The interviewer brought up Ritter’s role on Breaking Bad, specifically a scene in which her father (played by John de Lancie) confronts her about using drugs. When looking back on the scene, Ritter explains how an actor finds the correct balance for the role by speaking with the production team.

That’s a scene I think that we would mark and have a good shape. I think with something that emotional, because that does get pretty heavy, you don’t want to totally take the air out of the tires. Of course, like, you end up shooting a lot, and you shoot different angles. But that wouldn’t be a scene that I would want to go to 100 in rehearsals. With stuff like that, like in – and in Jessica Jonestoo, there are, you know, some heavy scenes where it gets, like, you know, really hardcore, really emotional. And I would kind of have a good idea what I wanted to do.

I will kind of go to the sound department first and kind of tell them like, hey, just so you know, like, this is what I’m planning to do. I’ll talk to the camera operators, the DP, like – and the director, of course. This is kind of like, I’m going to mark it for you. But, like, I just want everybody to be ready. Like, you’d never want to do, like, some crazy performance where you get really emotional, and then, like, your mike blows out because they aren’t expecting, like, a huge volume. So I tend to, like, have a really good idea or a really good sense of what I’m going to do and then kind of show a shape and then go for it.

(via)