\n\t\tometimes, the physician must heal thyself. Isa Briones, who plays Dr. Trinity Santos on HBO\u2019s hit medical drama The Pitt<\/a>, is calling from a Midtown Manhattan apartment, and she\u2019s not feeling great. She\u2019s currently starring in the Broadway<\/a> musical Just in Time, and the schedule is about as grueling as an ER shift.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m definitely feeling it right now,\u201d she says. \u201cI woke up this morning was like, \u2018I think I\u2019m getting sick.\u2019 So the panic is not awesome. But I still love it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tJust In Time is a jukebox about the life of singer songwriter Bobby Darin. Briones plays Connie Francis, the \u201cPretty Little Baby\u201d singer who topped radio play in the 1950s and had a brief relationship with Darin before his breakout success. (The role of Darin was originated by Jonathan Groff; Jeremy Jordan is set to take over on April 21.) But her best-known role is as the caustic young resident Santos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tIn Season One of The Pitt, Santos makes an immediate impact \u2014 and not for the best. On her first day, she accuses the well-liked and respected Dr. Frank Langon (Patrick Ball) of stealing drugs. She\u2019s guarded, gives her co-workers obnoxious nicknames, and is always ready with a snarky comment. She\u2019s also right about Langdon having a drug problem. Season Two, which concluded Thursday night, stretched this tension even further, showing Langdon\u2019s return to the ER after a leave of absence for rehab. But it\u2019s also a deeper exploration of Santos\u2019 simmering past traumas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile it\u2019s clear that Santos was created to be an unlikeable character, Briones says that an unintended byproduct of the show\u2019s success is people equating her with her character. She\u2019s also had to get used to occasional shouts of \u201cSantos!\u201d while she\u2019s walking down the street, getting groceries, or even, once, while she was performing in Just in Time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhen [The Pitt] started becoming big, I was like, \u2018Oh, God, I think I\u2019m that person with the hat and the sunglasses.\u2019 I used to laugh at that,\u201d Briones says, holding her hands up to mime giant, face-covering shades. \u201cNow I kind of get it. It\u2019s so annoying. But I\u2019m figuring it out.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n
\n\tRolling Stone spoke with Briones ahead of The Pitt finale to talk about misogyny in fan spaces, the real reason Santos and Langdon hate each other, and why all of the Pitt\u2019s doctors need a good therapist.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat appealed to you about Santos at first? And how has your understanding of her changed or grown over two seasons?
I\u2019ve played the girl next door before and there\u2019s a time and a place for that type of character. But I think there\u2019s something really awesome about not being palatable, especially as a woman. This character is not for everyone. Sometimes in my everyday walking through the world, I\u2019m like, \u201cSorry\u2026 Little old me, I\u2019ll make myself smaller.\u201d And Santos simply will not do that. She\u2019s like, \u201cI am going to take up space.\u201d And I think that\u2019s a really refreshing character to see and powerful to play. It\u2019s also a reminder for me to stop apologizing for existing. My god.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThere\u2019s a not small subset of diehard Pitt fans who hate Santos. What do you think drives that?\u00a0
So much of the discourse is very Langdon-versus-Santos, and that\u2019s just misogyny. [Those two characters] are actually kind of the same, but one of them is a woman. When women are going through something that is not explicitly said all the time, a lot of people are like, \u201cI don\u2019t like her.\u201d Why is it when, when a woman has a lot going on, people are like, \u201cOooh, scary\u201d? A lot of people don\u2019t have the patience for that with a woman. But I also get that Santos comes in hot. When you first meet her, she\u2019s got a lot of these prickly walls up. She has a \u201cdoesn\u2019t play nice at recess\u201d vibe. But also, I think it\u2019s very clear to see in the nuance of her character there\u2019s something going on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n
\n\tTalk to me a little bit about how Santos\u2019 own experience with addiction and self-harm colors her relationship with Langdon.
