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How far would you go to embody the physicality of a dying man? Ernest Harden Jr., who played beloved frequent flyer Louie on The Pitt, went pretty far. \u201cI did something that was very dangerous, but I went off all my blood pressure pills,\u201d Harden said at the HBO Emmy Max Nominee Celebration, \u201cto try to feel what it would be like.\u201d He called it \u201cthe Robert De Niro\u201d method of acting. \u201cI don\u2019t recommend this at home, but it worked,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Harden said he had a doctor monitoring his healht during this extended method acting exercise. When off his meds, it was hard to breathe, and even hard to make it to lunch on set. \u201cThey treated me like royalty. I got a ride everywhere. They came to my dressing room and always take me to lunch,\u201d he said. \u201cI said \u2018I\u2019m not that lazy, that I can\u2019t go to lunch or something, but you know, I\u2019m not feeling great.\u2019 And they said \u2018What? You\u2019re not feeling great?\u2019 And then I see a team of people around me taking me to the nurse. So I had to keep it quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n
But once Louie had died, the hardest part was yet to come: staying still while people eulogized him. \u201cI was actually crying but no one could see it because I was dead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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