Johanna Coelho, director of photography on The Pitt, talks to The Contending about the changes for Season 2, including new characters — appendages — and the debate over Dr. Robby’s helmet in the opening scene.
For Season 2 of The Pitt, director of photography Johanna Coelho wanted to push the realism even further.
“We changed a little bit of the coloring, so people look even more realistic,” says Coelho. “We just wanted the skin to feel a little more alive. You can feel the blood flow, everything in there.”
Coelho says the contrast is a little stronger as well — a specific shot from Episode 6’s “12 P.M.” recently went viral for showing the different layers of a frame.
“You can separate them a little more from the background, and they just stand out a little bit more as well. So very small tweaks, but all of them together make you feel even more like you’re in a documentary.”
But there’s contrast between characters, too. Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) butts heads with his sabbatical replacement, Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi), who always seems to encroach on his space.
“It’s that feeling that she’s really on top of him, and he can feel his space taken, you know? And the fact that the way we shoot it with our lens and our camera, we’re really close to the actors in general. And I think that makes you feel even more of that space taken. So there’s more space that Robby already has with the camera, and she comes in and takes that space as well. And so the combination of the blocking, the acting, but also, you know, the framing, how close we are to them and how much she feels the frame when she comes in. You have to give her a part of his frame, basically.”
The Pitt Helmet Season 2 Debacle
Season 2 of The Pitt opens with Dr. Robby riding a motorcycle — helmetless — across one of Pittsburgh’s many bridges. While much of the staff chides the doctor for not protecting himself, there was also debate on set about whether he should be wearing one in that opening shot.
“First, we did everything with a process trailer where we had the motorcycle rig,” says Coelho. “We did it on the back first so we could have Noah actually riding it because it’s attached and secure. They weren’t sure if they were going to go with the helmet or no-helmet version. So we shot it both ways.”
They ended up going with a stunt driver and doing a face replacement for that shot.
“Obviously, you know, it’s trickier if you do the version without the helmet because you’re really getting everything. But we wanted that shot because we wanted to really take it from the wheel on the ground and that reveal when you come up and seeing the actor. So the only way to do that is to have the motorcycle really riding.”
Did The Pitt team know how much the helmet would become a point of contention in Season 2?
“I have a feeling that they had a good idea of where it was going to head but just didn’t know the impact this would have. So I’m sure it influenced things in the script when they made that decision. But the truth is, when we shot that scene, we were already further along on the script because we shot that in September, and we started shooting in June.”
How The Pitt Priapasm Scene Was Shot
The Pitt Season 2 has already offered a lot of memorable scenes, but Mr. Randall’s (Christopher T. Wood) erect penis and how the doctors were able to “work it down,” so to speak, was a very delicate situation, according to Coelho.
“Even though it’s a prosthetic, obviously we made it a closed set. So not everyone could watch this around us. It’s only the people who really need to watch it that watched it. When they do the needle and everything, it has to be done properly. So you know, it seems fun, but we are very careful with that kind of work because it’s delicate on many levels, but also for the prosthetic itself.”
Coelho says the actor had a good laugh about it, especially since it was the focus of his scene.
“It was the centerpiece shot-wise. You don’t see the actor that much! And that’s kind of how we wanted to shoot it, too.”
The Pitt Season 2 episodes drop at 9 p.m. ET Thursdays.
