Gerran Howell on Dr. Dennis Whitaker’s Growth in The Pitt on MAX

[00:00:09] Gerran thank you for joining me today on Pop Culture Unplugged. Thank you man thank you for having me. Congrats on the series. Congrats on season two also that was just announced a couple days ago right? It was yeah yeah thank god yeah it's happening yeah and it seems people seem to really like it so yeah. I know episode 13 just got air is that what it was? Yeah. I've seen the whole series so I know what's happening so we can release this interview even after the series comes out. Okay great. So we bring up any spoilers or anything.

[00:00:38] What's been like the fan reaction with you? With the fans? I mean I'm across the pond so I guess I'm not getting the full effect of it here because it hasn't come out in the UK yet. But yeah I mean people really seem to be connecting to it in a really special way you know. Seems like a lot of people are coming out of the woodwork and are really relating to it yeah seems like it's doing really well. So you haven't been called Huckleberry yet from a fan?

[00:01:06] No not yet. No I feel like I'm laying low I'm missing all that. Hopefully it'll have died down by the time I get back. Have you heard anything about when's the plans about this getting released in Europe or in your area? I have no idea yeah no idea. I know some family friends have managed to watch it when they've been in different countries. Yeah. I'm reporting back but I have no idea when it's coming to the UK yeah.

[00:01:33] Let's talk about the show now. Like how were your approach for this series? Was this an audition? Somebody you knew that you're like hey we might have a part for you and want you to come in? No not at all. It was it was sort of the standard audition process really. It was a self-tape initially. Two self-tapes I believe. Then a meeting with John and casting and everyone on Zoom all at once. It was a bit overwhelming. But no it was sort of standard really.

[00:02:04] Yeah I had to do CPR on the audition as well. How about the accent that you you know Nebraska country boy. How did you how did you decide how do you want to do that? Yeah well I mean just from research it was it seemed like something that was quite I don't want to say like a general American accent but it was sort of in in my sort of wheelhouse I suppose.

[00:02:29] And yeah I've done some other American roles and I think a lot of UK actors we're sort of used to watching American TV so for a lot of us it's sort of in us really accent stuff. Yeah so that wasn't too much of a hassle or anything. What was the description you were given for Whitaker?

[00:02:50] I think it was at the time it was literally just Ernest Farm Boy I think and yeah that sort of really sums him up. That was all I had to go on really. Yeah Ernest Farm Boy med student. How did you decide how did you want to like dive into this role?

[00:03:11] Well I mean when it sort of came to me it was one of those things where I mean hospital procedural was something I have not much experience in and to be asked as a Brit was sort of one of those situations where it comes along and you go okay this is incredible. You can tell there's a lot of people you can tell there's a lot of people you can tell there's a lot of the team behind it know what they're doing and they really care about making it realistic.

[00:03:39] But I was like oh well they're gonna they're gonna cast an American surely. So it was really intimidating to begin with but it was all sort of it was all there when they first it first came to me it was all sort of yeah the tone of it was so realistic and so yeah the character was there. Yeah just sort of bumbling and maybe slightly incompetent. Yeah right. So you booked so you booked the role. Yeah.

[00:04:08] When you're reading the scripts you know like he's having a bad first day. Yeah dude like the worst possible day. Yeah. Yeah. Like what went through your mind a couple especially with the couple scenes that you know you know he gets what was it he gets peed on. Yeah. I forget what else. Yeah. My Lanter yeah it was like a bingo card of bodily fluids. Yeah.

[00:04:31] No it was great I think when when you're an actor just having just knowing you're just having lots of stuff coming at you literally and metaphorically you have lots of stuff to do. Yeah it was great it was it was sort of a it could tell it was gonna be a challenge but it was also I can tell I'm gonna have fun I'm gonna have lots lots to do. Yeah. I'm kind of excited by all that stuff. You know and most people you know when they go to work if if you if that was gonna happen to them they're like I'm out of here I'm done.

[00:05:01] Yeah no it's it's an absolute baptism of fire for sure for Whitaker but that's that's sort of his character you know he is he is having the worst possible day thrown at him. Yeah.

[00:05:17] But you know he's sort of dealing with it and I guess that's kind of a nice way maybe for the audiences to it's a nice in for audiences to latch on to a character like that who's having you know everyone else is very competent and and doing their job and there's a lot of satisfaction in that. But you know I think audiences need someone to be like you know this kid doesn't know what he's doing and he's having everything but he's still he's still going yeah yeah the day from hell.

[00:05:46] But Dr. Robbie trusts you. Yeah. He trusts Whitaker he's calls him a superstar. He's got faith in him. Yeah he yeah he definitely sees something in him and he is you know he knows what he's doing. I think he is very competent he just it's just a character thing where he doesn't necessarily believe in himself at this moment in time.

