Scott Speedman isn’t a real doctor, but the pressure is still on to make sure he portrays the medical field right in Grey’s Anatomy.
In the latest installment of Variety’s Actors on Actors series, Speedman revealed to fellow Felicity alum Keri Russell the sacrifice he had to make to better absorb his lines for the medical drama.
The longtime friends chatted about the difficulties of understanding jargon for certain roles, with Speedman discussing the medical terms in Grey’s and Russell talking about learning geopolitical speak for The Diplomat.
Specifically, Speedman said he had to quit coffee so that he could memorize medical jargon more easily. “For me, if I get too caffeinated it’s harder for me to drop into dialogue,” Speedman told a bewildered Russell.
Russell pressed Speedman to elaborate on his process, but he shared that the trick is simply “repetition” and “muscling through it.”
Speedman continued, “What I learned on that show, which is good for me doing, is the coordination of dialogue with all the props and the movement.”
He cheekily referenced the outlandishness of some of the plots on Grey’s, saying, “You could blow up the hospital and people survive.” Still, he maintained that the show is serious about its portrayal of medical procedures and that an on-set nurse ensures that all of those scenes are done accurately.
Speedman has talked about the rigorous checks on the medical drama before. He previously shared on The Spotlight with Jessica Shaw that the nurse is hands-on when it comes to surgery scenes.
“She comes over and, like, hits your hand and is like, ‘You’re not doing that right,'” he said. “Ya know, you’re trying to do dialogue, which you have no idea what you’re talking about, and you’re trying to do it with a serious face.”
Speedman, who plays Dr. Nick Marsh on Grey’s, just wrapped up season 21 of the drama in May.
