In scenes where the doctors on The Pitt end up getting wrist-deep inside of a patient, it’s clear that they are operating with extreme care. After all, these are medical professionals manipulating vital organs, and that’s an activity that requires a certain amount of grace. It makes all of the sense in the world captured on camera, but the reality is that there is a major secondary reason why the performers are being very cautious: the special effects that the show uses are sometimes incredibly expensive creations.
During a recent roundtable with the cast of The Pitt, the New York Times asked the actors about the experience of handling various organs on set. While I can imagine the reporter was expecting commentary about how gross or cool the practical effects are, Gerran Howell – best known to fans of the show as Dr. Dennis Whitaker – explained that they are intimidating to work with because of how valuable they are. There is a scene in Season 2 that has the character affectionately known as “Huckleberry” working to save a patient by massaging their heart with his hands, and his performance was impacted by his awareness of the fake blood-pumpers' cost. Said Howell,
Terrifying, because they’re so expensive. Oh, my God. When I did the heart massage, I was doing it way too tentatively because I made the mistake of asking how much it cost. The heart alone was like 5-to-10 grand.
That’s a hell of a lot of money, even in the context of the multi-million dollar budgets that most big shows work with. It may seem extreme, but there is a ridiculous amount of craft that goes into the creation of practical effects, and the production is paying for the great quality: filmmakers could opt for something cheaper, but it wouldn’t look nearly as real, and a huge part of what makes The Pitt such an effective show is its realism.
Isa Briones, who plays Dr. Trinity Santos, followed Howell’s comments, noting that there is more that goes into the creation of the fake heart than just the veiny, bloody ball itself, as there are special machinations working off-camera operated by the effects teams to make the organ appear to be a part of a human’s body. She explained,
Someone’s at the bottom of the rig, pumping it. I love it. I’ll be holding something, and I’ll be like, Yeah, this feels real. As if I’ve ever touched a real one! But I’m like, Yeah, this is accurate. It really is almost all practical effects. We’re very spoiled. We have it all in front of us.
It’s certainly not hard to recognize the benefit of the fake organs for the performers, as the fewer gaps they need to fill with their imaginations, the more authentic their work is going to be.
What kind of gooey, surgical insanity can we expect next? You’ll be able to find out when the latest episode of The Pitt – the fourth episode of Season 2 – drops for those with an HBO Max subscription on the streaming service tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET.
