The Hollywood Reporter gets a behind-the-scenes look at the set of 'Grey's Anatomy' led by James Pickens Jr. who plays Dr. Richard Webber on the show. Plus, we chat with cast members Chandra Wilson, Alexis Floyd, Niko Terho, Midori Francis, Harry Shum Jr., Adelaide Kane, Anthony Hill and Jake Borelli.
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00:00Hey Hollywood Reporter, Hey Hollywood Reporter, Hollywood Reporter, welcome to the set.
00:07We're the cast of Grey's Anatomy and we're here on set.
00:10Go on in.
00:27This is the breeze bay.
00:28This is also known as our ambulance bay.
00:32This is where our ambulances will come up with emergent patients and then we will park
00:37them on into the trauma center.
00:50We shoot here in the breeze way at least once an episode.
00:54We are usually a nine day episode, sometimes a ten.
00:59It's pretty busy around here.
01:00The work and the care and the commitment is so vivid and remarkable.
01:06We step on set and it's reflected in the people and in the atmosphere.
01:10After twenty seasons you better be friendly with everyone.
01:13I've been with Grey's Anatomy since the very, very beginning.
01:18I have five rules, memorize them.
01:20Rule number one, don't bother sucking up.
01:22I already hate you, that's not going to change.
01:24I am still to this day in shock and awe and I still get the same butterflies clearly.
01:35We're going to walk and we're going to head into the trauma unit.
01:40Into the emergency room here or the trauma unit as we like to call it.
01:46Oh, we got a little special person that I think you all know.
01:50What's up, Hollywood Reporter, I play Dr. Winston Ndugu here on Grey's Anatomy.
01:59This is where we'll transport people from, our patients from our ambulance bay and we'll
02:04bring them into here.
02:05These are the emergent patients, folks who, you know, you're looking at traumatic injuries
02:10usually.
02:11When I got here I realized how much people just will chit-chat in between takes to the
02:16point where I wasn't really that used to it so I was like, oh, we're talking about the
02:20weekend and then we get right back into like getting into a body or something.
02:24Dr. Weber, you caught the bleed, why don't you do the honors?
02:27No, go ahead, you're already there.
02:30We're trying to get out of character as soon as possible.
02:33You were the first person I met besides Kelly McCreary and you immediately came over to
02:39me asking where I'm from.
02:40We talked about music and jazz from Kansas City.
02:43I felt welcomed immediately and that's the whole cast all the way across the board.
02:46Chandra Wilson who plays Bailey, who were the two longest running cast members now,
02:51she's really good at that, you know, of welcoming and kind of laying out the landscape so the
02:58new performers or actors feel comfortable.
03:01When I got cast, it was crazy because I had seen this as a child and then meeting Chandra Wilson.
03:08I don't always get starstruck but it was, it still sometimes is because Bailey is so
03:13real to me from those formative memories of watching this show that it was like, it was
03:18hard to think of you as not Bailey.
03:22And then I start talking.
03:23Yeah.
03:24So it was a pinch me moment.
03:26It was like, holy crap, this is Dr. Bailey and I'm now in a show with her.
03:30That's very cool.
03:31Yeah.
03:32I wasn't allowed to watch the show growing up.
03:34Aww.
03:35Me neither.
03:36Where you from?
03:37Yeah.
03:38My mom's from...
03:39Mmhmm.
03:40No, my mom said the same thing.
03:41I was allowed to watch this in middle school.
03:43At some point, either the day of the table read or maybe the day before we get a chance
03:50to take a look at the script.
03:51It's exciting.
03:52Yeah.
03:53Like every time you walk in there, it's just like this energy.
03:55It just feels a little bit like, you know, a table read like theater and a little bit
03:58like you're just getting to perform and figuring out what the characters are saying and what
04:02it means.
04:03Sometimes you don't quite know yet and then you're figuring out through the reading.
04:06I would say it's really cool that you get like live reactions to things that are happening
04:11because you don't get that on set because everybody's like quiet.
04:15So it's cool to be in the room and get a laugh when you do something that's funny or when
04:21or cry when you see something that's like touching.
04:23Because that's the whole point is for the writers to see what's landing.
04:26Yeah.
04:28It was hyperkalemia.
04:29We couldn't control the arrhythmias.
04:30Pressure's dropping off a cleft.
04:31Give me an intubation tray.
