“I barely understand what I’m saying”: That’s how hard it was for Jim Parsons to play Sheldon in “The Big Bang Theory”!

The cult sitcom ‘The Big Bang Theory’ has been with fans for more than a decade and has 12 seasons and 279 episodes chronicling the friendship and careers of scientists Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and their neighbor Penny (Kaley). Cuoko).) told. The series was particularly impressive thanks to its witty dialogues, which combined nerdy specialist knowledge of series, films, books and comics with scientific facts about physics and technology.

However, that wasn’t always easy, especially for Jim Parsons, as Sheldon’s unique way of talking about his specific interests meant a lot of work for the actor.. So we can recall many moments from the sitcom in which Sheldon explains elaborate scientific theories – and at a natural pace that gives absolutely no indication that Jim Parsons would have the slightest difficulty in delivering these lines.

Jim Parsons made index cards with Sheldon’s lines of dialogue

However, as the actor in interview he explained with his co-star Mayim Bialik that he had to resort to intensive methods in order to authentically portray Sheldon’s lines of dialogue in front of the camera week after week. Every week the actor created new “magic flashcards” with Sheldon’s scenes, which had a very special system:

“I make my index cards every week. There’s Act 1, Scene A, and in the front is Leonard’s first entry: “Okay, I’ll see you later.” And at the back is my line. And I walk around my house practicing them like a ballet dancer learning his moves. That’s mainly because I hardly understand what I’m saying. So I have to wear my muscle memory on my sleeve because if I don’t think about it, the words will never come to mind, and secondly, the words that do come to mind will just be wrong.

Due to the complexity of his dialogue, the actor had to work through Sheldon’s scenes little by little: “I carry the index cards for each scene and do them one by one. I sit at my computer and type the entire scene into my document and then I go back and practice the next scene and type it completely into the next document. It’s driving you crazy.”

Jim Parsons had previously admitted he had little in common with his cult character Sheldon Cooper. He has neither Sheldon’s scientific expertise nor any knowledge of films and series such as ‘Doctor Who’ or ‘Star Trek’. It is very understandable that Jim Parsons wanted to say goodbye to Sheldon and “The Big Bang Theory” after more than 10 years of intensive work to take on new challenges.