Creator and Executive Producer Michael Grassi of BRILLIANT MINDS | ©2024 Squared Photography/NBCUniversal)

In the new series BRILLIANT MINDS, premiering on NBC Monday, September 23, with episodes then available for streaming on Peacock, Zachary Quinto stars as cranky but gifted New York neurosurgeon Oliver Wolf.

BRILLIANT MINDS creator/executive producer Michael Grassi explains that the show was originally entitled WOLF but, due to Quinto’s past genre work (HEROES, AMERICAN HORROR STORY, STAR TREK, NOS4A2), prospective viewers thought it might be a show about a werewolf. The name was briefly changed to DR. WOLF, but that just made people think “Werewolf doctor. That’s not us.”

Grassi has a lot of genre credits himself, having been a producer/writer on LOST GIRL and SUPERGIRL, the latter executive-produced by Greg Berlanti, another executive producer on BRILLIANT MINDS. Additionally, Grassi was an executive producer/writer on PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: ORIGINAL SIN, a story editor on the acclaimed SCHITT’S CREEK, and has also written and produced on other Berlanti shows including RIVERDALE and KATY KEENE.

During NBC’s portion of the summer Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour, Grassi sits down to talk about BRILLIANT MINDS.

Grassi reveals that both Wolf the character and the series BRILLIANT MINDS are based on the life, writings and work of Dr. Oliver Sacks. Sacks was previously played by Robin Williams in the film AWAKENINGS, which Grassi says was his introduction to the late neurosurgeon.

“I first and foremost was a huge fan of AWAKENINGS when I was younger, and I had dabbled in some of his materials, and then, in July of 2020, Warner Brothers and Berlanti called me. They said, ‘We have options on two of Oliver Sacks’s books, THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT and AN ANTHROPOLOGIST ON MARS, and we have his life rights. Do you want to create a show about Oliver Sacks, inspired by Oliver Sacks? Do you want to read the books and see?’

“Because it was during the pandemic, I actually had time to sit and read, and I didn’t stop reading the books. I just kept reading, and kept reading. I steeped myself in everything Oliver Sacks. And I fell in love. I fell in love with his writing, I fell in love with his work, and I fell in love with his life. I saw a tremendous opportunity to create a medical show about a doctor who was incredibly empathetic, stepped into his patients’ world, and here we are today.”

As for casting Quinto in the lead, Grassi relates, “I’ve been a Zachary Quinto fan for a very, very long time, and funnily enough, we were repped at the same agency. When I created the show and wrote the pilot, I always had Zach in mind. He was my dream casting. So, when we got picked up, we sent Zach the script and he responded, and he wanted to meet. We had a meeting with him, and it went really well, and that was the beginning of maybe the best collaboration I’ve ever had in my entire life. When you work in this business, you often have big dreams about what you want, and what will happen. And when Zach signed on, I really felt we were on track to make something really special.”

Asked what Quinto brings to Oliver Wolf, Grassi replies, “Zach has this quiet intelligence about him. And every role that I’ve ever seen him play, he’s always taken a big swing. And the real Oliver Sacks always took big swings as a doctor. I always felt that there was a perfect marriage of character work, inspired by an actor. I also love when actors step into roles that they’ve never played before. We’ve seen Zach do so much genre, and play villains, so it’s special to see him play this hero, who’s really empathetic, and also really complex. I think how new it feels is what I’m really excited for audiences to see.”

In BRILLIANT MINDS, Wolf’s best friend is his colleague, psychiatrist Dr. Carol Pierce, played by Tamberla Perry. “Dr. Carol Pierce and Wolf is one of my favorite relationships in the show,” Grassi enthuses. “They go back a long way. They were in medical school together, and their dynamic is really fun, and really playful.

I can’t wait for audiences to see how their friendship develops, but also, we’ll get to see the origins of their friendship, of when they were in college together, in flashbacks. So, we’re going to get a lot of context for why they are the way they are together today, which is exciting. We have younger actors to play young Wolf and Carol in the flashbacks.”

BRILLIANT MINDS – Season 1 Key Art | ©2024 Peacock

Teddy Sears plays Dr. Josh Nichols, Wolf’s primary adversary at the hospital. Sears had previously worked for producer Berlanti, playing a super-villain on The CW’s THE FLASH, and had also played opposite Quinto. “I’ve been a fan of Teddy’s forever,” says Grassi. “I loved him in MASTERS OF SEX, I loved him on THE FLASH, as well. He was great on that. And I also loved him in AMERICAN HORROR STORY, where he played Zach’s husband. So, it’s really fun, like a full-circle moment now on BRILLIANT MINDS, they are playing rivals at Bronx General. So, that’s another relationship I can’t wait for audiences to see, how they clash, and how their different p.o.v.s on medicine come together to help a patient.”

