The Flight Attendant has given Kaley Cuoco the recognition she's rightly deserved, as the role allowed her to embody a complicated character in Cassie and explore new things as an actor. This included exploring Cassie’s seemingly out-of-control alcoholism, which is far more noticeable compared to Penny’s occasional drunk moments on The Big Bang Theory. While Cuoco seems to have enjoyed playing the role, the Flight Attendant star did reveal the one “problem” that came from playing an alcoholic character.
While Kaley Cuoco doesn't have the drinking problems that Cassie does, she still enjoys alcohol once in a while. She even recently formed a partnership with Smirnoff, as exclusively reported by People. While chatting with the news outlet, Cuoco spilled a few behind-the-scenes secrets from The Flight Attendant, one of which was the side effect of her simulating Cassie's drinking habits:
It was all water which was great because I definitely got my water intake every day, but I had to pee every second! That was the other problem that came with it. We had to take so many five-minute breaks 'because Kaley has to pee again.' It was a lot of water, yeah.
It's easy to imagine how hard filming scenes would be after a while, though I guess it's to be expected when playing a character like this. It's also worth mentioning that drinking water to simulate booze is a common practice in acting. While it may not have been ideal for Kaley Cuoco, at least her bathroom trips were related to typical bodily functions and not alcohol sickness.
But The Flight Attendant star wasn’t done speaking about Cassie’s alcoholism as, in the same interview, she revealed more about her approach to it. The star did make it her mission to be careful playing a character with an alcohol problem, and she mentioned that portraying an alcoholic can go from funny to tacky and unfunny if she didn’t pay attention. She also explained that her character’s drinking habits didn’t rub off on her because she knows how to compartmentalize.
It seems we haven't seen the last of Cassie’s alcohol problem, either. All the chaos and murder led to HBO Max bringing back Kaley Cuoco and The Flight Attendant for a second season, which is just one of the numerous projects Cuoco currently has brewing. But when it comes to The Flight Attendant, let's just hope Cassie will eventually be able to kick that drinking habit.
Kaley Cuoco's process as an actor is why she received so much critical and public recognition for the HBO Max series, and it'll be interesting to see how she continues to develop the role. To witness Cassie coming on a step closer to clearing herself up, you can stream Season 1 of The Flight Attendant on HBO Max ahead of Season 2's arrival.
