Rosamund Pike was tutored by a chemistry teacher four times a week before shooting her role as Marie Curie.
The 40-year-old actress stars as the legendary scientist – who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity and was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize – in the upcoming biopic ‘Radioactive’ and the ‘Gone Girl’ star revealed that she "went back to school" to prepare for the film.
In an interview with Stylist magazine, she said: "When I was playing Marie Curie, I had a chemistry teacher come to my house four times a week.
"I went back to school and it was wonderful. I think it’s very important that we understand that the brain is a muscle that we can train."
The movie is an adaptation of the novel by Lauren Redniss and will centre on the relationship between the scientist and her husband Pierre Curie, and while the flick is primarily a love story, Rosamund was keen on giving a real portrayal of Curie and insisted she "didn’t need to be liked".
She said: "Marie Curie was an astonishing person. I love her because she didn’t need to be liked. It’s a gutsy quality in a woman when they don’t have to please people. I’ve really taken that to heart.
"Marie didn’t need to be liked. I’ve taken that idea to heart in my performance. In the first moments of the film, I’m not asking you to think ‘Oh isn’t she lovely’ I’m making you think ‘Oh actually she’s quite difficult’. She had one of the finest minds in the country and she wasn’t afraid to say it.
"I love it when someone can say they’re the smartest person in the room. It’s so not how we’re trained to behave."
Rosamund Pike got chemistry lessons before Marie Curie role
