Articles du Web

[Kerni]

Voici un article de Maureen Ryan paru le 15 April 2008 sur le site du Chicago Tribune

Attention, spoilers saison 4


Résumé

Le créateur de la série, David Shore répond aux questions de Maureen Ryan. On y parle beaucoup de la nouvelle équipe de la saison 4 et du peu de scènes avec Chase et de Cameron, au grand damne des fans.

Texte original

"House" doesn't return until April 28, but there's plenty to talk about before then.
For one thing, there’s a vocal subset of “House” fans who are not pleased with the lack of screen time that Allison Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) and Robert Chase (Jesse Spencer) have gotten thus far in Season 4.
In what I found to be an entertaining story line, last fall 40 potential candidates for House’s diagnostic team were winnowed down to three new staffers over first half of the season. “House” viewers will recall that Chris Taub (Peter Jacobson), Lawrence Kutner (Kal Penn) and Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) made the cut, and that the driven candidate Amber Volakis (Anne Dudek) remains on the scene as James Wilson’s girlfriend.
But the introduction of all those new faces meant that Chase and Cameron, who are working elsewhere at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, haven’t been around much. The show’s producers said last summer and fall that the characters would still be around in Season 4, but I was surprised by how little we ended up seeing them (as were many other loyal “House” viewers, apparently).

Having said that, I didn’t necessarily mind their reduced exposure, and I thought that most of the new characters reinvigorated an already excellent show. But after I mentioned in last Friday’s Web chat that I’d be talking to Shore on Monday, I heard from many disgruntled Cameron/Chase fans.
Well, those folks are probably not going to be gruntled any time soon.
Shore said there are no immediate plans for either doctor to rejoin House’s team, and he added that putting Cameron and Chase back in the forefront is not necessarily “what the show needs.” Though they may get a little more attention in the next round of episodes (they’d had little or no screen time some weeks), the show will still have a large cast of characters to deal with.
“Cameron and Chase are certainly not on screen as much as they used to be, but the stuff they’re doing, I think, takes on a different weight and a greater weight,” Shore said.

“I’m going to say something your readers aren’t going to like, but as someone running a television show, you have to be very careful – people think they want something and they do want something, but it’s not what they need, shall we say, and it’s not what the show needs,” Shore said later in the interview. “It’s great that they like those characters. … You want people to want more of things. You have to be careful on what you deliver.”
If anything, I’ve thought that the “House” writing staff needs to decide who to cut from the list of ongoing characters. The show feels a little crowded with so many characters to service each week.
I asked Shore if any cast members would be leaving the show, but he was cagey on the topic, and would only say that something “pretty significant” happens in the two-parter that closes out the season. (“House” will air four episodes starting April 28; for more on what will happen in those episodes, go here; you can also go to the end of this item, where I've posted Fox's plot summaries for the four episodes). 
I’ll be posting the complete transcript of my conversation with Shore as “House’s” return date gets closer, but here’s the part of the interview that touched on Chase and Cameron situation (and this part is not spoilery).

MR: There are a whole lot of people on the show now. Has that been challenging, trying to integrate all those characters?
DS: Yeah, like Cameron and Chase are certainly not on screen as much as they used to be, but the stuff they’re doing, I think, takes on a different weight and a greater weight. We are a strange hybrid of a show -- we’re fundamentally a procedural, but there are all of these characters people want to find out more about. And I do too. But I don’t want to change the fundamental nature of the show and there’s only so many pages for us to deal with [character stories]. We’ve got a lot of bodies.
MR: So does that mean some of those bodies will leave the show, that there will be attrition at some point?
DS: Oh, I don’t want that to happen. I like them all.
MR: I happened to mention that I’d be talking to you today in a Web chat last Friday, and I told people to send in their “House” questions. I didn’t expect a lot of them, but I did get quite a few – and a lot of them were from readers who were unhappy with the Chase/Cameron situation. “Where are they? When will they be on screen more?” It sure seemed like some fans were missing those characters.
DS: Well, that’s great. Meaning, that’s what you want to hear. That’s what I mean by being ahead of the curve a little bit [earlier in the interview, we talked about the writers doing the Season 4 "Survivor" challenge as a way to shake up the show before it got too set in its ways].
When you use a character a little less, you don’t want to hear, "Well, it’s about time you did that." It’s good that people want more. We are trying to give all the characters [screen time], all the characters have their fans and we’re trying to give them what they want.
There are no plans to change [Cameron and Chase’s] fundamental roles, we’re not bringing them back into [House’s] team so fast.
I like the fact that they’re not answerable to House anymore, and as a result of that, what they tell House takes on a greater significance. There’s no sense of intimidation.  They have grown up, in a way, and we’re having fun with that and we’re trying to do [more of] that. So we’re not losing them. Hopefully we’ll be getting a little more of them than you were getting in the last batch of episodes
MR: In the last bunch of episodes, it seems that one of them might have one scene, and the other one might not be on at all.
DS: Yeah, we’re trying to avoid that. We certainly want them each to have a significant presence [in each episode].
MR: But they aren’t going to be rejoining House’s team, right?
DS: Mmm-hmm [they are not rejoining the team]. 
MR: It is interesting to see them with this autonomy. There’s a lack of cowering when they interact with House. They’re on a completely different footing.
DS: It does. I don’t think they cowered in fear, but it does change the dynamic. They are now peers, rather than employees.
The other thing is trying to stay true to the reality of the show. They were hired for three-year fellowships to begin with. Both Cameron and Chase had been there for a while at the time of the pilot. And it’s sort of something that becomes I think fake on TV – that people stay in these roles forever. People’s roles change, especially if they’re competent, and these people are competent.
MR: Are the actors restive -- are they wanting more screen time?
DS: They haven’t complained to me. I’m sure they’d like it. They do a good job and they like being here. But I think they also are enjoying [the fact that their characters are] not intimidated by House.
MR: I have to say, when I got to the end of an episode this season, I wasn’t  saying, “Boy, I wish there was more of Chase.” I don’t dislike the characters, but there was so much else going on that interested me that I didn’t find myself thinking we should have gotten more of them.
DS: There’s also … I’m going to say something you’re readers aren’t going to like, but as someone running a television show, you have to be very careful – people think they want something and they do want something, but it’s not what they need, shall we say, and it’s not what the show needs. It’s great that they like those characters.
The most obvious [comment] is people saying, “I love the show, can’t you just make House a little nicer?” No. That’s sort of the most egregious example. No, you like him because he is who he is. And if he wasn’t who he is, you wouldn’t like him as much. He wouldn’t be the same person.
And the show as a whole falls into that. And so yes, I changed it. A little bit. And you have to be really careful with these things. It’s a real challenge. You want people to want more of things. You have to be careful on what you deliver.
MR: If the show was going into Season 7 and we were still talking about this crush that Cameron has on House – we’d both be like, “Why are we still talking about this?”
DS: Been there, done that. Yeah, we felt that that had played itself out.
[From later in the interview...]
MR: Are there going to be any major cast changes, in terms of people leaving? Will someone exit the roster of ongoing characters?
DS: Something is happening at the end of this year which I think is pretty significant. I’d rather not say what it is.
MR: You can cut anyone but Wilson.
DS: [Laughs] OK.

[Kerni]

Un article plus ancien, du mercredi 27 février 2008, publié sur Télérama, écrit par Sophie Bourdais.

Les méthodes du docteur House, praticien craquant et cynique de la série télé, ne résistent malheureusement pas à l'examen clinique.

Passe encore que le docteur House soit manipulateur, sarcastique, drogué aux analgésiques, mal rasé et aussi dépourvu de blouse blanche que d'aménité. Qu'il donne à un hypo condriaque des bonbons maquillés en comprimés ou crache sur un chirurgien pour l'empêcher d'opérer. En deux saisons passées avec lui dans un (faux) CHU du New Jersey (Etats-Unis), et une troisième qui vient de commencer sur TF1, on a eu le temps de s'habituer - et de s'attacher - au personnage, interprété par l'excellent acteur britannique Hugh Laurie. Mais sur un plan strictement médical, quelle crédibilité accorder à ce champion du diagnostic différentiel ? Peut-on faire confiance aux consultants médicaux qui secondent les scénaristes de Dr House ?

Un petit tour sur le Net livre rapidement la réponse : c'est un « non » sans appel ! Sentence détaillée avec plus ou moins d'ironie selon que l'on tombe sur des forums d'étudiants en médecine (impitoyables) ou sur des chroniques dédiées à la série. Dans ses passionnantes « House medical reviews » (1), Scott, toubib chevronné, analyse chaque épisode, et note de A à F la complexité du diagnostic, la méthode de déduction, la médecine en général et les intrigues subsidiaires. S'il s'agace parfois, c'est surtout du côté « couteau suisse » des adjoints du docteur House, qui font, en plus du leur, le travail des infirmières, des radiologistes, des laborantins et parfois même des chirurgiens !