04:32I know from an actor standpoint, it feels really cool because everybody is really invested
04:38in the integrity of what's said and, you know, we can track things and say, ah, right.
04:45But in season so-and-so episode so-and-so, I said this and I just want to make sure that
04:50tracks.
04:51Oh, yeah, you're right.
04:52You're right.
04:53So so that part is really cool.
04:55But again, all these seasons in every script I open up, I'm learning something else about
05:01Miranda Bailey.
05:03And you can see right here we have what we call our makeup station set up on on the on
05:08the stage, on stage.
05:10So we come and do our touch ups right before we get ready to shoot wherever we're shooting
05:14the scenes, usually going to be on a stage next to us or on a set next to us.
05:18And we'll have these kind of things set up.
05:19The lights will pop on and our makeup artist will come over here and we'll do the touches,
05:24the touch ups, which is usually called the last looks, the last looks right here.
05:27We'll look in the mirror, make sure we're looking right.
05:29And then we'll walk right out of here onto the set.
05:31All right.
05:32Let's make our way over to the next part of the hospital.
05:35This is what we call the nurse's station.
05:38And this is where we'll pick up what our daily schedule or interns will get their rounds
05:45for the day.
05:46This is where they'll pick them up.
05:47So actually, sometimes when they'll hand you stuff here, the things will actually say stuff
05:52on them.
05:53Sometimes it'll be to make you laugh.
05:54And sometimes it will just be random stuff like this, which I don't know if I should
05:57read out loud.
05:58Somebody wrote this on here, which is a little morbid, but kind of a testament to Grace Sloan
06:05probably because it happens a lot here.
06:07We need to move fast.
06:08All right, we're moving the clavicle.
06:09I found the finger.
06:10ORs can take a minute or five.
06:13They can be, you know, depending on what you're showcasing.
06:18If it's an OR where it's really just about the conversation, those are fine.
06:24But if it's, oh, the crazy field and blood and transplant and baby and all of that, then
06:32those can take a little bit longer.
06:34What's the sewing with the tools and the gloves and the fake blood and the KY to keep everything
06:39liquid so it doesn't dry up?
06:41We like to show everything, right?
06:44And so that we have everything there to put together.
06:47But they can be a little time consuming.
06:49And strut around in straight Richard's tie while the rest of us do the work.
06:53No, I do the work.
06:55One of the things that keeps Miranda Bailey alive for me is that I do not claim ownership
07:00of her whatsoever.
07:02So I never use words like she would never do that or she would never say that.
07:07I haven't the slightest idea what she's going to do or say.
07:09I think my job is to take the thing that's given to me and then figure it out because
07:14people do things out of character all the time.
07:17And it's about, OK, so why are they acting that way?
07:23And it's in those moments where I'll get a comment from, you know, somebody watching
07:29the show and saying, when you said such a, such a, such a, that really resonated with
07:34me.
07:35And I'll go, oh, OK, very good, because, you know, that's that's what the job is.
07:40Right.
07:41Lift the thing off the page and give it to you instead of, you know, trying to whittle
07:45it down.
07:46I've been really, really blessed to play this character for as long as I have.
07:50The seven years you spent here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your
07:54life.
07:55I've watched this character evolve over 21 seasons and, you know, his ups and downs.
08:00I'd like to think of him as being incredibly human through all of this.
08:04We've watched and taken this journey with him when he's he's been victorious and other
08:08times when he's been in valleys and had to kind of climb himself back up.
08:13You know, he's lost two wives.
08:16You know, he's had a brain aneurysm.
08:18He's been electrocuted.
08:19You know, he had a whole knee thing.
08:21And through it all, he's he's he's survived and managed to mentor these young interns
08:27and, you know, dispense wisdom every once in a while and navigate this this this incredible
08:35kind of juggernaut called Grace Long Memorial.
08:38Get the hell out of my hospital.
08:40Sleep on it.
08:43We'll talk more tomorrow.
08:46You know what?
08:47Sometimes they have old stuff from files.
08:50Last week I was shooting something and I found something that said Derek Shepard on it.
08:54And it was like an old Derek Shepard, like, McDreamy note from something.
08:59Oh, really?
09:00Yeah, like written stuff in there.
09:01And I was like, that was a cool little historic little artifact that I found here.
09:05It was pretty cool.
09:17I bet you wish you'd taken the stairs right about now.
