Maverick’ Ahead of the 40th Anniversary Re-Release

In 2022, Top Gun: Maverick took flight with a roster of young talent, including Lewis Pullman, sending his career soaring. In addition to starring in hit Apple TV series, joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and continuing a legacy with his father, Bill Pullman, in the highly anticipated Spaceballs sequel, Pullman has recently marked off yet another moviemaking bucket list goal: working opposite two-time Academy Award winner Sally Field in Netflix’s upcoming drama Remarkably Bright Creatures.

The drama is an adaptation of Shelby Van Pelt’s debut New York Times bestselling novel that follows a widow, Tova (Field), who leads a solitary life working at and maintaining the local aquarium. When a wayward young man, Cameron (Pullman), comes to town looking for his father, their paths cross, and though they test one another, they also form an unlikely bond with each other and the aquarium’s giant Pacific octopus, Marcellus (Alfred Molina), leading to a mystery that will restore their sense of wonder in the world. Remarkably Bright Creatures is directed by Olivia Newman and also stars Colm Meaney, Joan Chen, Sofia Black-D’Elia, Kathy Baker, and Beth Grant.

In this interview with Collider’s Steven Weintraub, Pullman looks back on his career, from the most intimidating roles to everything he learned working opposite Field. He shares what it was like joining Top Gun: Maverick, discusses how his father has helped him navigate the industry, and gives new details on what’s coming up, including Spaceballs: The New One and how he’s feeling about Avengers: Doomsday. For all this and more, check out the full conversation in the video above, or in the transcript below.

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Had Lewis Pullman Questioning Everything Before Takeoff

“We’d better buckle up here.”

Image via Paramount Pictures

COLLIDER: I’ve got a ton of questions for you, but I want to start with something called “Get to know Lewis Pullman.”

LEWIS PULLMAN: I love it.

What project scared you the most before saying yes?

PULLMAN: Great question. Well, I think Top Gun [Maverick]. The fear built for me. Once I realized what we were actually going to be doing and the reality of it sunk in, everything started to cave in, and I was like, “Am I actually capable of doing this?” All the flight training and everything was so intense, and the only question they asked was whether we were scared of flying or not. I had never flown like that, nor did I ever think I would be flying in an F-18 or an Extra EA-300, let alone just a Cessna, and so I said yes, and I think everyone else did, too. Then, very quickly, everyone was looking around like, “Oh my gosh. Okay. We’d better buckle up here.” So, there was some definite fear there in terms of actually being physically capable of doing it.

If we’re talking about a role, I think Bad Times at the El Royale was really terrifying for me because I loved the script so much, and I wanted to be a part of something like that so much, and I hadn’t been in a ring quite like that. It was a really multi-layered character, and I was green. So I really leaned on the glorious Drew Goddard and Jeff Bridges quite a bit. Luckily, I had the wind from their gusts in my sails.

Image via Paramount Pictures

The other thing is, you worked with so many talented performers that it’s one of those projects that you learn a lot while making it.

PULLMAN: Yes. Yes, exactly. I learned so much. That was an incredible school for me.

What’s something you are embarrassingly bad at?

PULLMAN: Sports of all kinds. [Laughs]

If you could swap lives with someone for a week, who would it be and why?

PULLMAN: Wow. Oh my gosh. Well, I was just mentioning a story about Zach Galifianakis, and so he’s fresh on my mind. I do think that he probably leads a very interesting life. I think that he lives out in North Carolina or South Carolina, and he has a farm. He kind of still is just one of the best actors/comedians, but has his own little universe. I’d like to see what’s going on there.

Lewis Pullman on the Low-Key Way His Dad Helped Shape His Career

“He’s always been very encouraging.”

Image via Focus Features

What’s something people always get wrong about you?

PULLMAN: I guess maybe that people think that I grew up acting, and I definitely did not. I didn’t partake for real until after college. My dad didn’t really… He brought us to location a lot when he was shooting out of the country, and we would be there, but in terms of being on sets, that was something that was very new to me once I started.

Speaking of your dad, what was your dad’s reaction when you said to him, especially after college, “Hey, I’m thinking about acting?”

PULLMAN: He’s always been very encouraging. I think you hear a lot of stories of actors being like, “Stay away. Don’t do it.” I think he was of the mind that, like, “If it’s not for him, he’ll find out.” He’s like, “I can’t tell him whether he’s going to like it or not. I don’t know.” So, that was a pretty easy conversation. They’re a very creative family that I come from, and so, I think they would have been more taken aback if I were like, “I’m going to be a lawyer.” Maybe.

Did he give you any advice? Because he’s obviously a very talented actor.

PULLMAN: Yes. He gives me advice. He never is just like, “Here’s some advice for you.” Usually, I have to ask, and he’s very gracious with it. My advice I get from him often is through storytelling, through his own experiences. I’ll bring something up that I might be kind of turning around in my mind, and he usually has a good anecdote from his career that is very helpful.