L'authenticité des cas traités dans la série (tous inspirés d'histoires réelles) est rarement discutée, mais l'irrespect des règles d'hygiène, la débauche d'examens coûteux, le taux élevé de guérisons et la rapidité des convalescences font tiquer les soignants. De l'avis général, un praticien aussi ingérable ne resterait pas plus d'une semaine dans une structure hospitalière. Et que dire de la méthode « à l'arrache » du génial docteur, qui lance des traitements de choc sans attendre la confirmation de ses hypothèses ! « A mon humble avis médical, le traitement sert trop souvent d'outil pour établir le diagnostic », grince un fidèle des « House medical reviews ». « On m'a appris que le diagnostic venait d'abord, le traitement après. Dans la série, les situations qui dégénèrent à cause des effets secondaires liés au principe du "si-ça-marche-c'est-que-nous-avons-raison" auraient pu être évitées rien qu'en faisant les tests avant, et pas après la dégradation de l'état du patient. Comme disait mon chef : "Faites vos calculs avant d'enfoncer des machins pointus dans votre prochain !" »

Dernière grande invraisemblance, pointée avec regret des deux côtés de l'Atlantique : personne n'a autant de temps à consacrer à un unique patient. D'ailleurs, il n'existe nulle part de service spécialisé dans le diagnostic. Dans une tribune mélancolique publiée par le New York Times, le docteur Sandeep Jauhar explique à quel point il trouve exotique cet univers « où les médecins ont le temps de résoudre des casse-tête. Aujourd'hui, les cas intéressants suscitent de l'anxiété, pas de l'excitation. Tout le monde veut un chiffre, un test, une mesure objective pour établir un diagnostic. A la différence du docteur House, peu de médecins ont le temps ou la patience de faire face à l'incertitude. Nous voulons rendre la médecine plus simple qu'elle mérite de l'être. C'est pour ça que j'aime regarder Dr House. Une heure chaque semaine, je savoure la magie et les mystères liés à ma profession, même si c'est seulement à la télé. »

Les récriminations adressées à la série viennent de téléspectateurs qui la regardent assidûment. « Aucune série médicale n'est réa liste, pas même Urgences », dit Martin Winckler, médecin généraliste, écrivain et spécialiste des séries américaines. « Il y a une condensation dramatique obligatoire. L'important, c'est que les scénarios soient plausibles et proches de la réalité. Ces séries sont précieuses parce qu'elles soulèvent sans arrêt des questions sur l'éthique médicale. » Pour lui, Dr House fait le portrait, à travers ses différents personnages, d'un « médecin métaphorique » dont House ne serait que la composante la plus radicale, « l'esprit médical scientifique, inquisiteur, obsessionnel, étranger aux émotions » (2). Dans ces conditions, on comprend qu'il puisse trouver des qualités à ce froid technicien, l'inverse du modèle qu'il défendait dans sa très empathique Maladie de Sachs. « Tout médecin a dans sa tête cette zone agressive, sadique, brutale », dit Martin Winckler, qui attribue à la série, entre autres ­mérites, celui de poser le problème de la soumission à l'autorité médicale : « Dans la réalité, on laisse faire des gens qui sont infiniment moins brillants que Gregory House et qui se conduisent comme de vraies crapules. Pourquoi ? Et pourquoi sommes-nous aussi désarmés face à eux ? »

Professeur de chirurgie pédiatrique à l'hôpital Necker, Sabine Sarnacki retient surtout les qualités de détective de House, qui a l'art de repérer le détail (ongle noirci, peau orangée, sudation soudaine, etc.) que personne n'a vu : « Cela fait des années que je dis à mes étudiants qu'ils doivent se transformer en Sherlock Holmes », dit-elle. Si elle pardonne au terrible docteur la façon dont il (mal)traite les chirurgiens, c'est parce qu'il réhabilite la sémiologie (l'étude des signes et symptômes des maladies), et donc la médecine clinique, « qui est au fondement de ce métier. Au début, House ne veut pas voir ses patients, mais il se rend bien compte que ses sbires ne lui transmettent pas ce qu'il a besoin de savoir. Il n'est pas extralucide : quand on observe ses malades, on peut savoir énormément de choses. Nos étudiants ont balayé la sémiologie à cause du pouvoir de la technologie. Imagerie, scanner, IRM, biologie moléculaire, c'est leur leitmotiv. Du coup, dans la réalité, il y a des cas surréalistes, comme cet enfant dont on me dit un jour qu'il n'a pas été opéré, et il suffit que je soulève son tee-shirt pour trouver trois cicatrices qui me disent que si ! Il y a un vrai besoin de revenir à l'examen clinique. Aujourd'hui, pour accrocher les étudiants en restant dans leur univers, je leur dis : voilà un cas pour le docteur House. Pour qu'ils commencent à regarder la sémiologie que cette fichue technologie met au rancart. Et pour leur montrer que le métier qu'ils veulent faire est bien celui-là, et qu'il est excitant. »

Voilà qui est savoureux : le plus désagréable des praticiens jamais aperçus à la télévision, celui qui piétine avec un enthousiasme glacé la relation médecin-patient et bafoue au moins une fois par épisode la déontologie médicale, aurait des choses fondamentales à apprendre à ses jeunes confrères par-delà l'écran. Dans ces conditions, ils lui pardonneront peut-être d'utiliser - parfois - son stéthoscope à l'envers.


(1) Consultables sur http://www.politedissent.com/house_pd.html (en attendant un éventuel équivalent francophone).
(2) Une analyse développée dans L'année des séries 2008 (p. 41), éd. Hors collection.

[Venusia]

Voici une interview de Lisa Edelstein parue le 11 Mai sur le site Blogcritics Magazine

Spoiler Saison 4 et Saison 5

Lisa Edelstein nous parle de House, de Cuddy et de la fin de la saison 4.

Résumé

Lisa Eldenstein ne veut pas donner trop d'informations pour ne pas gâcher le plaisir des téléspectateurs.
Elle nous dit : "Il s'agit un épisode très inhabituel dans lequel House tente de rassembler des fragments de sa mémoire après avoir subi un traumatisme crânien dans un grave accident de bus.
Il est convaincu qu'un passager montrait les symptômes d'une très grave maladie avant l'accident mais il ne se souvient plus de quel passager ils s'agit.
Le traumatisme crânien lui a causé une perte de mémoire, le laissant avec de vagues souvenirs des heures qui ont précédées l'accident.
Il utilise des méthodes peu orthodoxes et dangereuses pour accéder à ses souvenirs.
Il met également sa vie en danger pour essayer de se souvenir et pour réussir à sauver le patient..."

Le créateur de la série David Shore nous apprend qu'il est possible que dans l'avenir la relation House / Cuddy soit un peu explorée.
Lisa estime que House est attiré par elle et "aime son intelligence" mais elle ne sait pas s'il peut être capable d'avoir une relation sérieuse.

Elle nous déclare également que la vraie question que tout le monde se posera à la fin de la saison sera : "Qu'adviendra-t-il de l'amitié entre House et Wilson ?"

En plus d'explorer la relation House/Cuddy, la saison 5 débutera avec un scénario House/Wilson. Leur amitié est sur la corde raide.

La production a déjà débuté le tournage de la saison 5 qui se poursuivra sans interruption jusqu'en Août. Beaucoup craignent une grève des acteurs.

Article

House's Lisa Edelstein Chats About House, Cuddy, and the Season Finale

Written by Barbara Barnett

Published May 11, 2008

The strike-shortened season of House draws to a close with what looks to be an exciting and emotional two-part finale. Part one, “House’s Head,” airs Monday night and concludes May 19 with “Wilson’s Heart.” The two-parter was originally to air following the Super Bowl, but was put off when the writers’ strike hit. (“Frozen,” guest-starring Mira Sorvino aired in its place.) In advance of the finale, Lisa Edelstein (Dr. Lisa Cuddy) chatted about the double episode, the series, and the compellingly sexy, yet adversarial relationship between dean of medicine Cuddy and iconoclastic diagnostician Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie).

Not wanting to give away too much information about the season-ending two-parter and spoil the fun, she divulged that it is a very unusual episode, as House tries to piece together fragments of his memory after suffering head trauma in a serious bus accident. He is convinced that a fellow passenger had been displaying symptoms of a serious illness before the crash, and he feels is compelled to identify and diagnose the person. But there are a couple of problems at hand. House has no idea who the passenger was. And, House's head injury has caused short-term memory loss, leaving him with only a vague recollection of the hours leading up to the accident.

House uses a variety of unorthodox and dangerous techniques to access his memories of the bus crash, including why he was on the bus in the first place. He experiences hallucinations and visions involving his colleagues, and according to Edelstein, we see the “world from his point of view directly,” even into his subconscious.

As the story unfolds, Edelstein said that we see “the effect of House’s mental struggle as he risks his own life to access his mind,” growing more and more desperate to save the patient. But because no one else can piece it together, his colleagues play along. Everyone is “willing to participate in that risk, while holding their breath. No one really knows the extent to which he’s risking his life.” But even when it does become clearer, she said, they continue to go along with it.

Since the series start, Cuddy and House have been always at odds. But they have a clear affection for each other, and a mutual protectiveness that, while not often apparent, nevertheless burbles just beneath the surface. In the second season episode “Humpty Dumpty,” Cuddy implied that she and House had known each other for years, and in season three’s “Top Secret,” we learned that House and Cuddy have had a sexual relationship sometime in their past. When Cuddy needed help with her quest for motherhood, it was (surprisingly to some) House that she turned to for support (and the most sensual of fertility drug injections) and to keep her secret.

Series creator David Shore and others have suggested that the future holds out the possibility of a more overt exploration and deepening of their interesting relationship. Edelstein strongly believes that there is much more to explore. Cuddy “very much loves House.” She explained that Cuddy lives vicariously through the maverick diagnostic genius. “She’s a smart woman, successful as a doctor, has a great position, but now has less to do with the actual practice of medicine.” Cuddy is excited by what House does. Edelstein views Cuddy’s relationship with House as a “beautiful adult relationship filled with complicated subliminal messages.” When asked whether that’s more the performance or the writing, she suggested that it was some of both, although the character’s direction really emanates from Shore's overall vision.

What does House think of Cuddy? Edelstein believes that House is attracted to her and “likes her smarts,” but she doesn’t know how capable he is of being truly connected to another person. House “loves Wilson and Cuddy, but not in the same way they love him,” she explained. House has been so affected by his pain and the way in which he treats it, she said, that he is angry and disconnected from people. He’s such a good analyst of human nature, so smart, that he’s dissected people to the point that they are no longer interesting to him; he’s bored by them.

According to Edelstein, the star of House, Hugh Laurie, is very unlike the star diagnostician of Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital (where House is set), and she has only kind words for the brilliant Laurie. “Hugh is much softer, and sensitive. And empathetic. He’s hilarious and an extremely hard worker,” she said.

Cuddy has a prominent place in House’s head during Monday’s episode. And how does House see her in his imagination? When Cuddy enters into his fantasy, he makes her strip. In fact, according to Edelstein, House wants her to perform a striptease for him and she does, stripper pole and all!

Although House imagines Cuddy as a stripper, Edelstein’s not sure that Cuddy would fantasize about House in quite the same way. “Women have a different idea of what’s sexy.” She suggested that in Cuddy’s fantasy she would be lying quietly as House “caressed or tickled her belly while doing a diagnostic.”

