“The Pitt” has been celebrated as one of the most accurate shows about the medical profession ever made, but realism goes far beyond fact-checking scripts. The Max series from “E.R.” veterans R. Scott Gemmill, John Wells, and Noah Wyle did that too, hiring real on-set doctors to make sure everything the show’s characters said and did was as accurate as possible. However, much of the series’ sense of realness — and raw emotion — also comes from the way it was shot.
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As noted in both a Max featurette and Rolling Stone‘s interview with the show’s creatives, filming for the Pittsburgh emergency department-set series was like that of a meticulously choreographed play, complete with close-up handheld cameras, a detailed hospital ER set with built-in lighting designed to be filmed from every angle (more about the show’s filming locations here), and a surgical boot camp that taught the actors real medical procedures. The near-real-time series about a single day in an E.R. was also shot largely in continuity, meaning that on any given day every actor would be on set at once. According to Patrick Ball, who plays the charismatic but secret-keeping Dr. Frank Langdon, this, in turn, meant most of the actors had to be camera-ready at any given moment.
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If The Pitt actors are on set, they might also be on camera
“You might be the star of the show, but you’re going to spend three hours being a fuzzy blob in the background of somebody else’s scene,” Ball told Variety for a new profile of Wyle. “Noah set the tone for that.” The show’s press tour has included plenty of shout-outs to Wyle, who both serves as an executive producer on the series and plays its protagonist (fed-up doctor Michael “Robby” Robinavich). He also played Dr. John Carter for over a decade on “E.R.,” meaning he was by far the professional actor with the most relevant experience when “The Pitt” began shooting. But that seniority apparently didn’t stop him from hanging out on set all the time (even when he was unlikely to end up in the final product) for the sake of realism.
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Wyle also talked to Variety about working to build a solid sense of togetherness and camaraderie among the new show’s cast, saying, “Those relationships transcend the screen and become palpable to an audience who wants to be part of that family. I’ve tried to create it in every job I’ve gone on, but with varying degrees of success.” It clearly worked this time around, though: The cast had no complaints about Wyle setting a precedent for them to spend extra-long days on camera. “We stayed on set pretty much all day,” Ball remarked. “I feel very lucky for the guidance that he gave me.”
The season 1 finale of “The Pitt” premieres April 10, 2025, on Max. Season 2 is slated to arrive in early 2026.
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