero in the MCU, it takes on a whole new context. Does any part of this feel like a full-circle moment to you?

LP: In some ways. I mean, the circle hasn’t really come to a full connection yet, because it’s a hard thing to realize and come to terms with. I always try and keep my expectations low. I never really expected to be a part of the MCU, you know? I just expected to be an admirer of it. So it was trippy to see it at the L.A. premiere with my family. I held my mom’s hand the whole time. I was like, “Oh, I didn’t actually do that. I wasn’t actually there.” It was very surreal, very trippy.

MH: You had a bit of an unusual casting process for Thunderbolts*. What was that like?

LP: Steven Yeun was going to play the Sentry, which I think was such awesome casting. It was a testament to the quality of the role and of the world. And then, due to scheduling and life happening—which always happens—he had to drop out. They were in a bit of a scramble to find a guy. Obviously, knowing that, it was a big pair of shoes to try to step into. And in that massive world, it’s hard to remember that you have your own things that you can bring into it. Your job is to fit into the world and assimilate into it, but it’s also to enhance it and bring any sort of relatability you might have to the character. That was something [director] Jake Schreier constantly reminded me of, which was beautiful. He empowered me in that way. He was asking how I related to Bob, and there was much to relate to in that sense. I really found a kinship with this character.

MH: You mention Jake, the director, who previously did such great work on Beef. Just like Beef, Thunderbolts* captures a lot of complexity in its characters—more than you might expect in a superhero movie. Did you look back at that series?

LP: I rewatched Beef once I got the role, just so I could see Jake’s eye, what he’s curious about, and where his lens tends to land when he’s telling a story. That was very helpful. He’s very comfortable venturing into the uncomfortable, which is such an interesting mix to add into Marvel. Uncomfortable things can be polarizing. It was a cool, fun risk they were taking with it. There are a lot of topics in the movie that are uncomfortable. It deals a lot with mental health, which can feel too close to home for some people. It can be an area and a topic they want to steer away from. But I think it was a great opportunity for us to say, Growth comes from one’s ability to sit in the discomfort. I’ve already found a few people who have seen this film, and it connects with them, in a way, because I think they were able to sit through some things that aren’t commonly seen in massive pop-culture movies.

MH: What was the most difficult part of physically preparing to play this godlike superhero?

LP: Finding a body type that worked for both Bob and for Sentry. They’re very different people, and they have very different purposes within the story. To make that transition both believable and shocking within a very short amount of time was very challenging. But I was lucky to be in the hands of this awesome trainer, Brendan Johnston, who just said, “We’re not trying to build a lot of mass.” We were trying to build definition, and all those small, intricate, sinewy muscles that will pull the light. That was done a lot with boxing, which I hadn’t done much of but that I really loved. I’ve continued to do it since we wrapped production, because I don’t like cardio. I don’t like feeling like I want to die when I work out, because then I’m not going to get back in the gym. I have to make it fun for myself so that I can continue incentivizing getting my butt out of bed and into the gym. Boxing was a great way to do that, because you forget that you’re exerting yourself as much as you are, and you’re working so many parts of your body. You’re recruiting all these muscles that are normally kind of dormant.

MH: There’s some really intense action in the movie. You’re literally taking on a full team of superheroes at one point. What kind of fight training did you have?

LP: It was some of the most hands-on, intense stunt training I’ve gotten to do. I was lucky enough to work with an incredible stunt double, Alec Back. He’s a great buddy of mine now. He’s so well-informed, and he has such a good, versatile background. So we were able to design how the Sentry fights in a way that was very specific to me and specific to how we wanted this superhero to look.

I did a lot of research prior too, wanting him to have his own signature style in fighting and in his silhouette. I also really wanted to differentiate how Sentry fought versus how Bob fights. That meant working on allowing some of my more naturally sloppy instincts to come through with Bob, to look more like he was in a schoolyard fight. I wanted it to be very messy and scrappy and not have any form. And then with the Sentry, to have these very controlled, very effortless, very minute movements so that the reaction to his impact, in comparison to how little effort he’s actually outputting, looks drastic. You get a real sense of just how much power is harnessed within him.