Edelstein commented that the real question on everyone’s mind at season's end will be: “What will become of House and Wilson’s friendship?” The series has already started filming season five and will continue filming without a break until August — barring a much-feared actors’ strike. (The Screen Actors Guild contract expires on June 30.) In addition to exploring the deepening relationship between House and Cuddy, the fifth season will kick off with a House/Wilson storyline, says Edelstein. “Their friendship is on the line.” Of course, she added, it’s anyone’s guess what will happen if there’s another strike. (And it’s a distinct possibility). “We’re all holding our breath; it’s very scary.” It is one reason why they’ve jumped right into season five without the customary break between filming seasons.

[Ssette]

Une interview de Lisa Edelstein, notre célèbre Docteur Cuddy, parue vendredi dernier dans le Torronto SUN.com

After playing Dr. Lisa Cuddy on House for four years, Lisa Edelstein must have picked up some of the lingo by now.
So, if we were to dress up Edelstein as a doctor, disguise her face so no one would recognize her from House, and drop her into a hospital, how long would it take for her to be exposed as an imposter?
“I think I could go half a day,” Edelstein said.
“I’ve always been a smarty pants. And the only thing that goes wrong now is, people know I play a doctor on TV and so they quickly call me out on the fact that I really think I am a doctor. Before, I used to get away with it much longer.”
Speaking of getting away with things, it’s Edelstein’s character, the serious Dr. Cuddy, who usually endeavours to keep the maverick Dr. House (played by Hugh Laurie) on some vague form of the straight-and-narrow. At least, that generally has been the case to this point as House heads toward its fourth-season finale, Monday night on Global and Fox.

But there is way more to the Cuddy-House relationship than initially meets the eye.
It was suggested to Edelstein that Cuddy loves House.
“I think that theory is right on the money,” Edelstein said.
“I think she very much loves House and also lives vicariously through him. She’s a smart woman who was very successful as a doctor and has a great job and a wonderful position, but she also has had less and less to do with actually practising medicine as the years have gone by. So she’s excited by what he does and how he does it, and deeply frustrated by him at the same time.
“As all intense people are, (Dr. House) is incredibly interesting and compelling. (Cuddy) definitely falls victim to that.”
It has been reported many times that in real life Laurie is a far softer person than the character he plays on TV. As it turns out, Edelstein doesn’t have much in common with Cuddy, either.
“I’m much more playful than (Cuddy) is,” said Edelstein, who turns 42 this week and previously has been seen in multi-episode arcs on series such as The West Wing and Ally McBeal. “I behave younger and I have a different kind of energy completely.
“I’m usually ricocheting off the set walls until they say ‘action’, and then I’m this serious person. (Cuddy) wears skirts that you can’t even take long strides in. It’s great playing that part of myself with her, but I think most people are surprised when they meet me that we’re so completely different.”
Yes, Lisa Edelstein and Lisa Cuddy are very different. The character is a doctor. The person is not.
“If somebody had a heart attack, it would be bad,” said Edelstein, going back to the premise of dropping her into a hospital to see how long she could fool people.
“Even though I say ‘clear’ really well, I don’t really know what else to do.”

[Venusia]

Voici interview de David Shore (créateur de la série) par Kristin parue le 21 Mai sur le site eonline.com

Spoiler Saison 5

Retrouvez un résumé de l'interview ici.

Article

House Boss David Shore: Everybody Lies, Everybody Dies, Everybody...

Hi guys! Jen here. FYI: Kristin's travelling for the next couple of weeks, so I'll be your televisual cruise director for the time being.

Anyway, I thought Monday's House finale was maybe the best finale we've seen so far this season, and easily one of House's best finales ever (I blame Cutthroat Bitch, aka Anne Dudek).

The implications of the episode—with all the House-Amber-Wilson-Cuddy craziness, and the Thirteen and Kutner reveals—seem like they might be, well, significant going forward, so I emailed House show runner David Shore to get a little clarity on what's to come.

Click in for David's answers to my Q's about the House-Wilson relationship, the significance of the cast population explosion and his take on what the show is about. Warning: Shore is sarcastic and funny, just like you know who...
House: Anne Dudek

Did House kill Amber last night, or did 0he save her, and what does Wilson think happened? What's this going to do to House and Wilson's relationship?
I have a long answer to that question. It premieres Sept. 2, 2008.

This finale seemed so personal, with the reveals about Thirteen and Kutner and the ways that House, Wilson, Cuddy and Amber were relating to each other. Is this the beginning of a shift in the series or was that something specific to this episode?
One of the things I love about this show is how we can do such radical departures from our normal episodes. But for them to be departures, there has to be a norm. So...you'll see more of these more personal episodes, but the series has not changed.

Robert Sean Leonard said to me at the Fox upfronts that he thinks it's odd that no one ever uses Wilson or Cameron's first names (James and Allison) on the show. Is there a specific intent in that name choice, or did it just kind of fall out that way?
Once this last name thing started, we just couldn't go back. When they do call each other by their first names, it sounds odd. And anything that sounds odd, sounds like it has some meaning. Which is good—when it's supposed to have some meaning. So it does happen, but only when it's saying something.
Jesse Spencer, House

Forgive me if you answer this Q once a week, but what is the show House about? Is it about logic and atheism, or is it about a mad scientist, or is it about Jesse Spencer being totally hot? What's your sense of the mission or theme of the show?
Anytime you try to summarize a show in one word, you sound like an ass. It's about truth.

How do you feel about the size of the cast at this point? They are all irreplaceably awesome, but do you worry that having nine regulars (give or take) spreads the storylines too thin?
Yes. It scares the hell out of me. But it also opens up so many more opportunities to us.

Complete this pattern: Everybody lies, everybody dies, everybody...
Shplies. That's a word I just made up that means "wants more, but there isn't always more."

[Venusia]

Dans un article paru le 18 Mai sur le site Oregonlive,
Hugh Laurie nous annonce que la saison 5 comptera 28 épisodes.

Voici un extrait de l'article :

...Shore dit aussi que dès que cet épisode sera terminé, House attaquera le tournage de la saison 5 sans attendre par crainte d'une possible grève des acteurs cet été.

Hugh Laurie explique : "cela ne ressemble pas à une fin de saison, mais au début d'une très très longue saison. Nous allons faire 28 épisodes sans interruption, c'est à supposer que les acteurs ne seront pas en grève, je dis acteurs, mais je veux dire moi. On ne sait pas ce qu'il va se passer"...

Article

'House' crashes to a season end.

Dr. Gregory House loses his memory after a bus accident; but what about that ill-looking passenger?

Last week, fans of the Fox drama "House" saw the opener of a two-part season-four finale in which brilliant but cranky diagnostician Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) wound up confused and covered in blood after a bus crash.

He's convinced someone on the bus was showing signs of serious illness before the crash, but his head injury has impaired his memory.

But on Monday, says Laurie, "You will find out."

On this Wednesday in late April, "House" has left its usual home on the 20th Century Fox lot in Los Angeles to head south to Manhattan Beach, to a studio that houses such shows as "Boston Legal" and "CSI Miami."

According to executive producer David Shore, the two-parter was originally planned to start after the Super Bowl, but the three-month Writers Guild of America strike upset the schedule.

"We thought it was dead," Shore says, speaking during production of Part 2. "It's a very expensive two-parter, and we thought we couldn't justify that amount of money. As a season finale, it works. We wanted to finish the story that we were doing this year, so it works out in all respects.

"There's a bus and a bus crash. Pieces of the bus have been shot all over the place. The inside of the bus was on a soundstage. The after effect of the bus crash is at Universal.

"And we're at Manhattan Beach shooting the bus now. We're spending a lot of money."

Shore also says that as soon as this episode is done, "House" rolls straight into shooting season five, propelled in part by fears of a possible Screen Actors Guild strike.

"This doesn't feel like the end of a season," Laurie says. "It feels like the beginning of a very, very long season. We're making 28, unbroken -- that's assuming that the actors don't go on strike. I say 'the actors,' but I am one, nominally. We don't know what's going to happen there."

Employment uncertainty has been a theme this year on "House," which started its season with dozens of candidates vying to be part of House's medical team.

In the end, it came down to three, including Dr. Lawrence Kutner, played by Kal Penn ("Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay").

Relaxing in his trailer between shots, Penn (who spent his strike break campaigning for Sen. Barack Obama in Iowa) says, "We didn't know who's staying or who's going."

"It's true," Shore says, "because the writers didn't know."

Happy to be one of those left standing, Penn says, "This is probably the least Hollywood Hollywood set that you could visit."

Hearing that, Laurie, who had a 20-year career in Britain before "House," says, "Really? As it's the only Hollywood set I've ever been on, I have nothing to compare with. Well, then I'm going to change that. I'm going to look into this and see if I can get a lot more Hollywoody. We'll have to do a bit of that.

"What's the point of being here if you can't live the dream?"

[Yoyo]

Voici un article paru sur Serielive de Lisa Edelstein lors du festival Tv de Monte Carlo.

Lisa Edelstein et Cuddy

Comment se fait-il que vous et le docteur Cuddy ayez le même prénom ?

C'est une coïncidence.

Le personnage de Cuddy est une femme forte, accomplie et on a vu dans les saisons précédentes qu'elle essayait d'avoir un enfant toute seule ; dans quelle mesure, êtes vous proche de votre personnage ? Vous qui n'avez pas encore d'enfant et avez consacré beaucoup de temps à une brillante carrière. Peut-on espérer voir cet arc se développer davantage dans les saisons à venir ?

Oui, en fait il y a un parallèle entre moi et mon personnage, l'âge. Quand la série a commencé, j'ai dit aux producteurs que si elle avait du succès, à un moment il faudrait qu'ils prévoient que mon personnage soit enceinte, car je compte avoir des enfants. Ils ont donc gardé cette idée en tête comme une possibilité.

Quelles différences et ressemblances y a-t-il entre vous et votre personnage ?

Nous aimons tous les deux avoir raison, nous travaillons dur et on est très concentrés. Mais je crois que je suis plus fantaisiste qu'elle, je suis plus rieuse qu'elle (elle rit). J'aime également faire de grandes enjambées, ce qui fait que je ne porte jamais les jupes qu'elle porte (elle rit de nouveau) et qui me contraignent à faire de tous petits pas. Sans parler du mal aux hanches.

