Noah Wyle: ‘The Pitt does something unique – it’s a stroke of genius’
Noah Wyle spoke to Metro about The Pitt, ER, Friends and more (Picture: HBO/Shutterstock)
‘It’s nice to talk about something that’s popular. I’ve tried to sell many shows that had a lot less receptive audience, that’s for sure.’
Meeting The Pitt star Noah Wyle at a London hotel ahead of the show’s launch in the UK on HBO Max, I can’t help but find his humility regarding the show’s success endearing.
The critically acclaimed medical drama has made waves ever since it launched in the US last year, being hailed as a ‘generational masterpiece’ and ‘outstanding in every way’.
When I binged season one ahead of our interview for Metro, I was hooked instantly. The intensity of the Pittsburgh-based emergency room, the exceptional skills of the doctors and nurses, and the fact that the narrative follows an entire 15-hour shift left me engrossed.
Noah, whose best-known role before The Pitt was as Dr John Carter in ER, admits that it was ‘maddening’ having to wait so long for The Pitt to cross the pond to our shores, especially because several of his co-stars are British.
‘Not only do I have a lot of friends and colleagues that live here who have been dying to see it, but it’s odd to have so many cast members be from England and not have them being recognised in their home country for the work they’ve been doing for the last two years. It’s going to be great for them,’ he says.
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What does Metro think of The Pitt?
Metro’s TV Editor Sabrina Barr shares her thoughts:
The Pitt is a TV phenomenon that drags you from your sofa into the thick of the action in a way that no other drama has managed before.
I barely ever watch medical programmes and yet I’ve unashamedly binge-watched The Pitt, episode after episode, well into the early hours.
And it’s left me with what I hope is a greater understanding of the exhaustion and emotions that a medic must feel when they’re staggering away from a busy shift.
To read more, click here.
If you haven’t seen The Pitt yet, you might be wondering what makes this show stand out so much. There are plenty of medical dramas out there, including Grey’s Anatomy, House and Scrubs, to name a few.
But this one transports you right into the thick of a 15-hour ER shift from start to finish. Each episode is set in real time, so episode one starts at 7am, episode two begins at 8am, and so on.
‘It was really the brainchild of our executive producer R Scott Gemmill. He had the idea of telling the story in real time, and really thought that the aggregate toll of hour on hour on hour on hour would be both exciting and would build a lot of tension as well. And he was right,’ Noah says of this unique format, which some have compared to the TV thriller 24.
That isn’t the only thing that’s unique about The Pitt. Normally, when you watch a TV series, you’ll hear plenty of music playing in the background, subtly hinting that the audience should be feeling sad, frightened or excited.
In this drama, the musical element is stripped away, making the goings-on of the hospital feel even more raw and real.
The critically acclaimed medical drama The Pitt recently launched in the UK. (Picture: Warrick Page/HBO Max via AP)
Referencing creator R Scott Gemmill again, Noah explains: ‘His other stroke of genius was to take all the music out to remove all the artifice that usually attends a TV show, and really lean into the reality of it, make the viewer feel much more like they’re a willing or unwilling participant, less a voyeur.
‘We use this kind of syncopated soundtrack, where the machines and the breathing and the sounds of all of us doing our job become a sort of soundtrack.’
The Pitt is an immersive beast, for both its audience and its stars. The cast and crew do ‘long, uninterrupted takes that require lots and lots of rehearsal’, Noah outlines – plus, they shoot in 360 degrees.
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With multiple storylines happening at once, there’s a chance that any of them might be visible in the background of shots, so all of the actors have to be ‘totally engaged’ at all times.
Of course, this isn’t Noah’s first rodeo with a stethoscope, having starred in ER for over a decade. While The Pitt isn’t a follow-up for his character (despite originally being conceived as one), the two shows have ‘enough connective DNA to really make it feel special and synchronistic’ for him.
Nonetheless, according to the 54-year-old, no one’s coming to him to make the most of his real-life medical skills.
‘I can do it all! They won’t let me… but I keep telling them I can,’ he claims, with a mischievous grin.
Noah’s breakout role came in 1994 in ER (Picture: NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
He and his ER co-star George Clooney starred in a memorable season one episode of Friends (Picture: Warner Bros/Everett/Shutterstock)
In the same year that ER launched, Noah also made a cameo in Friends alongside his co-star, George Clooney. While they weren’t playing their ER characters, they starred as doctors who go on a double date with Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) and Monica (Courteney Cox).
‘Oh, it’s very vivid that episode,’ Noah says while recalling the memory fondly. It just so happened that on the day that we were doing our interview, Friends star Lisa Kudrow was also promoting her HBO show The Comeback.
‘Seeing Lisa here doing the press has been really lovely,’ he shares. ‘I bumped into her a couple of times on the Warner Brothers lot, and I just look at her, and I go, “Look at us. We’re still doing it. 30 years later, and they haven’t caught us yet.”
‘We were all very close friends back then. Our shows launched together, same network, same studio, same night, same year, and we all knew each other collegiately before that, just being actors in Los Angeles. So when George and I went over there, it was like playing with your… I keep using the word friends, but it was like playing with your buddies. Really fun times.’
Now, fans of The Pitt might be wondering whether Ocean’s Eleven star George will ever make a cameo. It would make sense – they were in ER together playing doctors, the show is made by several of the same people… so could it happen?
‘I’ve really had a cathartic experience with this show,’ Noah told Metro (Picture: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)
‘Why can’t I be in one of his movies? Why does he have to come on my show?’ Noah laughs.
When I bring up the fact that another Ocean’s movie is currently in the works, he light-heartedly quips: ‘The problem with that franchise is you know exactly where you rank in George’s life if you don’t make the cut. You know that you’re not one of his 11 closest friends.’
As much as I’m sure many people would love to see Noah join the Ocean’s heist crew, I’ll happily take more of him in The Pitt, which was recently renewed for a third season.
Looking back on all of the roles he’s taken on in his career, including Dr Kenneth Monnitoff in Donnie Darko and Flynn Carsen in the Librarian films, Robby is the character who has had the biggest impact on him personally.
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‘It’s the closest to the bone I’ve ever played it, all the way down to using my great-grandfather’s name. Robinavitch is a family name,’ Noah recollects.
‘When we were writing the show, John Wells asked me where my family was from. And I said Russia, Ukraine. He said, “What’s the name?” I said, “Robinavitch.” He goes, “Well, why don’t we call him Robby?” And I thought, “What?!” I’ve never… that’s closer to the bone than I’ve ever played before.
‘I felt like that was kind of the exercise with this anyways; we were stripping away all the artifice and filmmaking technique. Why don’t we strip away all the artifice and performance too, and just get as real and naked with it as possible? So I’ve really had a cathartic experience with this show.’
The Pitt season 1 is available to stream on HBO Max. Season 2 episodes are being released weekly on Thursdays.
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