MH: One of the movie’s most climactic moments is the Void fighting Bob. Did you have to learn both parts of the fight choreography for that?

LP: Thank you for asking that! Nobody’s asked me about that, and it was one of the most difficult sequences to do! You know, as I mentioned, I just started boxing, and it’s sort of a boxing match in some ways. I had to do both sides, but luckily I was with Alec, my double, and so he would play my other self when I was playing whichever was going to be seen on camera. It’s very difficult to remember that choreography because it’s a long fight. For each setup, you have to switch back and forth for the whole fight. So you do the whole fight dozens and dozens and dozens of times. You’re oscillating back and forth, you’re strobe-lighting between which part you’re doing. So it’s really hard to remember in a split second whether you’re supposed to be the one punching or the one being punched. Luckily, Alec is very good at reflexively moving on his feet, so we were able to think on our toes. It was almost more mentally exhausting than it was physically exhausting.

MH: I think the idea of both literally and figuratively fighting yourself is really interesting conceptually and, in that scene, visually too.

LP: It was such an operatic, climactic thing for me, personally, to actually walk through and experience. Because I do feel like often we are our worst enemies. We always assume we need to keep those negative voices around because they’re within us for survival reasons, to protect us from danger. But oftentimes they’re assuming the lowest version of ourselves, and they’re extremely cauterizing in our growth as people, as emotionally available beings. So to actually walk through the act of suppressing those negative feelings was really powerful for me.

MH: The movie then expands the visual metaphor about mental health by having characters traverse a series of “shame rooms” that confront them with their own insecurities and failures. Did you know the movie would grapple with these themes so directly when you signed on, or did that reveal itself over the production?

LP: It felt like a theme amongst many themes when I was first pitched the film. It didn’t feel like the driving force. Once we were on set and we were moving from shame room to shame room [in the film’s third act], I realized the power of the symbolism and getting to visualize these labyrinths of anxiety and trauma we subject ourselves to. It really uses the format incredibly intelligently because so much of what we’re talking about takes place in our minds. Wyatt Russell [who plays John Walker] said something brilliant the other day. He said, “A lot of Marvel is about the exploration of outer space, and this is the exploration of inner space, of the mind, which is just as limitless as outer space is.” I thought that was a good way to frame it.

MH: Bob and Yelena have great chemistry in the movie as two people who understand what it’s like to grapple with trauma and self-doubt. What is your real-life relationship with Florence Pugh like?

LP: So much of it comes down to Florence just being an outlier of a person and an artist. She is so full of joy and humor, and she experiences life in such a rich way. She doesn’t let any moment pass without being very conscious and deliberate about it. I grew very close to her, and very fond of her, because she also took me under her wing. I think it was very much reminiscent of when she first joined the Marvel Universe and how intimidating it was. I felt instantly like I was in good hands. I trusted her. And so I owe it all to her. You know, anything that feels like it was real on camera was the result of Florence being so gracious, and human, and embracing.

MH: Julia Louis-Dreyfus is also amazing in this film.

LP: She’s a legend, and a queen, and a GOAT.

MH: You get some really great moments with her.

LP: I was constantly trying not to break. I mean, it’s like being thrown into a hockey rink and you’ve never held a stick, but you’re expected to just play with a pro. She’s so dexterous, and she’s so thoughtful. Of the entire cast, she’s been the one who has spent hundreds of thousands of hours in front of camera, and she’s so comfortable. She really knows how to maximize her time with every take and every scene. And she has such a dry confidence in this, which is just inherently hilarious.

One of the most bizarre things we had to shoot was when I actually have her by the throat—and that was terrifying. I felt like I had a national treasure in my hands, and I was like, “I don’t want to do this!” But she was game. She was like, “You’re really supposed to be strangling me here.”