Le genre de la série est assez indéfinissable, un savoureux mélange de comédie et de drama, quel impact cela a-t-il sur votre jeu ?

J'imagine qu'il faut engager des gens qui puissent naviguer entre les deux genres. Mais il est fondamental que l'écriture soit bonne car quand on a de bons dialogues, de bons scénarios, on peut tout se permettre et aller vers tous les genres.

Cuddy et House

Vous oscillez entre la frustration et l'amour pour House, savez dans quelle direction cela va-t-il aller ?

On ne me dit rien, c'est un secret. Mais je pense que leur relation est très intéressante, car elle est faite d'un mélange de frustration, d'amour et de respect, et c'est de cela que sont faites les relations dans la vraie vie.

Percevez-vous le docteur Cuddy comme l'exact opposé de House ?

Je ne la vois pas vraiment comme ça, je crois qu'elle est forcée de s'opposer à lui. Si elle était son exact opposé, cela ferait d'elle le méchant de la série et je ne crois pas que ça soit le cas.

Aura-t-elle un jour le dernier mot face à lui ?

C'est vraiment difficile avec un tel personnage.

Est-ce que vous pensez que Cuddy préférer aimer ou détester House ?

Je crois que c'est un mélange des deux. Je crois qu'elle ne peut pas s'empêcher de l'aimer, parce qu'il est brillant. Mais en même temps, il lui fait vivre un véritable enfer, parce qu'il a tout le temps raison. Seulement, il emprunte de mauvais chemins pour arriver aux résultats et ça oblige Cuddy à se comporter comme un policer. Ca rend vraiment les choses difficiles.

Avez-vous déjà rencontré un personnage comme le Dr. House ?

Non parce que c'est un personnage imaginaire, mais j'aimerais bien parce que c'est un personnage fascinant et je trouve ce personnage assez sexy.

Nombre d'entre nous, en Europe, se rappellent du rôle d'Hugh dans Blackadder Back & Forth (avec Rowan Atkinson), est-ce que vous l'avez déjà vu ?

A chaque fois que je tombe dessus, c'est la mauvaise saison donc il faudrait que j'achète les DVD pour voir ce que ça donne. Mais parfois sur le plateau, il joue encore ces drôles de personnages, faisant de grosses grimasses ou prenant une drôle de démarche, qui contraste tellement avec son rôle sur Dr. House que c'est toujours très drôle.

La saison 4

Quelles ont été les scènes les plus difficiles et les plus agréables à tourner pour vous ?

La moins agréable ça a été le procès de Dr. House (saison 3), parce que je n'apprécie pas les tribunaux, je trouve cela vraiment ennuyeux. Quant à la meilleure scène… (elle marque un temps d’arrêt et demande : à quelle saison en êtes-vous ? On lui répond saison 3). Ok, donc je ne peux pas vous le dire, ce sera lors de saison 4.

C'est la quatrième saison en Italie, est-ce vous pourrez nous parler de la scène de strip-tease ?

Ooohhhh, vous allez ruiner le plaisir de tout le monde. (Elle hésite avant d'en parler) On a tourné cette scène pendant quatre heures et on a coupé aux montages quelques gestes qui étaient pourtant mes préférés. J'ai pris des leçons de strip-tease, que l'on donne en général aux hommes et aux femmes qui veulent le faire à leur époux. C'était vraiment très drôle et ma tenue était ravissante. J'ai répété la scène devant Hugh avant qu'on ne la tourne, parce que je ne me sentais pas très à l'aise de le faire devant toute l'équipe technique et c'était important pour moi. Donc il y a eu une répétition devant le producteur et le réalisateur. Hugh a été vraiment fantastique avec moi, il m'a vraiment encouragé, comme une vraie cheerleader (elle rit) et je me sentais vraiment très à l'aise à ce moment là. Il a vraiment apprécié la scène, mais pas de façon déplacée, comme un homme devrait le faire.

Est-ce votre meilleur souvenir ?

(Elle rit) C'est un des plus jolis.

Autres expériences

Pouvez-vous nous en dire davantage sur la comédie musicale que vous avez montée durant vos jeunes années à New York ?

A l'époque, New York était complètement différente. C'était encore l'époque d'Andy Warhol. Véritablement une époque fascinante où je n'arrêtais pas de rencontrer des gens extraordinaires, connus ou inconnus. Moi j'étais une adolescente qui voulait créer des choses. C'était formidable de voir tout ces gens qui travaillaient dans des boites qui n'avaient pas de limites. Mais je ne sais pas vraiment pourquoi je suis devenu célèbre à ce moment-là. Je n'avais pas un très bon sens de la mode, je n'avais pas d'argent, mais c'est tombé sur moi.

Et puis très rapidement, les gens ont commencé à mourir du sida autour de moi. Il est arrivé qu'on aille à un enterrement une fois par semaine, c'était vraiment très pénible. Je me suis donc dit que c'était le moment de réagir. Ce qui est bien c'est qu'au moment où j'ai commencé à en parler, je n'étais pas célèbre, mais il y avait des gens prêts à m'aider. On a donc monté la comédie musicale Positive Me à Manhattan, et on a m'a offert un mois de répétition. J'ai réuni l'argent en faisant de petits spectacles de chanson. Ça m'a énormément appris sur ce qu'était la célébrité. En elle-même ce n'est clairement pas un bon objectif à avoir, mais cela m'a appris ce qu'était d'être artiste, pour servir une cause.

Vous avez joué un transsexuel dans Ally McBeal et une prostitué dans A la maison blanche, comment avez-vous vécu ça ?

En fait cela a été facile, quand vous êtes une actrice vous êtes une prostituée la plupart du temps (elle rit et fait rire la salle, quelques applaudissements fusent). En ce qui concerne le transsexuel dans Ally McBeal, c'était un sujet tabou à l'époque. Donc j'ai essayé d'être vraiment digne et sophistiqué, mais j’ai beaucoup aimé cette histoire. Simplement je n'ai pas aimé la réalisation car je crois que si un homme avait dansé aussi près, il aurait senti une forme de rembourrage (elle rit).

Vie privée

Jouer dans la série ne vous a pas rendu hypocondriaque ?

Non, ce n'est pas aussi terrible que ça. Mon père était médecin et quand j'étais une petite fille j'aimais le suivre aux urgences. J'étais fascinée de le voir faire des points de suture ou choquer une personne en arrêt cardiaque. En revanche si vous allez à l'hôpital parce que vous ne vous sentez pas bien, que vous avez de la fièvre, là vous réalisez que c'est un peu un jeu de devinettes.

Hugh Laurie joue dans un groupe, Band from TV, avez-vous déjà participé à ce groupe ?

Juste à Noël où j'ai chanté une chanson des Rolling Stone, Melody. On avait découvert sur le pilote que Hugh et moi adorions cette chanson. Cela dit je suis meilleure actrice que chanteuse et je ne pense pas pouvoir gagner American Idol. Mais les gens étaient contents, c'était un bon souvenir.

Parmi vos loisirs, il y a la composition musicale, la peinture, le yoga, pouvez-vous nous en dire davantage ?

Je pratique le yoga quotidiennement. Ca fait un bon moment que je n'ai pas composé, mais c'est vrai que j'aime beaucoup créer. Malheureusement avec le tournage de Dr. House je n'ai plus trop le loisir, mais dès que j'ai un moment, c'est quelque chose qui me tient à cœur.

[Venusia]

Voici une interview de Robert Sean Leonard parue le 01 Juin 2008 sur le site PlayBill.

Extrait

Robert Sean Leonard qui incarne le Dr Wilson dans House, a accordé une interview à Playbill.
Il commence sa carrière à l'âge de 16 ans en décrochant un rôle dans "Giants in the Sky".
"Le Cercle des Poètes Disparus" dans lequel il incarne le jeune "Neil Perry Robert" a eu un énorme succès, mais malgré cela, Robert Sean Leonard dit qu'il ne voulait pas continuer à faire des films, c'était trop dur. "Il faut travailler tard, il y a les photoshoots, la publicité, les managers. Je n'ai jamais voulu faire ça. Je suis trop paresseux."...

Quand il a lu le scénario de House, il a pensé que c'était très bien. "Je ne voulais pas le rôle principal, c'est trop de travail. Mais j'ai pensé que ça pourrait être amusant d'être le meilleur ami du personnage principal...Hugh Laurie est quelqu'un de remarquable...

Article

STAGE TO SCREENS: Robert Sean Leonard
By Michael Buckley

This month we talk to Robert Sean Leonard ("House").

Playing Dr. James Wilson on the popular FOX medical drama "House" (Mondays, 9 PM ET) is the latest turn for Robert Sean Leonard, whose TV fans may well be unaware of his theatre background, which began when he was a pre-teen.

Included among his credits is the role of Jack (of beanstalk fame): "When I was 16, I was cast by [Stephen] Sondheim for a six-week workshop of Into the Woods. One day, Sondheim came in, with [the just-written] 'Giants in the Sky.' He pointed to me, and said, 'This is for Bobby.' I pretty much could have died."

Offered the lead in a teen movie, '"My Best Friend Is a Vampire," Leonard called James Lapine, who had written the musical's book, and was directing, to ask what he should do. "In the most supportive, incredibly helpful way, he said, 'Robert, you're a talented guy, but your future's not in musical theatre.'"

The movie about the undead did not fare well, but his next assignment, "Dead Poets Society," brought Leonard lots of recognition. "Peter Weir told us, 'I'm a wonderful director and Tom [Schulman] is a wonderful writer, but neither of us is 17.' We were encouraged to improvise."

"Dead Poets" was a big success, but Leonard says, "I didn't want to chase movies. It's too hard. You've got to work at it — opening nights, photo shoots, publicity people, managers. I never wanted to do that. I'm too lazy."

