Noah Wyle‘s The Pitt is being applauded for its medical accuracy — and there were extensive steps taken behind the scenes to make that possible.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Isa Briones recalled the work she put in before taking on the role of Dr. Trinity Santos.
“The 10 of us doctors all got medical bootcamp for two weeks before we started filming, which was so helpful,” Briones, 26, explained. “On set we always have [technical advisor] Dr. Joe Sachs — he’s there all the time.”
Max’s hit series broadened the efforts to establish and maintain medical accuracy while filming with “a big roster of doctors.”
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“[They] cycle through every episode. So a different doctor is assigned to every episode and they handle choreographing all of the big trauma scenes — anything that involves medical choreography,” Briones noted. “But the bootcamp was so helpful because it’s not like they can teach us how to be a doctor in two weeks, obviously. But it gave us the tools and gave us the language of the right questions to ask when we are actually choreographing something like that.”
Briones didn’t realize the scope of knowledge that would come in handy, adding, “I have these lines but where am I looking when I’m saying the stats? A bootcamp gave us that general knowledge of who we’re talking to, what it’s about and what different things mean.”
The Pitt, which premiered in January, is described by the streaming service as “a realistic examination of the challenges facing healthcare workers in today’s America as seen through the lens of the frontline heroes working in a modern-day hospital in Pittsburgh.”
“We got to learn how to suture, how to intubate and how to do a pericardiocentesis — all these crazy things,” Briones told Us. “We also have nurses on set at all times who are also playing nurses in the show. They provide constant [support] because we would be falling on our faces if they weren’t there with us.”
The medical drama highlights the highs and lows of the job with an unconventional approach — the 15 episodes showcase 15 hours of one shift. Briones praised the concept for helping her and other cast members — including ER’s Noah Wyle — develop their characters.
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“It feels very natural because it means there’s less prologue that you need to be adding into every episode. You’re not trying to catch up all the time,” she said. “Everything is minute by minute so the audience is very much in on it with us and we don’t have to catch the audience up at all. That leads to very realistic dialogue. It is kinder to us actors since it makes it roll off the tongue more.”
Briones acknowledged that it can be “challenging” though, saying, “In terms of the subject matter, you are feeling just as tired as your character would be. It’s these days of really intense traumatic things that you’re seeing every day. Obviously we’re pretending, but there’s a very famous quote, ‘Your body doesn’t know that you’re acting.’”
She continued: “You just walk in and you’re seeing these amazing guest stars who are unbelievable actors and so truthful. You’re watching people crying, hearing the worst news of their life or you’re watching people in pain. That still has an effect on you. To be going through it as if it is a 15-hour day, you feel that as an actor as well. But again, it makes the job easy because it’s so built into the nature of it.”
New episodes of The Pitt premiere on Max every Thursday.
