Michael Pitt, who is known to stay in character while filming, studied British evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins for his role as a scientist trying to disprove the existence of God in “I Origins.”
“Richard is a scientist I kind of based my character on. I would listen to his lectures every day,” he said at the Marc by Marc Jacobs screening at the Landmark Sunshine.
“When you’re building a character there’s little things you do on repetition … like, when I was doing ‘Boardwalk Empire,’ I wore a leg brace because the character was a vet. When I put that leg brace on in the morning it would force me to limp … after doing it so many times, I would immediately come into character.”
Pitt says scientists are cooler than you think.
“We have this view that they are in the white coats, they have no sense of humor, they don’t get laid. It’s not true. Some of the scientists I’ve met, they get laid, and they’re the most passionate, creative people you’ll meet.”
After, guests headed to a party at Bowery Terrace, where hopefully some scientists had fun.