He confesses: "Theatre's very satisfying, and I miss it, but it doesn't pay that well." A few years ago, he decided to switch coasts in search of greener pastures. "I did a pilot that Larry Gelbart wrote, 'The Corsairs,' with Martin Landau, John Larroquette, Patrick Dempsey, Balthazar Getty. It was an hour-long drama about a media-mogul family. I was Landau's son, but really Larroquette's bastard son. I loved it, but the network didn't."

When he read "House," Leonard thought: This is really good. "I didn't want to be the lead guy. That's too much work. But I thought that it might be fun to be the lead guy's friend. I'd have days off, and still get a paycheck every week. Hugh Laurie, who plays [Dr. Gregory] House, is remarkable. I lean in the door and say, 'Hey, what do you think about egg salad [for lunch]?' Then I have two days in a row off. [Laughs] It's a great gig."

Signed for three more years, Leonard just wrapped the series' fourth season (re-runs of which start tomorrow night). A month-long hiatus between seasons doesn't allow him time to do theatre. "There are a lot of us out here who are making money, but longing to be doing what we love. Within minutes of the [recent writers'] strike being announced, we were on planes to New York."

Among his past stage roles is a trio of "Eugenes": In March 1986, he made his Broadway debut as the final replacement Eugene Jerome (a character based on the young Neil Simon) in Brighton Beach Memoirs, in which he later toured; he was an older Eugene in a 1987 tour of Simon's sequel Biloxi Blues; he received a 1993 Tony nomination (his first of three) in the role of Eugene Marchbanks in Shaw's Candida; and he's twice played Edmund Tyrone (the young Eugene O'Neill) in Long Day's Journey into Night — in Boston, in 1983; on Broadway, in 2003 (earning his most recent Tony nomination).

According to Leonard, the Broadway production "was the greatest thing I've ever been in, the greatest time of my life. To act with Phil[ip Seymour] Hoffman, to know you're about to walk onstage and give this play to people is like kissing the Pope's ring. I think [Brian] Dennehy was great! I loved [the way he performed] his speech about Edwin Booth.

"For me, doing the greatest American play on Broadway is it! I don't think it's going to happen again. I'm pretty humble, but I know when I'm good. I'd be in the middle of describing being lost in the fog on the ship, with Brian [Dennehy], and I knew there may be actors who can do this as well, but I don't [know if] there are any who can do it better. Something clicked. It was magic!

"Vanessa [Redgrave] is a unique woman, just about the bravest actor I've ever seen onstage. There's no 'over-the-top' with her; if it's rooted in good acting, there's no such thing. She knows that. But, at times — and I don't think she'd mind my saying it — she's out of her mind.

"One of my favorite moments is when Edmund learns that his mother has sent Cathleen [the maid] into town to pick up drugs. 'Mama, you can't do that. You can't trust her. You don't know that she won't tell anyone.' She says, 'Tell? Tell what? That I have rheumatism? That I need medication for the pain in my hands?' Her next line is, 'I never knew what rheumatism was — until you were born.' She'd sort of spit it at me, like a cat, across the stage.

"Then, one night — I don't know if she was bored, or rambunctious — she jumped up and started walking toward me. Her nails were curled like a witch, and she made a growling sound like a cat. She said the line, and walloped me across the face. I'd never heard 1,100 people gasp at the same time. Afterward, she asked, 'Did I hurt you?' It stung, but I lived. She said, 'I think that sort of worked.' Take it from the guy who took the punch — it worked. It was one of the most stunning moments I've ever lived through onstage. She said, 'Do you mind if we keep exploring that?'

"The stage manager asked, 'Robert, are you sure you're okay with this?' I don't know if she'd agree with this, but she's one of those actors who doesn't remember everything she does onstage. But look what she's creating every night."

Leonard comes across as straightforward and sincere. He has a good sense of humor, and even a better sense of himself. Born Robert Lawrence Leonard "in Washington Township, New Jersey," the actor is the youngest of three. His parents, Robert Howard Leonard (who taught Spanish) and the former Joyce Peterson (an RN who once taught art), also have another son and daughter: Sean (who's in law enforcement) and Kimberly (an English teacher).

Young Robert joined the New Players Company. "I was there for many years." He grew up in Ridgewood, NJ, and attended Ridgewood High. Later on, he took classes at Columbia and Fordham Universities. Upon joining SAG, he was told that there was already a member named Robert Leonard, and that he could add his middle name. But Robert Lawrence Leonard seemed too long, so he substituted his brother's name.

A fan of old movies, his favorite actors include Joseph Cotten, William Holden, Montgomery Clift, and Jimmy Stewart. "The first time I saw 'A Wonderful Life,' it rocked my world. I also like 'Shop Around the Corner' and 'Made for Each Other' [both Stewart films]. Clift and Stewart had a very human quality.

"I never quite got the wounded, angry kid that James Dean played; I didn't like him much. While other boys got mushy over Kate Jackson, I got mushy over Jean Arthur — 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,' 'You Can't Take It with You' [both co-starring Stewart]. She seemed so confident, so smart, so sexy."

His New Players debut was not on, but underneath, the stage "as Annie Sullivan's dead brother in The Miracle Worker. I had a script and a flashlight, and would make sounds when Annie would talk about him." Leonard appeared in a number of New Players' shows, including Shenandoah (as part of the ensemble), Oliver! (the Artful Dodger), and The Music Man (as Winthrop).

Early 1985 marked his first New York stage credit, as understudy for three roles in Coming of Age in Soho, at the Public. "I was brought in when it was extended." (He never went on.) His Off-Broadway debut (May 1985) occurred in Sally's Gone, She Left Her Name, as Cynthia Nixon's brother, with Michael Learned and David Canary playing their parents. Noted the New York Times review, "Robert Leonard also makes a vivid impression as the eccentric kid brother...."

Leonard's reflections on some stage and screen performances:

The Beach House (1985, Off-Broadway): He was studying at HB Studios at the time, and when he auditioned for the non-HB play (and landed the part) without asking permission, "[HB] wouldn't let me leave. George Grizzard [who had the lead in The Beach House] called me, though he didn't know me: 'What's this I hear about you turning down my play?' I explained that I was at HB. He said, 'Are you out of your f--king mind? You're going to learn more with me in one night than you'll learn in a year at that place.'"

Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986, Broadway): "Fantastic! My Broadway debut. Dick Latessa, who played my father, is one of those guys that everybody loves. He's packed with talent and generosity. For him to be one of my first guides was a real gift!"

Breaking the Code (1987, Broadway): "I had a great time. The first Broadway role I originated."

The film "Mr. & Mrs. Bridge" (1990): "I couldn't have been more excited to meet Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward [who played his parents], Blythe Danner, Simon Callow, Austin Pendleton, and James Ivory [who directed]. My career has gone oddly. After 'Dead Poets,' the next three jobs I did were [not commercial successes]: Romeo and Juliet, at the Riverside [Shakespeare Company]; 'Mr. & Mrs. Bridge'; and a weird play [Rocky and Diego] in Philadelphia. I never wanted to be Tom Cruise; I wanted to be Sam Waterston. He's a huge inspiration — 'Much Ado,' 'Killing Fields,' Lincoln. My God, I saw [Waterston in] Abe Lincoln in Illinois four times."

The Speed of Darkness (1991, Broadway): "Very important to my career. The director was Robert Falls [who would later direct him in Long Day's Journey]."

Candida (1993, Broadway): "My first Tony nomination, which was shocking. We had closed [by the time the nominees were announced]."

The film "Swing Kids" (1993): "Beautiful screenplay, terrible direction. I met [cast member] Kenneth Branagh, and shamelessly campaigned to be in 'Much Ado About Nothing.' Of course, he knew what I was up to. I don't even like the part of Claudio — in fact, I despise it — but I knew it was the only role I'd be right for. I wore him down."

The film "The Age of Innocence" (1993): "I still don't know how I got that role [as Daniel Day-Lewis' son]. I didn't audition. My guess is that Winona [Ryder, an acquaintance] told Daniel, who told Martin Scorsese. It's one of my favorites; I love it. Tim Monich, a great speech coach, saved my life. I told him that I didn't know what to do. My scenes take place 45 years after the rest of the film. He said, 'That was the time of new money in New York. Think of Mr. Howell [Jim Backus] in 'Gilligan's Island': a little too loud, a little too much money.' I'm really proud of that — thanks to Tim. I don't like my work on film. I'm always impressed by someone like Daniel [Day-Lewis] who walks in front of a camera with no self-consciousness. I feel constrained."

Arcadia (1995, Broadway): "It proves that if you work on something long enough...."

The TV film "The Boys Next Door" (1996): "It wasn't very successful, but I got to meet and work with Mare Winningham — one of the joys of my life. She's the real McCoy."

The cable TV movie "In the Gloaming" (1997): "The last real amount of time I got to spend with Chris Reeve [who directed]. We did a lot of readings together. I'd loved to have seen what Chris might have done, if not for 'Superman.' That kind of thing can be a blessing, but I don't think it was for Chris. It limited his options. He had the heart of a real theatre actor, and you're not going to find a nicer guy."

You Never Can Tell (1998, Off-Broadway): "I loved every minute. You don't get better than Katie Finneran."

The Iceman Cometh (1999, Broadway): "Kevin Spacey saw me in You Never Can Tell, and offered me the role of Don Parritt. I don't know why. I didn't have to audition.

"Austin Pendleton later told me, 'If you can play that role, and by the end of the play, announce you're going to kill yourself — without the audience breaking into applause — you're a better actor than I am.' I was grateful to be part of it."

The Invention of Love (2001, Broadway): "I read the script — and after Act One, fell asleep. The next morning, I called my agent, and told him, 'I have no idea what this play is about. I can't get through it.' He said, 'If you don't do this role, I'll kill you.'

"I was at the Huntington [in Boston], and Nicky Martin [its artistic director] said, 'Look, if Tom Stoppard and Jack O'Brien [who directed] are telling you you're right for a part, they're right — no matter what you think. Believe me, they know more than you.'" (Leonard won a Tony Award for it.)

The Music Man (2001, Broadway): "That was [Susan Stroman's] idea. I had to work for it; I had to prove myself. I don't know what made her think of me, but I'm glad she did.

"It was like a birthday cake every day. To stand next to Rebecca Luker, while she was singing 'Till There Was You' — and get paid for it. It doesn't get better than that."