What is it actually like for you nowadays, watching a movie or a TV show? Because now you know the inside of the machine. Can you watch something and enjoy it just as a fan, or do you sometimes find yourself analyzing the performance or analyzing the lens that they used, and it almost takes you out, and you have to re-submerge?

PULLMAN: Sally Field and I were just talking about this. She has more trouble. She’s always like, “How’s the magic trick done? How’s it done? How’s it done?” I can kind of lose myself a little bit still. Sometimes it’s definitely hard, and I don’t like when that part of my brain comes on. If that part of my brain turns on, I’ll be like, “I’ll watch it again.” I’ll let myself just think whatever thoughts I have on the first round, and then the next one, I’m like, “Lose yourself.” Or vice versa. I’ll be like, “Let’s just experience this,” and then I’ll watch it again, and I can be all technical if I want. But I think that you know it’s a good movie when you don’t go into the technical brain.

Lewis Pullman on Joining His Upcoming Sci-Fi Thriller

The Spacesuit is directed by Kitty Green and stars Pullman and Vanessa Kirby.

Image via Netflix

It recently came out that you and Vanessa Kirby are going to act outside of Marvel for Kitty Green’s The Spacesuit. What was it about that project that said, “Oh, yes?”

PULLMAN: Well, Kitty’s an amazing filmmaker. She did this movie, The Assistant, with Julia Garner, that was just spectacular. It’s a really tough subject to tackle, and she did it in a very grounded, kind of Surveillance-esque, patient, breath-filled style. And this script that she wrote is pretty wild. I think that she is a very capable director to take on something that… I love a pitch that’s like, “How?” or “Why?” and then make it work, and make it grounded. I think she is like way overqualified. So, to get the chance to work with her.

Then Vanessa, I’ve been a huge fan of hers for a long time. That’s one that I think I would be scared to do when the time comes, when we buckle up to get prepped for it. I’ll be feeling fearful, which is a good sign.

For sure. Early in your career, you did a pilot for Highston, and in the pilot, which I watched last night, you climb on Shaq [O’Neal]’s back. You also do all these scenes with Flea? What the hell was that so early in your career, and getting to climb on Shaq’s back?

PULLMAN: That was surreal. I look back on that, and if I were to watch it now, I don’t know. I didn’t know what I was doing at all. I had just come from doing theater in North Carolina in a theater that was more of an auditorium, sort of built for PowerPoint, so you have to project way beyond what is natural and be way bigger than what is natural. I remember doing that, and my dad helping me run some of those scenes, and he helped me a lot to kind of shrink my mode of expression down in a way that would work on film.

But that was a crazy experience. It, in some ways, was kind of the perfect thing to be launched into the film industry with. It’s a kid who has imaginary friends who are celebrities, and you have to basically just let your imagination take hold. It’s very kind of Harvey-esque. I think that was a big influence for Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who made it.

Shaq was amazing. He was so nice. I had a little sister in that, and I remember he just has such a soft spot. Like, he bought her a tricycle, and I think that he just wants to make sure that if you’re a kid and you’re acting, you’re here to have fun. It’s still your childhood. I don’t know, I just remember Shaq being very gracious, and Flea just having some insane philosophical wisdom that I still am digesting to this day.

What Makes Sally Field an Unmatched Scene Partner

“She cares more than most.”

Image via Netflix

Jumping into why I get to talk to you. What is it actually like having Sally Field as a scene partner? I’m a huge fan of hers, just like you are, but what is it like having her as a scene partner, and what surprised you about it?

PULLMAN: I think what surprised me about having Sally as a scene partner was, despite that she’s just about 80…

Which I can’t believe.

PULLMAN: Which I cannot believe. I can’t believe. She just said that in an interview, and I was looking at her, and I was like, “Besides some gray hairs, I cannot, I would not…” She is more energetic, has more gumption and perseverance, and grit than most. I think that really surprised me that despite her incredible career and her insane batting average as an actor, she cares more than most, and had a huge bible that she carried around with her — not an actual bible, but like the script was filled with notes, because it’s a mystery in many ways. Remarkably Bright Creatures has a lot of mystery, and so that requires some definite technical thread-weaving and making sure that everything connects and there are no threads left untethered.

There were so many scenes where she was like, “Wait a second, if we’re doing this here, then that doesn’t connect here. We haven’t shot this yet. We’ve got to make sure that if we do this here, then we have to do that there. Are we going to do that there?” All these times when we were all like, “Oh, thank goodness Sally was on top of it.” Just the meticulous kind of attitude that she has in the process, and then when she actually, between action and cut, is so free and is just blowing in the wind in this beautiful way. I think also she’s very open to if something feels right when you’re prepping for it, and then all of a sudden on the day something’s bumping you, she’s like, “It’s a disservice to not speak up about that.” So, getting on that same page with her was really fun to be able to operate at that level with her.

You have a very emotional scene in the third act. As an actor, what is it like knowing you have a scene like that? Is it something that you try not to rehearse so that all the emotion can be there when you are filming, or is it something you do want to rehearse and gauge where you want to be?