09:22Magic seems to happen in these elevators, you know, actually, the the doors are manually
09:29operated.
09:30There's a group on the other side and it works by a pulley system.
09:34Sometimes it works pretty good and then sometimes it doesn't.
09:38So you kind of have to go with the flow of it.
09:41You have dialogue within this this elevator.
09:44And the next thing you know, it comes open.
09:47Sometimes you got to remember, you know, you got buttons here.
09:49Okay.
09:50Yeah.
09:51You got to push the button.
09:52Well, the button may be here, but we want you to play it like it pushes up here and
09:55stuff.
09:56So that kind of, it's called elevator acting.
09:59I see Seattle skylines and just like paintings all over the place.
10:03And I'm always wondering where we got them from, who the photographer was, who the painter
10:08was.
10:09And I know I keep forgetting to ask.
10:10And I want to ask, like, where do we get this stuff?
10:13All right, let's make our way down the hallway here.
10:15Do a lot of walking talks on this corridor right here.
10:19I like the walking talks.
10:20I like walking through the hospital.
10:22I love that, like, I might mess up and screw everything up right now.
10:27Yeah, the pressure.
10:28And then like if someone, you have to really be in sync with each other.
10:32We're passing the conference room area here where a lot of meetings take place and a lot
10:38of the crux of a scene sometimes will play out within the confines of the conference
10:46room.
10:47And then we're back here now at this.
10:49This is probably the most iconic of the nurses stations on the show here.
10:54A lot of stuff takes place here.
10:56When I first got to the show, this is the first thing that I actually recognized from
10:59the show.
11:00It's such an iconic staircase.
11:01And I was like, oh, I kind of had like a little moment when I first saw it and I kind of wanted
11:05to walk up it.
11:06Oh, hold on.
11:07I recognize this guy over here.
11:08Come on down.
11:09Come on down here, man.
11:10This is an iconic staircase.
11:11It is, right?
11:12I love it.
11:13That's a classic Levi Schmidt moment.
11:14Hey, you two.
11:15Congratulations on making it to work through the traffic.
11:16I'm a huge fan of the show too.
11:17I've seen every episode twice.
11:18So.
11:19Wait, what?
11:20I'm bound to watch more.
11:21I know.
11:22You didn't know this?
11:23I didn't know this.
11:24I'm shocked by it.
11:25I'm shocked by it.
11:26I'm shocked by it.
11:27I'm shocked by it.
11:28I'm shocked by it.
11:29I'm shocked by it.
11:30I'm shocked by it.
11:31I'm shocked by it.
11:32I'm shocked by it.
11:33I'm shocked by it.
11:34I'm shocked by it.
11:35I'm shocked by it.
11:36I'm shocked by it.
11:37I'm shocked by it.
11:38I'm shocked by it.
11:39I'm shocked by it.
11:40I'm shocked by it.
11:41I'm shocked by it.
11:42I'm shocked by it.
11:43I'm shocked by it.
11:44I'm shocked by it.
11:45I'm shocked by it.
11:46I'm shocked by it.
11:47I'm shocked by it.
11:48I'm shocked by it.
11:49I'm shocked by it.
11:50I'm shocked by it.
11:51I'm shocked by it.
11:52I'm shocked by it.
11:53I'm shocked by it.
11:54I'm shocked by it.
11:55I'm shocked by it.
11:56I'm shocked by it.
11:57I'm shocked by it.
11:58I'm shocked by it.
11:59I'm shocked by it.
12:00I'm shocked by it.
12:01I was actually shocked pretty recently.
12:02I don't know if I can talk about it, but one of these episodes this season, I was pretty
12:07floored when we hit that last page.
12:10I was like, oh.
12:11There's a lot this season.
12:12That's pretty shocking.
12:13Whoa.
12:14I am so scared of accidentally giving away spoilers.
12:16I'ma leave it up to y'all's imagination.
12:19All I'ma say is my hair's different.
12:20Hey.
12:21I was at an event last weekend for a black cardiologist association.
12:28I gave out an honor.
12:29A young man came up to me who was in his second year of med school.
12:35He told me that I was the impetus for him to attend medical school.
12:42He has a sister who had just had her second heart transplant and had a kidney transplant.
12:49He said, your show got my sister through that.
12:53That's happened on more than one occasion where the impact of this show on our fans
13:00and stuff has gone beyond what we think it is.