The Violet Hour (2003, Broadway): "That was a bit of an unfortunate train wreck. We did the best we could. It was a good role for me; I think I did well in it. The second act is tricky, but it was a lovely experience. The director [Evan Yianoulis] was good. Mario Cantone was great. I made a good friend in Scott Foley. But it didn't quite work."

Asked to mention a few career highlights, he claims, "There are so many." Among those he shared: "James Lapine calling and asking me to read Boyd Gaines' part in The Heidi Chronicles, with Jennifer Ehle, because Andre [Bishop] and Bernie [Gersten] wanted to hear it. I told him, 'It means so much to me, more than 20 years later, that you believe in me.' To me, that's it — it's family. To be included in a room with people you admire is one of the greatest joys in life."

Our Town, at the Shaftesbury, in 1991, remains Leonard's only London appearance. His sole Tennessee Williams play ("unfortunately") was The Glass Menagerie (his favorite Williams play), at Baltimore's Center Stage, in 1997. He played Tom (who's based on the playwright).

"I'm not a director, but I had an idea I wanted to try. At the end of Act One, the script says that Tom 'steps away, or disappears.' Amanda calls Laura, 'Come, look at the moon, darling...make a wish.' It leads to the lights going out. 'This may be cheesy,' I told the director, 'but I want to stand with one foot offstage and the other, on — and watch the scene. I want to use the papers, my writing, almost like a paint brush, sweep the text over them, and bring the lights down.' It worked beautifully. We kept it in."

Confessing to a "guilty pleasure," Leonard admits that he collects disparaging reviews. A favorite example refers to a recent film release. Quotes Leonard: "'88 Minutes,' unfortunately for the audience, runs 108 minutes."

Here comes the groom: An August date has been set for Leonard to marry long-time fiancée Gabriella "Gaby" Salick. How did they meet? "An acquaintance said, 'I know of only one other person who loves to stay home as much as you do. I think you'd like her.' Our favorite things are watching 'Law & Order,' and walking our dogs [Bradley, "named for Bill Bradley," and Happy]. We're a perfect match."

Come fall, Leonard's series switches to Tuesdays (8 PM ET). When his "House" work ends, he plans "on coming home [New York]. I'll have some money in the bank, maybe Gaby and I will start a family, and I can go back to doing plays."

[Venusia]

Voici un article paru sur Zap2it le 13 Juin 2008.

Attention Spoiler Saison 4

Extrait

Hugh Laurie et une partie du cast de House ont fait une apparition au "Special Screening of an Episode" le 12 Juin au Arclight Cinema à Hollywood.

Sur la saison 5 : Ils ont dit qu'ils ont enchainés directement le tournage de la saison 5 de suite après la saison 4. Comme ça, même s'il y a une grève des acteurs, nous aurons toujours quelques épisodes pour patienter.

Sur la décision de tuer Amber : Nous n'avons pas un quota de "morts" à respecter, mais nous somme conscient que certaines morts sont nécessaire à la série, nous dit David.
La question principale que se posent les scénaristes est, "est-ce que la mort d'Amber a un but pour l'histoire. Avec Amber, ils savaient quand ils l'ont faite revenir qu'ils allaient la tuer, parce qu'ils voulaient explorer ce qui arriverait si House ne pouvait sauver la femme que Wilson aime. Ce thème sera approfondi dans la saison 5.

Sur ce que nous n'avons pas vu dans le final de la saison 4 : Robert nous dit, qu'il y a eu une conversation entre Wilson et Cameron dans la cafétéria, cette scène a été coupée. Il dit que c'était vraiment une jolie scène et a été déçu de ne pas la voir dans la version finale de l'épisode. Elle sera peut-être dans les bonus des DVD.

Article

Die hard House fans came out in full force last night for the final installment of the Los Angeles Times' Primetime Emmy screening series, and KTV's intern Marisa Roffman was among the attendees. Me? I was home obsessing over the So You Think You Can Dance results show -- au revoir Rayven and Jamie -- but I can do that when I've got a girl as capable as Marisa covering for me. Behold the evening's highlights, courtesy of her:

A screening of the House season finale and a Q&A with the cast (plus, free House bumper stickers and magnets!) attracted viewers from as far as Northern California, who arrived as early as noon to wait in line for tickets. In attendance was the “sexy, surly pinup boy” (according to our moderator) Hugh Laurie, Robert Sean Leonard, Omar Epps, executive producer/creator David Shore, executive producer/director of the screened episode Katie Jacobs and director of photography Gale Tattersall. Among the secrets they revealed...

On season five: Everyone was incredibly tight-lipped, but they did say that they went straight from shooting season four into shooting season five. So even if there is a SAG strike, we’ll still have some new House to look forward to.

On the decision to kill Amber: “We don’t have a [death] quota, but we are conscious of [mortalities being needed on the show],” David shared. The main question the writers ask themselves is, does the death serve a purpose for the story? With Amber, they knew when they brought her back that they were going to kill her, because they wanted to explore what would happen if House couldn’t save the woman that Wilson loved. That theme will extend itself into season five.

On what we didn’t see in the season four finale: Robert shared that a conversation between Cameron and Wilson in the cafeteria was cut. He said it was a really sweet scene and was disappointed it didn’t make the final version of the episode. Maybe it'll be included in the DVD extras.

On the major cast changes after season three: “The notion that people would keep working for [House] indefinitely is not real,” David said. He felt it would've been unrealistic to pretend that Cameron, Chase and Foreman would stay forever and put up with his crap, and after season three seemed like the right time for them to move forward since their fellowship with House was only supposed to last three years.

On Foreman returning to House's team: Omar (who pretended to storm out of the panel when he found out the Lakers had lost the playoff game that was airing while the event was going on) said that Foreman is currently between a rock and a hard place, because while he’s the head of the new ducklings, nothing has really changed. He still has to work for House. He was hesitant about saying that Foreman likes House, but shared that, despite their differences, Foreman respects him. As far as upcoming romantic possibilities for the character, Omar joked that Foreman is asexual.

On the House/13 relationship: Next season, they will explore the contrast between these two, as related to their individual illnesses -- House’s being an external sickness, 13's Huntington's disease being an internal sickness. As for any sexual tension between the two? “I think the sexual tension comes from the way [Olivia Wilde] looks!” David joked.

Hugh Laurie on House: “I love him, but that sounds a little weird,” he laughed. Hugh sees House as a romantic character, comparing him to the Phantom from Phantom of the Opera. He said that, from the pilot, House really didn’t want to interact with patients, partially because he was self-conscious about his limp and his physical limitations, which Hugh views in a romantic light.

Hugh Laurie Audition Facts: He couldn’t find a cane to bring to the audition, so he used an umbrella. Katie shared that Hugh wore a button that said “sexy” into the room. He insists it was simply his attempt at being ironic. While the pilot script called for House to be 34, David insists that he never wanted House to be that young. He was also worried about the chosen actor being too “chiseled," because “if Brad Pitt had played the part, you would have gone, oh shut up!’”

[Venusia]

Interview de Lisa Edelstein parue sur le site Lesoir.be le mardi 17 Juin 2008.

Lisa Edelstein était au Festival télé de Monte-Carlo
« House ? Fascinant et sexy »

LA LISA CUDDY de « Dr House » parle de la série et commente sa relation avec l’insupportable toubib.
« House ? Fascinant et sexy »

Directrice de l’hôpital où travaille Gregory House, Lisa Cuddy a bien du mal à gérer les frasques et les lubies de son subalterne… © FOX.

ENTRETIEN
MONTE-CARL
DE NOTRE ENVOYÉE SPÉCIALE : AGNES GORISSEN

Souvent, on la plaint. Parce que le docteur Lisa Cuddy, directrice d’hôpital, a la tâche très très ardue de devoir gérer le docteur Gregory House. Vous voyez qui c’est ? L’insupportable type qui malmène patients et assistants, qui veut toujours avoir raison, mais qui, génial toubib, ne baisse les bras face à un défi médical que quand il a trouvé le bon diagnostic. Eh bien figurez-vous que le docteur Cuddy est venue s’épancher la semaine dernière au 48e Festival de télévision de Monte-Carlo. Ou plutôt Lisa Edelstein, la comédienne qui l’incarne. Rencontre lors d’une conférence de presse.

Vous avez déjà rencontré quelqu’un comme le Dr House dans la vraie vie ?
Non. Mais j’aimerais, parce que c’est un personnage vraiment fascinant. Et sexy.

Votre relation avec lui balance entre amour et frustration. C’est quoi, la suite ?
Les scénaristes ne me l’ont pas dit. Mais si la relation entre House et Cuddy est si intéressante, c’est justement parce qu’elle englobe l’amour, la frustration et aussi le respect. Comme dans la vraie vie.

Vous pensez que vous aurez un jour le dernier mot face à lui ?
Difficile de l’imaginer face à un tel personnage…

En dehors du prénom, Lisa, vous avez des points communs avec le docteur Cuddy ?
On aime toutes les deux avoir raison. Toutes les deux, nous sommes concentrées, acharnées. Mais je suis plus fantaisiste qu’elle. Et je ne porte pas de jupes aussi serrées, qui obligent à faire de tout petits pas !

Dans les saisons précédentes, le docteur Cuddy a évoqué le souhait d’avoir un enfant. Un rapport avec vous ?
Oui. Quand la série a commencé, j’ai dit au producteur qu’à un moment, il faudrait que mon personnage soit enceinte… Les scénaristes ont mis l’hypothèse en germe dans la série pour ouvrir cette possibilité à la femme que je suis dans la réalité.

Rassurez-nous : vous n’êtes pas devenue hypocondriaque à force de voir défiler des cas dans la série ?
Non, ce n’est pas sérieux à ce point ! Et puis, mon père était médecin et il m’emmenait parfois avec lui quand j’étais petite. J’étais sidérée de le voir faire. Ici, c’est plus un jeu de devinettes.

C’est difficile, une série comme celle-là, qui mélange drame et comédie ?
Il faut des acteurs qui peuvent voyager dans les deux genres. Jouer est facile quand l’écriture est bonne. Alors, on peut tout se permettre, même si le genre de la série est indéfinissable.

