Lewis Pullman on Losing Himself to Religious Fervor in ‘Ann Lee,’ the Joy of Marvel Acting and His Dad’s Industry Lessons: Find People ‘That Are Your Brother or Sister From Another Life’

He convulses. He moans. He mourns.

Lewis Pullman’s role in “The Testament of Ann Lee,” set for release on Christmas Day via Searchlight, is a physical and mental feat. He’s earned a place among internet boyfriends after his work in Marvel’s “Thunderbolts*” and the miniseries “Lessons in Chemistry.” But in “Ann Lee,” that handsome face is often contorted, devoid of vanity.

It’s a performance that practically jumps off the screen.

A similar restlessness drives the 32-year-old in plotting his next move. Contrary to getting typecast, it’s hard to pin Pullman down as any one thing.

“A role can really speak to you one year, and then if it doesn’t get made, you can either become uninterested in the questions being asked within that character, or you have already answered them,” he says. “It’s about doing something I haven’t done before. Repeating the same notes in a song is not enjoyable for me as an artist, and I assume not very enjoyable for the audience either. Looking for that thing that spooks you a little bit and makes you question whether or not you’re capable of it is what ends up creating the pressurizer that pushes you to do something that surprises you. It makes you feel like you can sleep better at night knowing that you didn’t just surrender to the mundane.”

Suffice it to say that the part of William Lee pushed him out of his comfort zone. In the expressive, raw musical, Pullman plays the brother of Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried), the founder of the Shakers and a woman often driven to euphoric frenzy by her faith. The film demands plenty of its cast, including singing, dancing and getting caught in rapture, set to an unconventional soundtrack based on Shaker hymns by Oscar-winning composer Daniel Blumberg.

Despite his interest in the script, Pullman was initially hesitant to take on the role.

“When I first spoke to Lewis about this part, he said, ‘Oh, I don’t really dance, and I don’t really sing, and the accents are challenging,’” Mona Fastvold, the film’s co-writer and director, says. “He was pretty intimidated by the task. So, I said, ‘Why don’t you spend some time with some of the material?’ I felt strongly that he could do it. I could see it. I thought there was this sweetness and tenderness to him that was really important for William.”

Fastvold’s vote of confidence gave Pullman the push he needed to dive into the unknown.

“I’m not a great actor in solitude,” Pullman says. “I really rely on collaboration and direction, and I enjoy being dared to do something. The whole film was these little tiptoes into the water of trust with Mona and with Daniel.”

The spark of Pullman’s restless creative spirit began by growing up in what he lovingly describes as a “granola family.” The son of actor Bill Pullman and dancer Tamara Hurwitz, his upbringing — split between Los Angeles and Montana — was artistically inclined, punctuated by opportunities to travel when his father was shooting on location.

Yet Pullman describes himself as a “socially anxious kid.” It was a fateful school production that allowed him to feel comfortable performing.

“My whole family was always putting on little plays and shows and pageants,” Pullman says. “In high school, I remember a bunch of my friends going to audition for this play. I didn’t want to be the only one not doing it. ‘What else am I going to do this afternoon?’ So, I went and auditioned for it and ended up playing an old man with a cap and a candle. I had a couple of lines, but it was terrifying. It was so scary, and I was so embarrassed. What I realized was maybe everyone else wasn’t as embarrassed as I was. I remember feeling this levity afterwards. It was like I had been running with weights on, and then suddenly, life was easier. I ended up being really enticed by that and wanting to return to it.”

After finishing high school and college, Pullman cut his teeth by acting in short films. He then had a flurry of roles in disparate films that introduced him to audiences in 2017, including the western “The Ballad of Lefty Brown,” the Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring thriller “Aftermath,” the Andrew Haigh drama “Lean on Pete” and the ‘70s-set tennis chronicle “Battle of the Sexes.”

As he kept working, Pullman kept ticking off genres, from slasher (“The Strangers: Prey at Night”) to noir (“Bad Times at the El Royale”), mystery (“Them That Follow”) to quirky dramady (“Pink Skies Ahead”). Then came a part as a flyboy in the blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick.” While there is a world of difference between the scope of a Tom Cruise epic or a Marvel movie and some of the indies Pullman worked on, he says every production has its own unique challenges.

“It’s different shades every time, which is part of what is so scary and so enjoyable at the same time,” he says. “I always feel like there are only so many variables that are the same and so many tools that work effectively for every single role. It’s this little treasure hunt each time, which can be scary when you have a ticking time bomb going to go off if you don’t find the treasure in time. But it’s also exhilarating because it’s not like you’re just going to the same pile of gold at the end of the same rainbow every time.”

No matter the project, Pullman has a reputation for taking preparation seriously.

“Lewis wants everything from a process standpoint,” says Austin Peters, who directed Pullman in the 2024 thriller “Skincare.” “Anything I was thinking, any photos I was looking at that may be totally different, he wanted to take things from. He would pull from early interesting places that I wasn’t expecting at all, from interviews with celebrities on MTV in the early 2000s to art photo books I had been looking at. He was informed by all these different things. Then, any sort of homework I would give him, he would be super eager to do. Our collaboration was really exciting and satisfying.”

Pullman cites an industry lesson he learned from his father, who he calls a “beautiful leader through example,” as the genesis behind his love of collaboration.

“The people my dad connected with were not just actors; they were people from all different parts of the crew,” Pullman says. “It was always soul-based, finding those people that are your brother or sister from another life.”

That collaborative spirit ended up including his family when preparing for “Ann Lee.”

“We didn’t want someone to sound like they were a Broadway star,” Fastvold says. “We needed someone who sounded like a human being, just singing, untrained. It was exciting to hear that first little voice memo of him singing. He started doing some dance rehearsals with his mom, who’s an incredible dancer, and sent me some videos. We thought it was so beautiful.”

In addition to acting, Pullman is a drummer, recording albums with his country-tinged rock group, Atta Boy. It’s constructive to look at Pullman’s ease in different acting projects as a musician finding the tempo and adjusting to it. In fact, hearing him reflect on one of his first musical breakthroughs expresses so much of what makes Pullman a compelling performer.

“Growing up, me and my best friend would spend hours and hours in the dark just playing music, nowhere to go, just improvising,” he says. “Listening to somebody and finding how often what’s most important is the silence in between. What’s most striking are those negative spaces in between, what’s not said.”

As the world sees his work in “Ann Lee,” Pullman has much more work lined up, yo-yoing as usual in scope and genre. Two biggies come next: Reprising his role of Sentry in “Avengers: Doomsday” and starring alongside his father in the next chapter of Mel Brooks’ “Star Wars” parody, “Spaceballs 2.” But then come smaller projects, including a mystery and a rom-com, and surely plenty more additions to his already-sprawling IMDb page — despite his aversion to projecting a career path.

“I was raised to keep your expectations manageable so your disappointment is manageable,” he says. “We weren’t a big manifesting, mood-board family. We were an ‘eat what’s on the plate in front of you and enjoy it’ kind of family. That’s not to say I don’t believe in setting out a mental path on your horizon and loosely following it.”

But mainly Pullman, ever the chameleon, is ready to defy expectations once again. There’s a bit of irony that the superpower of his Marvel character is making people disappear; he’s getting pretty good at that himself.

“I’m getting a little antsy playing roles that are closer to myself,” he says. “I’m boring myself, and I’m looking forward to doing more stuff that’s outside of me and pushing myself.”

Styling: Warren Alfie Baker; Grooming: Christine Nelli;