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Mild spoilers for past episodes of 9-1-1
In explaining acting exercises taught by the seminal teacher Lee Strasberg, director Elia Kazan once described the classic sense memory technique of recalling circumstances from an event in one’s life — the physical details surrounding a particular situation — as a way of accessing emotions still lodged within ourselves. He said, “It is the same as when we accidentally hear a tune we may have heard at a stormy or an ecstatic moment in our lives, and find, to our surprise, that we are reexperiencing the emotion we felt then… The actor becomes aware that he has emotional resources; that he can awaken, by this self-stimulation, a great number of very intense feelings; and that these emotions are the materials of his art.”
Or, you could watch a slew of pimple popping videos to snap into the right headspace, as Jennifer Love Hewitt says she does to get in character as Maddie Buckley on 9-1-1. Like the great Stanislavski always said, an actor prepores.
Jennifer Love Hewitt will go to great lengths to, uh, extract some real emotion.
Before filming her more emotional scenes, “I like to watch pimple popping videos,” the 9-1-1 star admitted to E! News in an exclusive interview, “because it’s really enjoyable A, and B, it doesn’t mess with my headspace. It doesn’t take me out of the drama headspace and into a happier headspace.”
In other words, she doesn’t want images of her and husband Brian Hallisay’s three kids — Autumn, 10, Atticus, 8, and Aidan, 2 — to pop into her mind.
“I find it hard to look at pictures of my kids while I’m going crying scenes because then I get really happy,” the 45-year-old explained. “So, I tend to watch pimple popping videos.”
But that’s not the only way she prepares. “I listen to a lot of music to kind of get in the mood,” Jennifer noted. “And then I just try to keep it light for myself in between.”
For the Heartbreakers actress, being in a darker headspace for a scene never lasts long — and for that she credits her three little ones.
“Honestly, the drama stuff has gotten easier for me since having kids,” she shared, “because I have such a better balance now of going to work and kind of being dramatic and doing all that and then the second that I walk in the door, it’s like you just have to be silly. So, it lightens my mood up right away.”
But these days, Jennifer has filmed fewer devastating moments on 9-1-1. After all, her character on the hit ABC (formerly Fox) series Maddie Buckley — whose storyline has seen her overcome an abusive relationship and experience postpartum depression — recently tied the knot with longtime love Howard “Chimney” Han (Kenneth Choi).
And while there was plenty of drama leading up to the nuptials — the groom goes missing and is diagnosed with a dangerous case of brain inflammation leading to a hospital wedding — Jennifer was grateful for the opportunity to finally shed happy tears.
“I think that Maddie and Chimney getting married is where the audience has always wanted it to go,” she noted, adding that it’s a sentiment she and Kenneth share. “I think they deserve their happy ending and Lord knows they’ve been through it. So, it was nice to have that, and it was nice to spend a season where, for all intents and purposes, Maddie was pretty happy and not struggling with a major thing.”
Damn, I love a good hospital wedding where one or both parties are of questionable sound mind during the ceremony. It’s taking me right back to season two of Grace and Frankie! As for the Pimple Popping Observation Method of Acting™, here’s the thing: Jennifer Love Hewitt has been acting since she was a kid. She has at least three decades of experience behind her. By now, her instrument is well-tuned. She knows what she needs to do to hit the notes for a scene. One thing I clearly remember from my acting class days (which, incidentally, were at the Lee Strasberg Institute, look at me being all cock of the walk!), was the reminder from teachers that the training was for when you needed help. It’s support for moments where you’re figuring out a way in, or like the practice scales for a pianist. But if things are clicking naturally? Don’t futz with it! Which, of course, is the same advice I got for dealing with my pimples. Anyway, you do you, JLH! But also don’t be surprised when the show memes pop up of dramatic scenes captioned with pimple-related thought bubbles.
I love this show. I am bummed that she felt the need to tweak her face this season. I don’t like the new lips.