Dans « Dr House », quelles scènes avez-vous le plus et le moins appréciées ?
Mon plus mauvais souvenir a été celle du procès de House – je déteste les tribunaux. Le meilleur est dans la saison 4, mais vous ne l’avez pas encore vue, je ne peux rien dire…

Dans cette saison 4, il paraît que vous avez une scène de strip-tease.
C’est vrai. J’ai appris avec un prof qui enseigne ça aux couples qui veulent pimenter leur relation. On a tourné pendant quatre heures. C’était vraiment drôle, mais les moments que je préférais ont été coupés au montage. Comme je n’étais pas très à l’aise, j’ai d’abord répété la scène devant Hugh (Hugh Laurie, le comédien qui joue Gregory House, NDLR). Il m’a vraiment soutenue, encouragée. Une vraie pom-pom girl !

[Yoyo]

Interview de David Shore parue sur The Star Ledger

Attention spoiler saison 4 et 5

SEASON FOUR of "House" was so tumultuous, both on camera (a competition to find new members of House's team ran for more than half the season) and off (the strike shut down production for months) that you'll forgive the show's creator, David Shore, if he has trouble remembering exactly what happened by the end of it.

"I forget," he admits. "I've been working on it for so long now. It's not like a usual year."

Reminded that we left off with Dr. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) blaming House (Hugh Laurie) for the death of his girlfriend -- and one of the failed finalists for House's team -- Amber (Anne Dudek), the lightbulb clicks for Shore, and he begins rattling off details of how season five (debuting on Sept. 16) will continue those stories. Specifically:

# They will follow up on the House/Wilson split "in a funny but realistic way." Though he acknowledges the Laurie/Leonard chemistry is too good to keep the friends apart for very long, "the journey's really cool. We learn something about Wilson, we learn something about House, and we learn something about their relationship."

# Shore admits that "we under-utilized" original team members Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) and Chase (Jesse Spencer), who became glorified extras for much of last season, even though their characters were re-assigned in the hospital with the best of writerly intentions.

"The notion was that they would be coming back in different capacities in the hospital, and therefore come back with a greater gravitas, and have a different relationship with House; and that would be refreshing. As little as we used them -- again, we would have liked to use them more -- I really did like the use we made of them. They would come in for only a scene or two an episode, but those scenes had a greater weight."

Shore says finding ways to use Morrison and Spencer more in season five is still "a work in progress," but has plans for Foreman (Omar Epps) to bring them a case, independent of House. He plans to follow-up on Cameron's comment that she missed being on House's team, even though she didn't miss House himself.

# In season four's penultimate episode, Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) referred to the mysterious Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) as "Dr. Hadley," and though House commented at the time that Cuddy didn't know Thirteen's real name, Shore confirms that Cuddy had it right. Just don't expect to hear the name very often.

"No, she's Thirteen. She'll always be Thirteen."

# Early in the season, House will hire a private detective, played by Michael Weston (you may remember him as the guy who carjacked David Fisher on "Six Feet Under"), to break-and-enter into a patient's home, in lieu of having one of his doctors do it. The detective -- "a character that only House could love" -- will stick around for a while, possibly to set up a spin-off that would fulfill one of Shore's TV fantasies.

As he explains it, "I've always loved 'The Rockford Files.'"

Traduction

La saison 4 de House a été très tumultueuse, que ce soit devant la caméra (la compétition pour trouver les nouveaux membres de l’équipe de House a duré plus de la moitié de la saison) ou derrière (la grève a stoppé la production pendant des mois) que vous pardonnerez au créateur de la série, David Shore, s'il a des difficultés à se rappeler exactement ce qui s'est passé ici à la fin de celle-ci.

"J’oublie", admet-il. "J’ai travaillé dessus depuis si longtemps maintenant. Ce n’est pas comme une année habituelle ".

Vous vous souvenez que nous nous sommes arrêtés avec le Dr.Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) blâmant House (Hugh Laurie) pour la mort de sa petite copine – et une des finalistes perdantes pour l’équipe de House : Amber (Anne Dudek), ça a fait tilt pour Shore, et il commence débiter à toute allure des détails sur la manière dont la saison cinq (qui démarre le 16 septembre) continuera ces histoires.
Plus précisément :

# Ils donneront suite à l’ouverture House/Wilson "de façon drôle mais réaliste". Quoiqu’il reconnaisse que l’alchimie Laurie/Leonard est trop bonne pour garder les amis éloignés pendant trop longtemps, "le voyage est vraiment super". Nous apprenons des choses sur Wilson, nous apprenons des choses sur House et nous apprenons des choses au sujet de leur relation.

#Shore admet que "nous avons sous-exploité" les membres originaux de l’équipe, Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) and Chase (Jesse Spencer), qui sont devenus des extras idéalisés pendant une grande partie de la saison dernière, bien que leurs personnages aient été réassignés à l'hôpital avec de meilleures intentions scénaristique.

"L'idée était qu'ils reviendraient dans des compétences différentes à l'hôpital et reviendraient donc avec une plus grande distinction et auraient une relation différente avec House ; qui serait originale. Ainsi comme nous les avons peu utilisés - de nouveau, nous aurions aimé les utiliser plus - j'ai vraiment aimé la manière dont nous les avons utilisés. Ils entraient pour seulement une scène ou deux par épisode, mais ces scènes avaient un plus grand poids.

Shore dit que trouver le moyen d’utiliser plus Morrison et Spencer dans la saison 5 est toujours "d'actualité" mais qu’il a des plans pour Foreman (Omar Epps) afin de leur apporter un cas, indépendant de House. Il prévoit de suivre les commentaires de Cameron, que ça lui manque de ne plus faire partie de l'équipe de House, même si House ne lui a pas manqué.

# Dans l’avant dernier épisode de la saison 4, le Dr.Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) parle de la mystérieuse Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) comme du "Dr.Haddley", et même si House fait la remarque sur le fait que Cuddy ne connaissait pas le vrai nom de Thirteen, Shore confirme que Cuddy avait raison. Ne vous attendez pas à entendre le nom très souvent.

"Non, elle est Thirteen. Elle sera toujours Thirteen".

# En début de saison, House embauchera un détective privé, joué par Michel Weston (vous vous rappeler peut-être de lui, comme le type qui vole la voiture de David Fisher dans "Six Feet Under"), pour pénétrer par effraction dans la maison d'un patient, au lieu que ce soit un de ces médecins qui le fasse. Le détective ("un personnage que seul House pourrait aimer") restera dans le coin pour un moment, probablement pour créer un spin-off qui exaucerait un des rêves TV de Shore.

Comme il l’explique « J’ai toujours aimé "Deux cents dollars plus les frais".

[Gabbys]

En me promenant sur le net, j'ai trouvé un article sur le site de Canal +, parlant de notre Docteur préfère. Je n'arrive pas a mettre le lien :oops: donc j'ai fait un copier coller :

DR HOUSE JUSQU'EN 2012 !
vendredi 12 septembre 2008
Hugh Laurie, le célèbre DR HOUSE, vient de signer un nouveau contrat avec les producteurs de la série. Désormais lié jusqu'en 2012, il a en outre bénéficié d'une importante revalorisation salariale. L'acteur anglais touchera désormais 400 000 dollars par épisode (soit plus de 9 millions par an)! Laurie devient ainsi un des acteurs de série les mieux payés.

Avec ce nouveau contrat, il endosse également la casquette de producteur, ce qui lui permettra d'avoir sont mot à dire sur les évolutions de la série. A titre de comparaison, William Petersen (LES EXPERTS) gagne 600 000 dollars par épisode, et Kiefer Sutherland (24), 500 000. Ils sont à la fois acteurs et producteurs exécutifs de leur série.

L'année passée, Dr House à été la deuxième série la plus regardée au U.S.A, juste derrière DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, avec 16,7 millions de téléspectateurs en moyenne. La saison 5, diffusée sur la FOX, débutera le 16 septembre prochain aux Etats-Unis.

CREDIT PHOTO : Fox Broadcasting

[Yoyo]

Yep l'heureux veinard que ce Dr House... et pour l'info on l'a mit en ligne il y a quelques jours déjà ( http://www.house-fr.com/news/2008/09/12 ... gh-laurie/) mais merci quand même ;)

[Alienor]

Un article dans "le Monde des séries", le blog de Pierre Serisier.

18 septembre 2008
Saison 5 - House est-il toujours le même ?

http://seriestv.blog.lemonde.fr/2008/09 ... s-le-meme/
Je ne suis pas d'accord avec tout (surtout avec la surprenante hypothèse finale de l'auteur.) :D mais c'est intéressant notamment sur l'humanité de House...

[Kerni]

Hugh Laurie est dans le magazine playboy (version US) qui doit sortir en février 2009.

Voici son interview en anglais sur le site du magazine.

Une conversation franche avec l'acteur qui joue le personnage le plus grognon de la TV, au sujet des Britanniques contre les Yankees, son avis partagé sur son succès et pourquoi nous aimons un misanthrope.

pic1.jpg

A candid conversation with the actor behind TV’s grouchiest character about Brits versus Yanks, his conflicted view of success and why we love a misanthrope.

"I think being moody is part of my nature. Though looking back, I think I am much less moody and depressed now than when I was 25. Gradually I’ve mellowed. I was probably depressed all the time back then."

Not often does someone become a star by playing an unlikable curmudgeon week after miserable week. But that’s what happened to Hugh Laurie with House, the phenomenally popular medical drama on which he has turned the limping, pill-popping misanthrope Dr. Gregory House into one of the most memorable and oddly appealing characters on TV.

With shades of Sherlock Holmes by way of Hawkeye Pierce on a crabby day, House isn’t out to heal the world or make patients happy. He doesn’t have a soft spot for kids and old ladies, and he would rather watch monster-truck jams than read a stupid CT scan. No matter how antisocial he is, no matter how bitter (his favorite diagnosis is “The patient is lying”), House inevitably saves the day—even when it kills him to.