PULLMAN: Oh, good question. I think it depends on the scene, depends on the circumstances of the scene, and depends on your scene partner. Sally is game to talk about it to infinity. But I think when it comes to the scene itself, she definitely wants to preserve the magic.

That scene in particular isn’t something that I really rehearsed. I think I just kind of tried to marinate in it — there’s so much information that is hidden in Cameron all at once — and try and leave room for the bafflement and the wonder and the grief and the catharsis and relief there.

Then, honestly, it sounds so cheesy, but just looking at Sally’s face. Her face is just like a topographical map of humanity. It is just like a soulful, beautiful thing to look at. I sat down on that bench, and I saw her. She had just been out there for, like, a day in the pouring rain, and we were all worried we were going to lose the eighth wonder of the world, and I sat down, and I just looked at her face, and it was lucky for me that I think just being there and being reactive to her was all that I needed, really.

Image via Netflix

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I think people are going to love this movie. I would imagine every time you make a project, you take something away from it that maybe affects you in real life, so did you take anything away from this project that’s stayed with you?

PULLMAN: Tova says, “There’s a right way and a wrong way to do things,” and that definitely has stuck with me. It’s such a simple little mantra, but even just going about my day in my house, rather than throwing my pants on the dresser, I’ll think about the build-up of, “Okay, if I just throw my pants and then I change into these pants, when I get home from work, am I just going to throw these pants on top of those pants?” There is order, and there is a way to maintain order and keep the chaos at bay, at least. I think in a very practical way that really affected me.

And then I also think being open to friendships in all different shapes and sizes. I think that probably if you talk to Tova or Cameron at the beginning of this film, both of them would say they want to have nothing to do with each other, and where they end up is such a beautiful place. What they find within each other is something that I don’t think either of them knew existed, and knew that they even needed, at the time. So, I think being open to that was something I learned.

Lewis Pullman Teases a “Mind-Boggling” Rick Moranis Return in Spaceballs 2

He discusses how the parody sequel goes beyond spoofing Star Wars.

I definitely have to touch on Spaceballs 2. I saw footage at CinemaCon, and it was one of my favorite things I saw there. What I learned at CinemaCon was that it’s not just a spoof of Star Wars, it is a spoof of a lot of sci-fi. So, what can you tease people about how it’s not just Star Wars? There are Avatar jokes there, and there are tons of things that people don’t realize are coming.

PULLMAN: The writers, Dan [Hernandez], Benji [Samit], and Josh [Gad], really took advantage of the whole concept in the best way possible. So many times, I think being a fan of something can really help invigorate it. I think them working with Mel [Brooks] to keep what we love so much about Spaceballs, and then also just expound on it and expand on it… Anyone who’s a fan of anything will probably get a reference in there at some point.

What was your favorite prop that you got to see or work with? The stuff I saw looked amazing.

PULLMAN: I will just say there is a spaceship, a console, that I could not believe was real. No one will even see some of it. This should, and I hope will be, a freeze-frame fest of people freeze framing this movie and zooming in and seeing the detail that went into this. The buttons on this console, I discovered a new one every day, and literally had a laugh, all by myself.

Rick Moranis is coming out of retirement for this is amazing. Which was your I-can’t-believe-this-is-my-life moment when you were filming, and maybe, possibly with Dark Helmet?

PULLMAN: I think just hearing him do the Dark Helmet voice, and him just slipping back into it so, so seamlessly. It was just a mind-boggling moment because that voice lives in my brain free of rent. Just hearing him find it again — he didn’t even have to find it; it was just right there — was just a dream come true.

Popcorn buckets at movie theaters have really taken off. Are you aware of this?

PULLMAN: I know about the Dune bucket.

Do you know what the Spaceballs 2 popcorn bucket will be?

PULLMAN: I don’t, but I can’t wait to see. I think that they are going to have so much fun with the marketing of this thing. I think they already are. The ideas are overflowing.

Last thing on Spaceballs. You have mentioned that filming Spaceballs 2 felt like a bizarre simulation. So, which is more intense, pulling G-forces in a real F-18 with Tom Cruise or pretending to fly a flying motorhome with your dad?

PULLMAN: [Laughs] You know, one was kind of mind-melting, and the other was body-melting, and both were challenging in their own ways. Both were very exciting and exhilarating in their own ways.

On a scale of one to I’ll-be-fired-if-I-blink, how stressed are you about keeping Marvel secrets before opening day?

PULLMAN: Is zero not stressed at all? I would say I’m not stressed at all because I haven’t seen it yet. If I had seen it, and I were sitting here right now, I’d be a five, I think. Once I see it, then ask me that again.

Do people in your life, like friends or family, ask you to actually say things, or do they know you can’t talk about this?

PULLMAN: Mostly, they just want to know what I was doing in London.

Like off set?

PULLMAN: No, like what did I have to do? Like, if you spend some time somewhere, usually your friends are like, “What did you have to do out there?” And so you dance around it. It’s just a fun little dance you get used to kind of grooving with.

Remarkably Bright Creatures premieres on Netflix on May 8.

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Release Date

May 8, 2026

Runtime

111 Minutes

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Director

Olivia Newman

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