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Tag: The good doctor

  • Freddie Highmore on ‘The Good Doctor’: None of us anticipated its global popularity

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Actor Freddie Highmore believes one of the reasons the medical drama “The Good Doctor” became a worldwide hit is because the audience could connect with the optimism of his character Dr Shaun Murphy.

    The Sony Pictures Television and ABC Signature show has brought global spotlight to the actor, who earlier headlined the acclaimed psychological horror drama series “Bates Motel” and Tim Burton-directed 2005 movie “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.

    “The Good Doctor” features Highmore as Murphy, a young autistic surgeon with savant syndrome, a rare condition in which a person with significant mental disabilities demonstrates certain abilities far in excess of average.

    The 29-year-old actor said the show’s successful five-season run has been nothing short of magical.

    “I feel lucky that people have connected with the show and with the character that I play.

    I don’t think any of us could have anticipated the reaction, the popularity that it would have found across the world.

    “And it’s hard to say exactly why, but perhaps it’s that optimism, the positivity that Shaun has, the fact that he wants to believe that people are inherently good at that.

    That means people have been drawn to him and drawn to his journey and want him to succeed,” Highmore told PTI in a Zoom interview.

    The latest season of the show, currently streaming on SonyLIV, sees Shaun Murphy making his way through more uncertainties as a major change comes to St. Bonaventure Hospital.

    The rest of the team navigates the complexities of their own changing relationships as they continue to deal with life and death situations.

    Highmore said the show’s success can’t be traced back to any “formula”.

    The London-born actor, whose movie credits includes “Finding Neverland”, “August Rush”, and “The Spiderwick Chronicles”, feels the authenticity in the narrative of “The Good Doctor” is one of the key factor for the series’ popularity.

    “We’ve tried to portray Shaun and his journey as authentically and in the most nuanced way that we could.

    It (the success) just means that people have connected with that.

    The show has committed to that point of view on the world and portraying things in a certain way through the lens of Shaun.

    “And we have stuck to that. We are proud of. the show and the issues that it has engaged with and the representation, especially with regard to autism, that it afforded,” he added.

    Highmore, who also serves as an executive producer on the series and has directed a few episodes, said playing the hopeful central character for five seasons has led to the good traits of Murphy being reflected on him.

    “I think as a Brit, we’re probably quite cynical people who have had a lot to be cynical about recently as well.

    Shaun’s optimism and lack of cynicism is something that hopefully has rubbed off on me a little bit.

    “He certainly is a happier, more hopeful character to get to play every day than Norman Bates.

    So a little bit of Shaun has rubbed off on me, and that’s probably a good thing,” he added.

    The series also stars Hill Harper, Richard Schiff, Christina Chang, Fiona Gubelmann, Will Yun Lee, Paige Spara, Noah Galvin, Bria Samone Henderson and Osvaldo Benavides.

    “House” creator David Shore serves as the executive producer and showrunner of the series.

  • To new beginnings, says Actress Christina Chang about her role in ‘The Good Doctor’

    Express News Service

    Actress Christina Chang reprises her role as Dr Audrey Lim, the chief of surgery and attending trauma surgeon, in the new season of the immensely popular medical drama The Good Doctor. The show that follows Dr Shaun Murphy—a brilliant and quirky doctor with autism and savant syndrome—has had a successful run of four seasons. In the new season, Dr Shaun and his long-time girlfriend Lea get engaged. But the bigger surprise is the reintroduction of Dr Mateo Rendon Osma played by Mexican actor Osvaldo Benavides who is cast opposite Christina. The actress tells us more in a Zoom interview. Excerpts:

    Your character has faced many challenges in the series. What does this season hold for her? 

    This show is incomplete without its complicated situations, right? The first episode called New Beginnings was the perfect way to start off our new season because quite a few characters do have new beginnings. So I think right now what we’re seeing is Lim (my character) is in a little bit of a lull. I think she’s getting a break from complicated things, but of course they’re later in the season. 

    Your performance was really powerful during the episodes that dealt with PTSD. What was your learning from this experience? 

    With PTSD, there are different ways it can show up. What I learned was there are varying levels of it as well. What we decided for Lim to portray was someone who is functioning with it, but having a hard time. She was sort of on the brink of not being able to handle that. So I have a lot of respect for the doctors, nurses, and people on the frontline who are dealing with COVID-19 right from when it started.  

    How has your character influenced you as a person? 

    I love my character. Some of her qualities are similar to mine and then, other parts of her are not. So it’s fun and challenging to play her and it becomes easier when you know the character well. This season is a new beginning for Lim. Last season was rough for her, and someone had pointed out to me that I didn’t smile on screen, and I hadn’t. So we’re seeing more smiles in season five.  

    The show is a rollercoaster of emotions. Did you feel emotionally  drained? 

    Yeah. I think last season was pretty draining for a couple of reasons. I think the pandemic was sort of a new situation that everybody had to deal with, right? And so we were all coming to work with personal fears, although we did a good job in terms of protocols and being stringent about safety measures. Then the storyline kept me in a place of tension in relation to the other characters on the show. I mean, of course, it wasn’t real tension, but it’s a strain when you’re spending most of your time on set, acting upset and angry. So that part of it also sort of became a little draining. It’s not always like this, it happened only during the last season.