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'I Snapped Out Of It': Alicia Witt Reveals How Al Pacino Helped Her Deal With 'Panic Attack’ On 88 Minutes Set
As her new film Longlegs hits the theatres, Witt chats with PEOPLE magazine and recalls the times when co-star Al Pacino helped her snap out of the attack, and the lessons she learned from him.
When actress Alicia Witt revealed that she would let the cameras record her real reaction to a dead body on the sets of the 2008 thriller flick 88 Minutes, she did not expect what happened next. It was the star’s first time seeing a corpse, and even though it was fake, Witt was sent into a panic attack.
As her new film Longlegs hits the theatres, Witt chats with PEOPLE magazine and recalls the times when co-star Al Pacino helped her snap out of the attack, and the lessons she learned from one of the most celebrated actors of all time.
Alicia Witt details experience with Al Pacino on 88 Minutes
Witt admits that she “wanted to see stuff on camera for the first time and get my real reaction to it,” all until the famed incident from 88 Minutes, wherein she starred as Al Pacino’s character’s teaching assistant. Witt’s Kim Cummings came across a corpse for the first time, therefore the Orange is The New Black alum thought it best to let the cameras capture her real reaction. But a mere sight triggered an adverse reaction.
“I was so psyched up that when I saw that dead body, my whole being went into a panic attack,” explains Witt, adding that the response was pretty much on character. She recalls how she was “sweating, shaking from head to toe, crying, hyperventilating [and] my eyes were about to black out,” as she and Al stood right next to each other while the cameras rolled.
The latter quickly took it to notice and reacted in character as a Forensic psychiatrist. “Al gave me just a couple of slaps on the cheek,” Witt detailed to PEOPLE, “in exactly the way you would in a moment like that if your partner in a scene on the job like this was incapable of functioning.” This did work like a charm and the two went along with the scene.
Alice Witt's Kim Cunningham in 88 Minutes
Witt realized what she did was perhaps “amazing” but wrong when the film's plot was put into consideration. Al Pacino’s charismatic Dr. Jack Gramm receives a death threat in the film, and the events keep the viewers on the edge of their seats. But per Witt, “You don't want to be watching Kim have a panic attack,” instead everyone is hooked on who is behind the threat.
Additionally, the scene was indisputably emotionally taxing for the star, and Al, as a mentor, offered some wisdom. “You don't have to do all that to yourself,” he informed her.
While the two only starred together in one film, Witt acknowledges the impact that her senior co-star has made on her on-screen career, calling this advice worth more than a decade of lessons in acing school.
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