13:04I get a lot of, I'm a doctor because of this show.
13:07Mostly people want to say thank you.
13:10They want to tell you exactly how long they've been watching and how many times they've started
13:14over from the beginning.
13:15It's like a badge of honor for a lot of people.
13:18People who watch the show have watched it since the very beginning, maybe have watched
13:22it multiple times.
13:25When I run into fans that talk about their love for the show, it is like a badge of honor
13:31because I've stuck to it from the very beginning through the hard times, the stuff that I didn't
13:36think I was going to be able to make it through because it would make me cry and be devastated,
13:40but I'm going to watch it again.
13:41I've re-caught up and brought a friend or even my daughter, my son.
13:47It's really cool.
13:48I was passing down generations as well.
13:50We have been inside of people's homes and a lot of times, sometimes if someone doesn't
13:56quite recognize me at first from the show, but they know that we've been face-to-face
14:02and it's, do you go to, and they'll name the church or do you have kids?
14:11Because they know we've been like this.
14:14And then when they figure it out, it's yeah, yeah, yeah.
14:21It's very cool.
14:22It's kind of the biggest compliment, right?
14:25For people to allow you to come in so they don't have to think about anything else but
14:30what they're seeing on TV.
14:31Just forget about the bills for a minute.
14:33Forget about, you know, everybody, everybody be quiet because they're watching their show.
14:36That's how I am with soaps.
14:38So it's, you know, so it always feels really great and it really is 100% just to say thank
14:45you.
14:47I started getting recognized pretty quickly once I started the show.
14:50It's amazing to me how many people watch this show.
14:53It opened my eyes to just how big the fan base is.
14:56And then I went overseas not expecting to be recognized and you get recognized everywhere
15:02you go.
15:03It's always somebody who loves the show and who watches the show.
15:06Literally everybody I knew back home in Barbados.
15:08I didn't realize how expansive the show was until I went back home for the first time
15:15and I literally, everywhere I went, someone was like, hey, thank you so much for being
15:24the first Caribbean person we've seen and can relate to on a big television series.
15:30And I was like, whoa, wow, this really reaches.
15:33And yeah, it was touching.
15:35A really big demographic that I was surprised by is TSA.
15:40Have you not heard about this?
15:41I swear.
15:42You're right.
15:43Every time I go through TSA, I get stopped every single time.
15:49Every time.
15:50So now we're going to head into the famous or infamous conference room.
15:57Which honestly, from the other side, doubles as trauma room two in the ER.
16:03So this is also where a lot of trauma happens.
16:06So the walls come up, right?
16:09So that's something they're probably interested in.
16:11The walls come up and change in almost every room.
16:14Almost.
16:15Which is very confusing.
16:16To accommodate camera angles and stuff.
16:17So they'll come up and yeah, you know, you get the shot that you need.
16:18Here's an alternate Levi Schmidt jacket.
16:19Hey there.
16:20Just because I spilled coffee on it.
16:21I did that this morning and they had to switch it out.
16:22The interesting fact, several years ago we had these stethoscopes were custom made for
16:39the early cast members.
16:41So they would have your name on it and everything and they're actually, you know, they work.
16:55This is so obvious, but I love me some Meredith and Derek.
16:59I knew her answer.
17:00I knew you loved them.
17:03That pilot episode, that scene with them.
17:06I mean, it is studied in classes.
17:08Truly, it is something special.
17:10That chemistry is kind of one of a kind.
17:13I still go back to, I mean, that is one of my favorites for sure.
17:18The Danny Duquette and Izzy.
17:20I liked that relationship so much.
17:22It was, I don't know, it just seemed so, yeah, she literally did everything.
17:28She ruined, she risked everything for him.
17:31So I thought it was pretty endearing.
17:32You have to do this for me or I'll never be able to forgive you.
17:37You're dying?
17:38No!
17:39For making me love you!
17:41You guys, this is a big elevator moment.
17:45The first gay male kiss on Grey's Anatomy between Levi Schmidt and Nico Kim, right in
17:50here.
17:51This is where it happened.
17:52Lots.
17:53Lots of dates.
17:54Lots of dates.
17:55You made sure of it.
17:56Actually, you know what's funny?
17:57I was talking about this the other day because sometimes peppermint gum makes me sneeze and
18:10Alex Landy were in there and he takes out a Listerine strip and puts it in his mouth
18:14and he's like, do you want one?
