Hilary Duff opens up about Neil Patrick Harris's 'disastrous' How I Met Your Father cameo

Hilary Duff has revealed what it was like filming alongside Neil Patrick Harris for his 'disastrous' appearance in spinoff How I Met Your Father.

Season two of How I Met Your Father - a spin-off of the iconic sitcom How I Met Your Mother which concluded nearly ten years ago - is set to release its two-episode mid-season finale today (28 March).

In the mid-season finale, Neil Patrick Harris returns in his role as Barney Stinson for a cameo appearance.

Hilary Duff (who plays protagonist Sophie in How I Met Your Father) has since spoken out about how 'everything that could go wrong went wrong' during the filming of the episode.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Duff explained she 'broke 100 times' during filming.

The actor continued: "He [Harris] had so much to do that day, he had pages and pages of dialogue, and everything that could go wrong went wrong.

"Some crew guy got hurt and there was an ambulance, it was pouring down rain, of course on the only night that we had him, and we're outside, and we'd already shot stuff leading up to this night where it wasn't raining.

"Thankfully it didn't even look like it was raining, but my makeup artist would come in and she's like, 'You're covered in rain, your face is so wet. I don't know how we can't tell on camera'."

CBS

Fortunately, director Pam Fryman was on hand to ensure the filming for the episode went ahead despite its glitches.

Harris explained: "In true Pam Fryman form, she just carries on with a great postured confidence and helms the ship so well, and so given all of the strangeness of the circumstances, it just still felt like we were making good content.

"And weirdly, I would say 10 members of the How I Met Your Father crew, including the first assistant director, worked on How I Met Your Mother in similar job capacities, so I'm there playing a character that I haven't played for some time surrounded by the same voices and the same visages that I had worked with for almost a decade, almost a decade ago.

"All of it felt surreal, and exciting, and also business as usual. I loved to be a part of it."

Hulu

Despite the chaos which erupted on set, Duff added the whole filming experience was ultimately 'so funny' and Harris was 'the best sport'.

She resolved: "It was a dream to have him on."

After the two-episode midseason finale tonight (Tuesday, 28 March), How I Met Your Father season two continues Tuesday 23 May on Hulu.