You hate in other people what you hate about yourself. They\u2019ve only spent a day together and they hate each other. But in that one day, he embodied so many of the things that she does not like about herself. Even though she likes to put up this facade that she doesn\u2019t care if people like her, she\u2019s working really hard to be there. And when someone completely invalidates that, that can be really triggering. Even if it\u2019s not fully conscious, she knows that they are connected and that\u2019s why they\u2019re so reactive to each other. Langdon coming back and fighting to be reformed, taking the steps to recover, is a reminder that she is maybe not doing everything she can to recover herself. And that just brings up a lot of guilt and shame for her that she doesn\u2019t want to feel. So then she just screams at him. She just needs therapy. Actually the whole crew does.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tHow does her relationship with Whitaker work so well, with such disparate personalities?\u00a0
[Whitaker] is just himself. He\u2019s always trying to help everyone. He is trying to be her friend and trying to be there for her. She wants it, but she also doesn\u2019t know how to [accept it]. She has lost people. She talks in Season One about how one of her best friends took her own life. Since she has a history of abuse by an authority figure, she thinks \u201canyone I let close to me is either gonna hurt me or leave me.\u201d The quality of their friendship is her being like, \u201cShut up and go away.\u201d But that\u2019s their love language together. So when she finds out that he\u2019s leaving, I think she\u2019s scared to be alone. Now, everything would all be solved if they just talked. That\u2019s the moral of The Pitt. Everything would be solved if everyone had a real conversation and went to therapy. But that\u2019s not happening. So it triggered her to think, \u201cOh, so you\u2019re leaving me. I was right. Everyone\u2019s gonna leave me. I\u2019m just gonna put my walls up. Fuck you and bye.\u201d [Santos] just wants a friend and doesn\u2019t know how to approach it. You know when you have a puppy and they\u2019ve got to be socialized with other puppies in a little pen? She needs to be put with all the other puppies and just forced to play.<\/p>\n
\n\tWith such a strong ensemble cast, how have your on-set relationships added to the final product?\u00a0
Everyone on this show is just so fucking talented and has crafted their character in such a specific way. It\u2019s been really awesome to watch the difference in how everyone operates.\u00a0 Everyone has their own routine and style and how they approach things, and that\u2019s been such a cool learning experience. Patrick and I have become real friends, and it\u2019s very funny, because obviously our characters are so not that. But I think that\u2019s what makes our scenes so special. There\u2019s a real trust there. And Supriya [Ganesh] and Shabana [Azeez, who play Dr. Mohan and Dr. Javadi, respectively] are my girls on set. It really bums me out that they didn\u2019t put us in any scenes together [this season]. I think they knew, they knew we\u2019d be too powerful if we were all together. They\u2019re trying to keep women apart! They knew we\u2019d be inseparable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tHow do you navigate being on a show with such a robust online fandom \u2014\u00a0especially when that focus means a lot of people equate you with your character?\u00a0
That\u2019s so classic. That always happens. A lot of people have a hard time separating the actor from the character. It\u2019s definitely gotten to an extreme degree for me. I\u2019ve never experienced this before, because I haven\u2019t been on a show this massive before. And it can be troubling. We shoot the show for most of the year, and get locked into that. Then to go out into the world and people are like, \u201cI hate you. You\u2019re a bitch\u201d \u2014 that\u2019s crazy. For someone who already struggles with mental health issues and with dissociating and thinking \u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s real anymore,\u201d it\u2019s hard and a little strange. It\u2019s like \u201cAm I not a real person?\u201d But I also understand that is the one way that people are connecting with me and what they see onscreen. They\u2019ve connected with this character in some way. And that\u2019s very special.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tWith that in mind, have you had to change any personal habits or social media intake to adjust?\u00a0
It\u2019s a very out-of-body experience a lot of the time. I\u2019m currently trying to adjust my social media habits. When I did Star Trek [Picard], there were so many awful things said about me online. Sci-fi fandom can be a very scary place sometimes, and a lot of older men have a lot of gross things to say about you when you\u2019re a 20-year-old girl. So I had to get off of it. And then with The Pitt, I was so curious. And I was proud of myself at first, because it wasn\u2019t hurting me. I was like, \u201cPeople hate my character and that\u2019s hilarious because it means I\u2019m playing her correctly.\u201d But then, at a certain point, it started to shift. Now the misogyny has become kind of impossible not to see. And that just makes me sad. So I\u2019ve been thinking maybe I need to take a break.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tSeveral family members of Pitt actors have had cameos. Any plans for one of your family members to make an appearance in Season Three?\u00a0