[00:06:12] Does he like filming those scenes did you have to do like a few takes on him were you able to get him all in one shot. What the bodily fluid stuff. Yeah that yeah. Yeah surprisingly I mean there wasn't much room for error but yeah it was just a you know a case of yeah they throw something on me and yeah that'll do. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:06:37] How would you describe overall his first day his journey into the into the medical field there. Yeah. Well I think he comes into it just extremely overwhelmed. Hmm. Not necessarily from a point of view of like the medical stuff I think he is very he knows what he's doing. Yeah.

[00:06:57] But it's a culture shock thing you know he's a he's a farm boy from Nebraska and you know I'm sure he's seen a lot of stuff but the environment of like a trauma center is just completely different from anything I think he expected. In terms of just you know the amount of people and you know how you interact with those with those people and yeah patient relationships and all that stuff.

[00:07:27] I think just absolutely sets his nervous nervous system on fire and I think he's just completely overwhelmed by that aspect of it. Yeah. It's rough man. It's definitely poor guy right. Would you be his friend. Oh yeah. Someone has to be. You feel somebody's got to be his friend. You feel bad for the guy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I feel a lot of a lot of sympathy for him for sure.

[00:07:52] I like his his relationship with Santos also you know it's like they kind of like she's a little more tough on him. She Santos is yeah absolutely. Yeah. But I think it's almost like a sibling thing with. Yeah. Santos. So yeah it's been really fascinating to watch like have the people's reactions to Santos and and she can rub a lot of people up the wrong way.

[00:08:18] But I think with Whitaker I think he almost sees through her quite a lot. He's he grew up with you know five brothers. Yeah. He's a sibling. So I think he really just sees someone who is coping in their own way by deflecting with jokes and jabs. So I don't think it actually really bothers him that much. I think Santos sort of sort of knows that as well. I'm an easy target but I think she knows she's not really gonna.

[00:08:47] Right. How did you guys like develop that like on set screen relationship dynamic with her? Just easy. I mean. Was it easy? Yeah it was easy. I mean she's great. I mean she just really you know there's aspects of her of everyone in the cast actually. We are very scarily similar to our characters you know. But you know Issa is obviously a lot more personable than Santos.

[00:09:15] But yeah it just felt like you know sibling banter. It was really fun. And yeah that relationship is really interesting. And I think yeah without spoiling anything it goes somewhere which I was really satisfied with at the end. Yeah. I mentioned episode 13 before you know one of my favorite scenes was when you used a drill on the conscious patient. He starts screaming then it hurt. Yeah. It's like so you've had body fluids. A person has died.

[00:09:44] Now you hurt somebody. Yeah. Multiple deaths. Multiple. Multiple deaths. Bodily fluids. Yeah. Now I think it's that sort of that scene I think at that point when we're in the sort of the mass casualty. Yeah. That is just like a reactionary thing. Like I don't think it actually really bothers him that much. I think it does you know takes him down a peg. But he is I think all of us at that point. Yeah.

[00:10:10] Stakes like that are just sort of you know they can maybe have other people look down on us a bit more. But I think it's just whoops. I mean this stuff kind of happens I suppose. You know we're here saving lives and that's probably not the worst thing that's happened to Whitaker today actually. So yeah. Speaking of. Yeah. I mean and that episode is very like it's emotional you know the whole the shooting episode they're all coming in you know it's like it's like it's a war zone like they called it in there. Dude yeah it was it was crazy.

[00:10:39] It was like a real change of atmosphere on set because I don't know if other people have you know spoke about it but we had all of our background actors. Yeah. Were with us for like that whole those whole few months because it is one shift obviously and they are with us the whole time. So we had this whole roster of background artists and then the mass casualty event happens and a lot of those people get moved out. And it was you know we got to say goodbye to a lot of them.

[00:11:08] We weren't going to see them ever again. And then you have this whole new cast of background artists come in and it was just yeah the tone really got really serious. And again there was wasn't a lot of sort of work to do. It's just horrifying to be on that set. There was just blood everywhere and people everywhere you look just covered in gunshot wounds. And it was really genuinely harrowing. Yeah. There was one scene where you even called yourself doctor.

[00:11:38] Do you remember that scene? Yeah. Yeah. Wishful thinking. Right. Because at first you know somebody asked you if they could call you doctor and you're like well not technically yet. Yeah. But then you have another scene where you introduced yourself as doctor. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe he's getting a little bit of confidence there. Yeah. No it's in him. I think he knows you know he's he's capable enough but uh yeah again I think so much is happening. I don't think he's really bothered at that point. He's a lovable character. People people are they like this character.

[00:12:08] Yeah. They seem to. I again I think it's just the case of he's a good character for people to latch on to. Yeah. When everything else can be a bit overwhelming and there's so much medical jargon going on. I think he's a good person people can relate to. You know same with me all the med students and well I think every character has a lot of relatability.

