Whereas followers of “E.R.” might discover solace within the new hit medical drama “The Pitt,” which options a lot of the identical expertise behind the earlier present, together with lead Noah Wyle, the one piece that differentiates the 2 is the usage of A-list actors for visitor stars. Everybody from Pink Buttons to Kristen Dunst guest-starred in “E.R.” at one level, however “The Pitt” as an alternative chooses to focus totally on its solid of docs and nurses. Nonetheless, that modified with this previous week’s Episode 14, as “The Pitt” noticed legendary character actor Brad Dourif seem as father to Dr. Cassie McKay. So as to add a particular wrinkle to the proceedings, Dourif is the precise father of the actress who performs McKay, Fiona Dourif.
“My suspicion is that it was Noah Wyle’s thought,” mentioned the youthful Dourif in a current interview with Selection. “He has talked to me about my dad’s profession in nice element earlier than, so I do know there wanted to be a tool to get Harrison residence and it was in all probability thrown out within the writers’ room as a really cool thought.”
Although recognized for voicing the demonic doll Chucky within the well-liked horror franchise of the identical identify, the elder Dourif has had some expertise performing within the medical discipline earlier than. One in all his first roles was in Miloš Foreman’s Oscar-sweeping adaptation of Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” during which he performed the pivotal function of Billy Bibbet. Later in life, Dourif additionally performed a physician himself on the western HBO TV collection “Deadwood,” although training procedures within the late 1800s differs vastly from the fashionable day pressures his daughter should carry out.
Although their alternate in Episode 14 was temporary, Fiona was extraordinarily grateful to get to share this second together with her father, describing it as “a present, actually, and a really tender second to shoot.” For her, it spoke to the connection she was already feeling with McKay as somebody who felt like an precise a part of her.
“This individual is so shut to truly Fiona that it offers me confidence, but in addition it’s type of scary since you both like me otherwise you don’t. There’s nowhere to actually disguise. After which to carry my precise father into the context of my father, we simply carried out the scene that very a lot felt prefer it was simply Brad speaking to Fiona,” mentioned Dourif. “The entire thing and actually this complete present has felt surreal. I didn’t anticipate it to occur. I really feel very fortunate.”
And although she isn’t positive if Wyle was truly liable for bringing her father into the fray of “The Pitt,” it doesn’t matter what, she nonetheless sees him as “very gracious” and “an unbelievable crew chief.”
The Season 1 finale of “The Pitt” streams Thursday, April 10 on Max.