Well, I would love to. I love for my dad [who\u2019s also an actor] to be employed. That would be awesome. I try to get my family employed as much as possible. But, we\u2019ve joked about how if my family were on the show, they\u2019d have to be [playing] my family, because we look so alike. If my brother were on the show and he wasn\u2019t supposed to be my brother, people would be like, \u201cWhat\u2019s happening here?\u201d Because we look like twins, even though we\u2019re not the same age. But hey, maybe next season. I\u2019ll be campaigning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat nickname do you think Santos would give you?\u00a0
Sad-ass bitch? No\u2026.. [laughing]. That\u2019s hard. I immediately thought of something so mean. This is why I need to get off social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tMost people don\u2019t take breaks by jumping into rigorous Broadway schedules. Why say yes to Just in Time?\u00a0
It\u2019s so fun. I\u2019m really having the time of my life. Theater makes me so happy, and I love getting to take a break from TV and from The Pitt to do something that feels so different and so joyous. I love theater people. It\u2019s just my favorite place to be. I was raised around theater people my whole life and it\u2019s the best, best community in the world.<\/p>\n
\n\tHow do you go from making a fictional character your own to having to portray such a famous musical figure \u2014 and voice \u2014 like Connie Francis?\u00a0
I guess I can\u2019t spoil the show for people who haven\u2019t seen it, since it\u2019s [based on] real life. [Connie\u2019s] in a very brief portion of the show, but you see years of growth. From her being a young kid trying to make music to being the superstar of the time, that all happens within 20 minutes. What I latched onto most was that journey\u2019s suddenness. In the public eye, she\u2019s on top of the world, but she\u2019s going through something so sad in her personal life. She can\u2019t be with Bobby and she has a father who is semi-abusive and saying, \u201cYou\u2019re gonna work your ass off.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWe see Connie performing through the sadness when she sings \u201cWho\u2019s Sorry Now.\u201d Her father shot a gun in the dressing room right before she was going to perform. It\u2019s this really traumatic moment and then she has to put on a smile and perform. That\u2019s something I can connect to right now in this weird time. I have amazing success I\u2019d never even dreamt of. And also, I\u2019m going through my own stuff. But I\u2019m gonna perform through the sadness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-rollingstone-2022\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWarrick Page\/MAX<\/p>\n
\n\tHave you seen the Pitt Season Two finale?
No, they don\u2019t show us anything. On Thursday [when it premieres], I\u2019ll be performing. When I stage-door on Thursdays, the audience will be like, \u201cWe\u2019re about to go and watch The Pitt right now. Double feature!\u201d I don\u2019t know [when] I\u2019ll watch it. It\u2019s nice being in an eightshow-a-week grind, because I don\u2019t have time to think about how the [TV] show\u2019s being received. I\u2019m doing my own thing right now. I\u2019ll think about The Pitt when I have to go back in a month.<\/p>\n
\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n
\n\tWe get a small, fun scene at the end where Santos and Mel [King, another doctor] follow through on a plan to shake off their shift with a round of karaoke. What else do you think would be on her setlist?\u00a0
I\u2019m Filipino. Santos is Filipino. She\u2019s got to have some classic Filipino karaoke songs in there. Maybe she does \u201cMy Way\u201d [by Frank Sinatra]. But I often do Whitney Houston. It\u2019s my crowd pleaser. I also love, if I\u2019ve got my girls around me, to do \u201cWannabe\u201d [by the Spice Girls] or [Fergie\u2019s] \u201cFergalicious.\u201d Then a lot of Gaga. \u201cMarry the Night,\u201d \u201cJudas,\u201d I\u2019ve got a whole set.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tIs there anything you can share about Season Three?\u00a0
I wish I could tell you something. They don\u2019t tell us shit. We don\u2019t know until we are on set. Drives me crazy. But I would like to see some growth. I would like to see Santos give in to some friendships a little more. I want to see some interesting growth with her and Langdon. Maybe they\u2019re not at each other\u2019s throats anymore. There\u2019s this moment in [Episode 14] where he laughs at my joke behind me. Clearly, they should be friends. They should be at the club.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Styling by Kat Typaldos. Hair by Jerrod Roberts. Makeup by Hinako. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"S ometimes, the physician must heal thyself. Isa Briones, who plays Dr. Trinity Santos on HBO\u2019s hit medical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49557,321,93,61,60,29910],"class_list":{"0":"post-406780","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-broadway","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-the-pitt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}