[00:12:30] Which is testament to to the writing when it can be you know when you read the scripts you're like what is it what is happening here. Right. And you need you need characters to be relatable at the end of the day outside of all the competence you know competence porn. I've heard that that being thrown around a lot. Yeah. So yeah it's really nice to see that people can relate to him in some way.

[00:12:58] Other than you know Whitaker who's your favorite character on the series that you've kind of like rooted for. Or. I mean it's an easy easy answer but it's got to be Dr. Robbie. Yeah. It's got to be Dr. Robbie. Yeah. He goes through so much and he is he's like the mentor figure for all of us so we're all sort of rooting for him.

[00:13:18] And we're rooting for him as Noah because he's leading the charge and this is a crazy job and you know we hope it really resonates with people. And yeah so I think Dr. Robbie is someone we all look up to for sure. Another scene with Whitaker and Dr. Robbie is when Dr. Robbie is having like the anxiety attack and he's like crying in that room and you character walks in there.

[00:13:48] Yeah. Yeah. Tell us a little about that. Well that's that's coming up right. I think that's coming up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's in the in episode episode 14 I believe. Yeah. That's it was just another just an example of Whitaker just feels the need to have to step up. But it was yeah it was lovely and I didn't see that scene coming at all you know. Yeah. I haven't seen it yet. So I don't know. Oh so you haven't even watched the. Oh no.

[00:14:17] I have no idea. So I can't talk to it too much. Maybe they'll cut it. You know maybe they'll CG someone else's face on there. This is why I'm releasing this interview after the series ends. Cool cool cool cool cool. Yeah no but it was yeah it was a it was a beautiful scene and it's just awful to see that character that you look up to that you look up to.

[00:14:41] That you look up to so much and then being in that state was just horrible again not much work needed for me. It was just you know horrible to see him in that situation. Yeah. Yeah. I hope it's a good scene. Oh definitely yes definitely is. Would you change anything about Whitaker? Oh no no no I wouldn't.

[00:15:04] I think I think we're in really we're in really capable hands and you know I think the writers have really curated it in a way you don't see until you watch it. So no I'm really excited to see what they do with him and I have you know hopes and dreams for Whitaker but yeah I'm just I'm just excited to see where he goes.

[00:15:29] So if you were given if you had a meeting with the writers and they said hey what do you want to see season two do you have any what would you like to see? Um I guess I'd like to see just how Whitaker goes from being sort of inexperienced and overwhelmed that obviously can't last you know for too long.

[00:15:49] So it's I guess I want to see how Whitaker deals with everything you know because I think you can go two ways as a medical professional you can really close off and disconnect from people. And maybe in some in some cases become a bit cold or you can embrace everything and take things on the chin.

[00:16:12] So I think Whitaker could go down one of two paths really you know maybe close off. So who knows. Yeah is there somebody from the cast that you didn't have that many scenes with that season two I hope I get more scenes with? Oh that's a good question. Um I think we all have our little moments but I think uh Fiona I think Dr. McKay I think I think that would be a really interesting dynamic.

[00:16:39] Um especially with the street team stuff I think maybe that if that if that goes ahead again if Whitaker has more involvement in that stuff with with her. Yeah I don't know I think that would be an interesting dynamic don't you think? I don't know. Definitely yeah what about Langdon? Langdon? Oh yeah Langdon I think I don't really have much with Langdon. I think um yeah I don't know how how Langdon would how much patience he would actually really have for me.

[00:17:07] Whitaker so yeah that would be a an interesting dynamic but I think he'd uh he'd maybe take me under his wing. I don't know. Right now he's got his own issues with uh Santos. He's got yeah and the rest yeah yeah yeah yeah maybe yeah I'll leave him to it maybe. Yeah uh last question uh any message for the fans because you know they love this I don't know if you've been on like on the forums Reddit and Facebook they love the series.

[00:17:33] I I try I try not to okay but I mean I'm just yeah I'm sort of overwhelmed from stuff I've heard secondhand um yeah and I hope we people see themselves in the show especially medical professionals but I hope it gives an insight you know for people who aren't versed in the in in the uh in the industry a good uh a good view of it and um yeah thank you. Amazing.

[00:18:00] Garen uh I noticed you haven't really been posted to have any pictures from this series. Are you a social media person? Are you kind of staying off or? No I yeah not really I'm not really social media. I sort of yeah fallen out of love a bit with social media. Maybe I'll maybe I'll make a grand return but for now yeah. That's amazing. Garen I want to thank I want to thank you uh for giving me a few minutes today you're all like let's get you back on for season two. I'm excited to see what happens with uh Huckleberry. Yes please yeah. Thank you. Thank you man.

[00:18:30] Thank you.