Lionel Boyce had built a name for himself during Season 1 of “The Bear” as a valued utility player who stepped up, nailed his lines, and then disappeared again. “I’d come in for a scene or two, say a couple of words and walk away,” explains the actor who portrays mild-mannered pastry chef Marcus on the multiple Emmy-winning FX hit set in a restaurant kitchen. So it required significantly more preparation and a decidedly different mindset when Boyce learned that the fourth episode of Season 2 would essentially belong to him. Suddenly, he wouldn’t have his co-stars like Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach to lean on. “Scary? A million percent,” Boyce confirms. “It’s completely different when it’s really sitting on you. But it was cool because I got to learn a lot. I haven’t carried an episode before. And it was like climbing a giant mountain with all of the relief you feel after doing it. And then when it comes out, you’re like, ‘OK, people like it. I feel proud I didn’t make this a train wreck’.” Watch the exclusive video interview above.
Indeed, there was no wreckage to be found in the wake of the episode, entitled “Honeydew.” It finds Marcus traveling to Copenhagen, Denmark to train under a prestigious British pastry chef (played by Will Poulter) to step up his dessert game in anticipation of his restaurant’s evolution into a fine-dining establishment. The scenes with he and Poulter together were shot in the “Bear’s” home base of Chicago. But the exteriors were filmed on location in Copenhagen, where Marcus lives on a boat during his apprenticeship. When Boyce was given the script for the first time, he was a bit shocked to see Marcus, and then more Marcus, and still more Marcus. “Whoa, it’s a bottle episode – sick!” he recalls thinking, using the term to describe an installment with few cast members and fewer frills.
Boyce had a blast working with Poulter before taking off for Denmark. “We hung out for a few days before we started shooting,” he says, “just bumming around Chicago, and it just instantly felt familiar and I was like, ‘Oh, OK, you’re like a homie.’ We just had this upspoken camaraderie that came right off the bat, and I think that’s reflected in what people see. You can’t fake that.”
The fact that Boyce was going to Scandinavia for the rest of shoot was hardly the only difference from a typical episode of the series. Its tone was also significantly less frantic and chaotic than is usual for “The Bear,” quieter and more contemplative. Plus, it used a different cinematographer (Adam Newport-Berra) and director (Ramy Youssef). “Bear” showrunner Christopher Storer had previously worked with Youssef as a producer and director on his series “Ramy.” The two of them also had fun working together. “He made sure that the city was a character in itself and had spots that he wanted to incorporate,” Boyce remembers. “It was also just great being there.”
But Boyce admits having had significant doubts he could convincingly pull off being the focus of an entire episode. “I found myself wondering what went into their mind to put a whole episode around (me). I’m the guy who comes in and comes out, and you get comfortable with that. And it’s just like, wow, they’re taking a risk on me.” And again, the actor is thrilled with how it all turned out and the way the storyline in “Honeydew” served to flesh out his character. He adds, “It was really cool just to get a full feel for (Marcus) and his getting to expand on his creativity.”
He’s also pretty jazzed with how the episode brings greater prominence to Marcus inside the show and recognition to him as a performer. Of course, being a member of the ensemble on a show that’s become part of the zeitgeist had already been its own blessing. “There are so many directors and people whose work you love in the business, and you think, “I would love to meet this person’,” Boyce emphasizes. “And now they know who (I am) and I’m on their radar a bit. You can have meetings with these people who you’ve admired forever. It gets you into the room. One wall’s down. And it’s cool to get recognized here and there walking down the street.”
Both seasons of the FX series “The Bear” are available to be streamed over Hulu.
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