18:15And I'm like, yeah, yeah.
18:16Right as they're calling action, I put it in my mouth and I started sneezing and I have
18:19like this huge sneezing trip right before this big iconic kiss.
18:23God, of course you did.
18:25It's not necessarily a romantic relationship, but Meredith and Christina, that best friendship,
18:31you know, Christina's storming, she's sitting in Derek's lap making out with him and he's
18:37like, really?
18:38Yeah, yeah, yeah.
18:39Just give us like 10 minutes and kicks him out to be that best friend like that.
18:46I feel like I have a version of that with my really good friends.
18:49That's kind of the universal thing that happens with all the characters.
18:52Who's your person?
18:53Right?
18:54And that extends out to the fan base, you know, for them to say, who's, are you a this
18:58or that or that?
18:59You know, it's about figuring out who's your person.
19:05Congratulations, you all made it.
19:09You're here.
19:10I know this OR looks like a high tech fever dream, but it's all real.
19:16It's exciting when she's here and we know that she's here because like the plants go
19:19up the little tree and the bikes are there and parked.
19:22So we always know when she's when she's here, filming or doing voiceover ADR stuff, especially
19:31for those of us who don't work with her all that often, like a potted plants are out no
19:36bikes there.
19:37Ellen's footprint.
19:38I mean, yeah, we haven't had personally like I hasn't been a ton just because when we joined,
19:45she started phasing off as a series regular, but my interactions with her have been she's
19:50been really kind to me and given me some great advice.
19:53I feel like she's really taken time to find each of us and have a moment of like personal
19:59empowerment, which is huge because she doesn't have to.
20:03That's Yeah, like this is in a lot of ways her show and I think her sort of igniting
20:11our fire, especially as new kids on the block, just that that always feels really special
20:16to me and precious.
20:18And she gave us succulents when we joined.
20:20She showed us huge.
20:21I think I'm the only one who has there's a live.
20:24Also true.
20:25Yeah.
20:26Right.
20:27Sorry, Ellen.
20:28It was honestly a very nice first impression.
20:29It was like, it was like huge, gorgeous.
20:33Once you're in the Grey's family, that's just where you are alive, dead, divorced.
20:42You're just there.
20:43So it's coming home.
20:44That's what it feels like all the time.
20:46Right.
20:47It's like you come home and you fall in and you're like, oh, yes, I know this.
20:49And, you know, and you you you fall into that rhythm right away because you guys have already
20:57had a chance to establish a rhythm when Meredith Grey is around and, you know, Bailey's face
21:04is just as turnt as it's always been.
21:07And you know, you just fall right back into that rhythm.
21:10We hate each other.
21:11Yeah.
21:12These people are miserable.
21:13I see her coming, I walk over.
21:14I see her coming, I walk over.
21:17Everybody gets along great.
21:18You better.
21:19I mean, you're spending, you know, 12, 13, 14 hour days with somebody.
21:24You better be able to get along with them.
21:26But, you know, this is this cast has just been great.
21:30Everybody's so giving.
21:31Yeah.
21:32We were engaged in each other's lives outside of the sound stages, but that's pretty easy.
21:41There was no imagination for the show having a longevity or me being on the show with all
21:47this longevity.
21:48I did the first episode so that I could pay my credit card bills.
21:53That's what it was for.
21:55And first season was a midseason show.
21:58So, you know, we only did like 13 episodes, so that's not going to go.
22:03And then when we finally did get picked up, three years tops in makeup.
22:10They told us this will be a six or it'll be a six year.
22:14And I set my mind on six years.
22:17So every season, first day of the season, I say six years, six years.
22:21And I did do that when I on first day back.
22:24I said six years.
22:27I hope it keeps going another 20 years.
22:29I'm going to carry that six season with just six seasons.
22:33That's powerful.
22:34Six seasons.
22:35You never know.
22:38We don't have the slightest idea, which is look, we show up, we put all of our stuff.
22:46I think everybody's leaving everything right there, you know, on the floor.
22:50And until they tell us to reel it in and we go, hey, we want to thank you all for hanging
22:57out with us for a little while.
22:59Thank you so much.
23:00Yeah.
23:01And don't forget to tune in Thursday.
23:02All right.
23:0321st season.
23:04Yeah.
23:05There we go.
23:06See you later.
23:07All right, guys.
23:08Thanks for coming by.