Wolf, like Sacks, suffers from “face blindness,” meaning that he literally cannot recognize people’s facial features. So, how is he able to tell which patient he is treating?

“He knows which patients are in which rooms,” Grassi explains. “Also, with his patients, he has really clear context for them, and he also [closely examines] his patients. So, I think he almost has an easier time recognizing his patients, because he knows where they are, and they’re within a certain context.

“I think face blindness can be really tricky when you’re in a big crowd, and there’s somebody that might be out of context, that you don’t expect that you might see, it could be really overwhelming. And we also give context of how he recognizes people, whether it’s by distinct features, or their gaits, the way they carry themselves. And in Episode 2, we touch upon that a little bit more.”

As for Wolf’s intern staff, “We do have a name tag bit in Episode 6. But I think our interns are all so distinct and unique that he’s able to recognize them moving forward on the show, which is nice.”

How much is BRILLIANT MINDS dramatizing cases described by Sacks in his books, how much are cases from other doctors, and how much is invented by the series writing staff?

“It’s a mix. Some cases are cases that are well-researched with doctors, and other cases are pulled from the books THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT or AN ANTHROPOLOGIST ON MARS. We take the essence of those cases and we set them in the present day, and make sure that they feel like conversations that feel present and urgent. Also, those books were published a little while ago, so we want to make sure that the medicine is up to date as well. So, there are a lot of factors at play. But it’s such a privilege to have such an incredible resource of cases as a jumping-off point.”

BRILLIANT MINDS also has neurosurgeons and psychiatrists as consultants, Grassi adds. “When I first started developing the show, I talked to many neurologists and neurosurgeons. Dr. Oren Gottfried is a neurosurgeon at Duke, and he consulted on the pilot, and now he works with us on the series as well. He reads all of the scripts, answers the medical questions.

“We also have a wonderful doctor in our writers’ room, Daniela Lamas. She’s a Harvard grad. She writes NEW YORK TIMES op-eds, and she is a writer. She worked on THE RESIDENT as well. She has been incredible. And we also have talked to psychiatrists, because Carol is a psychiatrist on the show, and we wanted to make sure that our medicine is really well-researched and grounded every step of the way.

“It’s funny, because one of the actors reads the scripts, and they’re like, ‘Wait, is this real?’ And then they’ll Google the condition, and they’re like, ‘I can’t believe this is real!’ So, we really want to deliver on that medical mystery.”

Wolf briefly discusses his sexuality in the pilot. Apart from dealing with his patients, he’s usually so prickly that it seems romance might be difficult for him.

But Grassi hints that it’s possible. “First and foremost, one of the things I was most excited about when I started working on creating this show was the opportunity to have a gay lead, who’s also a hero and a doctor at the center of a show like this. We’ve had gay leads in other dramas, but this, a big NBC medical drama, felt new and exciting.

“I think when we meet Dr. Wolf, he has lots of walls up, and he’s a bit of a loner. Over the course of the season, we’ll see that wall get chipped away at, and we’ll see him maybe start to let people in and I think that will be really exciting for audiences, to see how Wolf grows and maybe develops a relationship over the season.”

In reality, Grassi reveals, Sacks “worked at a hospital called Beth Abraham in the Bronx for a very, very long time.”

However, BRILLIANT MINDS is primarily shot in Toronto. “Toronto is an incredible stand-in for New York, and it’s been shot for New York in other shows. We were lucky enough on the pilot to shoot some days in New York for our exteriors, and then we built our hospital [sets] in Toronto, but we have some New York pieces in the show as well, which has been great.”

Has Grassi learned new things about the workings of the human brain over the course of making BRILLIANT MINDS?

“Absolutely. There are very few mysteries left in our world – deep space, deep sea, and then the human mind. We are learning about the mind every day. And what’s incredible about the mind is how it adapts, and how the world keeps changing, and how our minds keep changing as well.

“And that’s what makes our show so special, is that adaptation is a huge theme. And when Wolf can’t cure somebody, or fix their problem, he can still help them find a way forward, sometimes embrace something that makes them different rather than suppress it.”

And what would Grassi most like people to know about BRILLIANT MINDS?

“I’m just so excited for people to get to know Dr. Wolf. I think of this as a high-octane workplace drama in many ways. It’s human doctors who are working day and night, and night and day, to help people in their mental health, while neglecting their own mental health in big and small ways. I hope people can find themselves in this show, and find hope.”

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Article: BRILLIANT MINDS: Creator and executive producer Michael Grassi on Season 1 of his Zachary Quinto medical drama – Exclusive Interview 

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