MH: A big scene between Bob and Val is when he first walks out in the Sentry costume she’s basically focus-grouped for him, along with new, blond hair. How did it feel to go blond? Did you actually dye it?

LP: That was a wig. Lane Friedman was our incredible wig master, and she designed it in a way that felt like it was just a little off-putting. It’s not supposed to look like our ideal version of a superhero; it’s supposed to be a little off-kilter. It’s supposed to make you think, There’s something wrong here, and I can’t quite put a finger on it. And so there’s something a little creepy about it. It’s not as glorious as Thor’s hair! I felt weird with blond hair—it’s probably not something I would do in my day-to-day life!

MH: Speaking of this big, exciting blockbuster movie that you’re in, I’m also a big fan of your dad’s work as an actor…

LP: Me too.

MH: Something he did that I loved, especially during a particular run in the ’90s, was star in a big blockbuster movie like Independence Day and then do a very filmmaker-driven movie like Lost Highway with David Lynch. In the last couple years, you’ve done something very similar, where you’re in both big-budget movies and smaller indie films. Is striking that mix something you think about when picking projects?

LP: It’s definitely something I’ve wanted to do, and I really love the process of indie filmmaking—it’s sort of where my heart lies. There are so many things that make the process far more difficult. Obviously, there’s a lack of resources and time that you don’t struggle with on a movie like Thunderbolts*. But there’s also an urgency to it; there’s this fiery flame you’re trying to catch because you know you’ve only got three takes per setup. So there isn’t this disposable ideology around time. And there’s something very exciting and very theater-like in that way of working, which I love. It’s also a great opportunity for a lot of new voices and perspectives to be heard and seen. There are a lot of really great brains out there that just need a platform—and the indie world is where they can sharpen their teeth.

MH: One indie project you have coming up is Ann Lee, the new film from Mona Fastvold and Brady Corbet. I became a big fan of theirs last year after The Brutalist came out. What was that experience like?

LP: I loved that experience so much. They are such pros at being very economical with their process, but also not feeling restrained or constricted. You forget it’s on a shoestring budget, because they’re so resourceful. And Mona is such a guttural and fearless director. Talk about somebody who’s not afraid to dive headfirst into the weird, the disturbing, and the beautiful. I’m so excited to see it, because just hearing how she talks, and what she’s curious about, and the questions that she asks…I know she’s going to have a very, very, very specific perspective.

MH: You and Danny Ramirez were roommates at a certain point after Top Gun: Maverick, and now you’re both in the Marvel Universe. Do you guys talk often?

LP: I just saw him at the Thunderbolts* premiere. We talk all the time. It’s a friendship that I’m so lucky to have, because we’ve been on such bizarrely similar trajectories. I’ve just been one step behind him, and he’s had such great advice and encouragement for me.

We are just really trying to hammer home that we will not let people down if they let me and him interact in future films. We’re really going to milk it for all it’s worth! We’ve been trying to get projects off the ground together since Top Gun, and we’ve got a couple in the oven, but we’re so excited to have one finally happen [next year’s Avengers: Doomsday]. And we didn’t even really have to work for it! We have so much fun working together; we both have the same kind of attitude about why we do what we do.

MH: By the end of Thunderbolts*, the Thunderbolts have rebranded as the New Avengers. Where does Bob—who isn’t sure he can ever keep the Void from returning—go from here? As you mentioned, he’ll be back for Avengers: Doomsday….

LP: It’s a great question. I’m really excited to find out. The Thunderbolts don’t want to let him out of their sight, because they realize that if he’s caught in the wrong hands, or if he’s not being supported enough by the right people, he might be dangerous. But they also want to keep him close in case they can figure out a way to use him. He’s a very good asset. It’s a hard situation they’re in. With all the other characters that are going to be in Avengers: Doomsday, there will be so many opportunities to figure out how each might come into play—and how Bob might come into play with any of them.

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.