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TL;DR:

  • Steve Carell was shackled like Alan Strauss while filming The Patient.
  • The Patient star described the experience as “instantly claustrophobic.”
  • Carell eventually got used to the manacle, admitting it became “comfortable.”
Steve Carell at the premiere for 'The Patient.' He's wearing a black suit and grey striped tie, and he's standing in front of a gold and brown wall that says 'Hulu' on it.
Steve Carell | Araya Doheny/FilmMagic

Steve Carell is well known for his comedic roles in shows like The Office and Space Force, but The Patient is showing a different side of the actor. Streaming on Hulu, the FX drama sees Carell playing psychotherapist Alan Strauss, who finds himself kidnapped by one of his patients. Sam Fortner (Domhnall Gleeson) chains the doctor up in his basement, where he demands help for his violent urges. And Carell actually wore shackles while filming the series, an experience he admitted was “claustrophobic” at first.

Steve Carell actually wore shackles while filming ‘The Patient’

That’s right, Steve Carell was actually shacked while filming The Patient. The actor revealed as much during an interview with The New York Times, which confirms that a prop master placed a locked manacle around his ankle each day before filming.

Carell’s character, Alan Strauss, is chained to a bed in his captor’s basement for the majority of The Patient. So, it’s not completely surprising the actor would have to do this — and it no doubt made the experience more authentic.

Still, it’s not every day that an actor finds themselves physically restrained behind the scenes of a project. And according to Carell, the experience was initially pretty jarring.

Steve Carell called the experience ‘instantly claustrophobic’

During his interview with the NYT, Steve Carell described his experience wearing a manacle on the set of The Patient. As expected, the prop kept him firmly rooted in place — and made for a slightly suffocating experience at the beginning.

“The physicality of it was more than I expected,” Carell admitted. “It was instantly claustrophobic to know that I had a span of about 10 feet to move for about three months of work. You couldn’t move too fast or you’d cut your ankle — I found that out pretty quickly.”

It’s certainly not an ideal situation, and it’s definitely one that takes some getting used to. Fortunately, it seems Carell eventually grew accustomed to the prop.

‘The Patient’ star eventually got ‘comfortable’ with the prop

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Although Steve Carell’s initial experience with his manacle felt “claustrophobic,” The Patient star eventually got used to having it on. Speaking with USA Today, he even admitted that he became “weirdly more comfortable with it on.”

“Even when I was off camera, I put it on because it just felt different,” Carell added.

Alan Strauss doesn’t feel the same, as Carell’s character has spent the first half of The Patient desperately looking for a way to escape. He’d no doubt welcome a prop master to unlock his chains. Unfortunately, he may need to count on Sam to let him go. We’ll have to keep watching to see if he ever does.

New episodes of The Patient debut every Tuesday on Hulu.

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