But those are mere character tics. What really separates House is Laurie’s star quality. Unlike almost every other hit drama series now—Lost, E.R., Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Heroes, the CSI trilogy—this one isn’t about the ensemble cast. House is about House the way Kojak was about Kojak and All in the Family was about Archie. Okay, yes, there’s Kiefer Sutherland on 24 but nobody holds together a top drama quite the way Laurie does.

Watching him rattle off American medical speak week after week, it’s easy to forget Laurie is British. Born in Oxford, England in 1959, he is the youngest of four children. His mother died following a lengthy illness shortly before Laurie turned 30, and his father, a physician who won an Olympic gold medal for rowing, died just before Laurie landed House.

A national youth rowing champion himself, Laurie contemplated an athletic career but let those dreams go after being sidelined by a nasty case of mononucleosis while at Cambridge University. He took up acting instead and was soon part of a talented circle that included Emma Thompson, whom he briefly dated, and Stephen Fry, who became his comedy partner. No highlight reel of U.K. comedy from the 1980s or 1990s would be complete without a clip of Fry and Laurie in twit or fop mode on sketch programs like Blackadder or their own A Bit of Fry and Laurie.

Those antics made Laurie a household name among BBC viewers, but he never quite broke through in the States. There were one-off guest roles on Friends and Family Guy, and he played the dad in Stuart Little. But the audition tape he recorded in a hotel bathroom in Namibia, where he was filming Flight of the Phoenix, was what got Laurie the role of his career. Since 2004 House has earned him a pair of Golden Globes, three Emmy nominations and the distinction of being one of the most-watched scripted TV programs, even though the actor has never quite let go of England. His wife of 20 years, Jo Green, and their three children still live in north London. It’s anyone’s guess how the California house Laurie bought last summer will change things.

Playboy dispatched Contributing Editor David Hochman to meet with Laurie over the course of several weeks as House’s fifth season got under way. They met at various hotels and on the show’s set at 20th Century Fox Studios in Los Angeles. Hochman’s report: “For all House’s crankiness and sarcasm, you would expect him to be played by an actor with at least a trace of mean-spiritedness. But Laurie is as gentle and self-effacing as House is a grouch. Each time the issue of his success came up, he looked as if he wanted to hide under a pillow. It embarrasses him to celebrate his achievements, even though he has done so much. It’s almost as though he’s afraid if he believes in his success, he’ll lose the jones for all the long hours House demands. Every actor should take a cue from the way Laurie handles his fame.”

PLAYBOY: You recently bought a house—a big one—in Los Angeles after years of commuting back and forth to London. Has Hugh Laurie gone Hollywood at last?
LAURIE: I’ve put down, not quite roots but more like a flowerpot. My family still lives in London, but I finally had to accept that House has some sort of permanence. I was so convinced in the first few years that it was never going to last—because nothing does. Simply statistically, the odds are very much against it in television. But here we are.

PLAYBOY: In fact, you’re coming up on the 100th episode. That makes Dr. House one of the crankiest success stories on TV since Archie Bunker, right?
LAURIE: Oh dear God. Don’t say that. Success on a cosmic level like that completely eludes me. I’m deeply suspicious of things being too good. It’s part of my superstition, I think, to generate pain in order to give the illusion of gain. That’s my MO. I’m not saying I reject success, but honestly, I don’t quite know how to deal with it. It’s an old feeling: As soon as you have the thing you’ve been going after all your life, that reasonable degree of security, you start kicking against it, doubting it. That’s why I get uneasy whenever journalists assemble lists. The best! The crankiest! I don’t feel worthy of any list. Lists are for bright and shiny people. Lists are for people on big and shiny shows like Lost, Desperate Housewives, Heroes. I’m more stubbly and grumpy than bright and shiny.

PLAYBOY: That sounds a little like House talking. How much of you is in him, and vice versa?
LAURIE: I guess we have certain similarities. We both look at the world with one eyebrow arched. We’re both quite serious but also have a childishness. He and I are eternal adolescents but with this morbid gravity. The other thing is, we both have issues with joy, in so much as we think it’s beyond us. I often picture that scene in the Woody Allen movie when he’s on the train and looks into another car that’s full of people laughing. They’re drinking champagne; somebody has a trombone. And Woody is very much on the outside of that, looking in. I’d say that sums up my view of the world, as well as House’s.

PLAYBOY: Hasn’t the show’s continued success improved your mood?
LAURIE: Not really. I think being moody is part of my nature, though looking back, I am much less moody and depressed now than when I was 25. Gradually I’ve mellowed. I was probably depressed all the time back then. Now it’s more occasional.

PLAYBOY: What changed?
LAURIE: It’s tiresome to be so wound up in yourself and dark, and it’s hard on others. My moodiness probably has a greater effect on other people—the people I live and work with—than it does on me. Nobody likes being around someone who’s bemoaning his fate all the time, and I didn’t want to be that person. I also understand now what gets me out of my head when I get depressed: physical exercise, doing a chore. I’ll hang a picture, let’s say. Or perhaps I’ll take a toothbrush and clean the spokes on my motorcycle.

PLAYBOY: What about antidepressants?
LAURIE: They have been an answer, yes. They’re something I’ve tried that has helped. They’re probably good for my work because they help with confidence, and confidence is the prerequisite of all successful endeavors. But then again, as I said, I get suspicious if things start to feel too easy or comfortable, so that’s not a perfect solution either.

PLAYBOY: Do you worry that being under the spell of medication will overthrow your powers as an actor, particularly when you’re playing a curmudgeon like House?
LAURIE: It’s a tricky question, isn’t it? Pharmaceuticals do raise the question of who we are as human beings. What are moods and feelings if we can change or even do away with them? Does that reduce the essence of who we are? Then again, I tend to overthink these things. I overthink everything, I think. But if your eyesight fails, it’s okay to wear glasses or contact lenses, is it not? If you feel cold, you put on a sweater. Is that changing the nature of who you are? No.
I worry sometimes that I’ve said too much on this subject. It gives the idea that I’m some sort of near basket case who has to be coaxed out of his cave on weekends. I’m okay. Really, I am.

PLAYBOY: Speaking of pharmaceuticals, House sure does love his Vicodin. He doesn’t have any close friends or family. He has that famous limp, and he’s nasty to just about everyone. Remind us again: What’s his appeal?
LAURIE: It’s a combination of things. His being a skilled healer is an attractive quality. We’d all like to feel there is somebody out there who can save us when we’re up against it, when our life or our loved ones are in peril. God knows it would be nice if someone out there right now had the answer, and House almost always has the answer.
Also he’s free from the social gravity that holds us all down and prevents us from saying what we think and doing what we want. That gravity keeps us down. But because he doesn’t seem to obey those laws, because he doesn’t care if people like him or approve of him, he’s a character who flies. Dreams of flight or weightlessness are very common to us. We all dream of being able to rise and sort of float above the world, and I think that’s what House is doing socially.

PLAYBOY: He’s also funny.
LAURIE: Right. There’s that, too. I find him a very funny character, but it’s not just that he’s funny. There was a line, a moment of absolute encapsulation for me, from a scene in which House has to interrupt an operation. His colleague Wilson is in the operating theater, and House has to take a patient in to introduce him to Wilson. The first line, to one of the other surgeons, is “Mind if we play through?”

PLAYBOY: That’s funny.
LAURIE: I remember thinking at the time that the line was somehow superfluous to the scene, which was actually about Wilson’s appraisal of the patient. All it called for was a line to the effect of “Hey, Wilson, meet this guy.” But [head writer and show creator] David Shore found exactly the right phrase to characterize House in that moment. Yes, House is dark and tortured and lonely and gruff and all those things, but there’s something terrifically connected and exuberant about him. He takes pleasure in language, pleasure in a good joke. He is a believer, as I am, in the power of humor. In a world of death and misery where people are dropping all around him, where fate is often cruel rather than kind, humor is his only meaningful response to existence.

PLAYBOY: Not to make this a “list” question, but what are some of your all-time favorite House episodes?
LAURIE: There are good things in lots of them, but as a complete episode, I think “Three Stories” is the best—very ambitious and by and large very successful as these things go. It’s the one in which House gives three lectures, and each one tells a different story about human suffering—in particular, leg pain, which is his malady. It’s the story of what happened to House’s leg, and it’s told with great compassion and ingenuity. The show’s brilliant writers found a way to tie all three stories together, involve the entire cast and create a fantasy sequence featuring Carmen Electra playing golf. You can’t ask for more than that in a single episode.
The other one that comes to mind is also one of the very first we did, called “Autopsy,” written by Larry Kaplow. Absolutely exquisite. It’s about a little girl suffering from a brain tumor, and everybody in the hospital constantly sings her praises as a brave little angel. But House commits this absolute blasphemy of doubting her bravery. You’re not allowed to do that, especially on TV and especially with children. People who suffer from cancer are sanctified. But House being House, he makes the shocking but nonetheless inarguable point that not everybody can be as brave as everybody else. If everyone’s a hero, the word has no meaning. I love House for being able to say things like that. It’s quite liberating to go against the grain, even as an actor reciting lines. House then goes further and actually starts to doubt the bravery is hers but is rather a symptom, a tumor, perhaps, that’s affecting her personality. But the most brilliant element of it is that he’s wrong!

PLAYBOY: But House is never wrong.
LAURIE: Precisely. But he is wrong. And it forces him to admit there are eternal qualities and inarguable virtues like bravery. It’s moments like those—or like the ones this season when House reveals just how vulnerable and alone he is, to the point where he sends a private investigator to keep an eye on Wilson, his only real friend—that bring this character alive. Honestly, though, I’ve seen only about 10 of the 100 episodes we’ve made, so I’m probably not the best judge.

PLAYBOY: You don’t watch the show?
LAURIE: I would if I weren’t on it. The attitude and the wit are very much in keeping with my sensibilities, but it’s simply too hard to watch myself acting.

PLAYBOY: Does your American accent bother you?
LAURIE: Well, that’s certainly difficult to get my head around. I’m still an Englishman to my core. And being British, I’m quite dubious anytime I hear any of my countrymen playing American. I think that’s why House doesn’t do so well in England. The show has done stupendously well in other European countries. It may even be the number one program in Spain and Germany. But the British are wise to me. Any sort of linguistic affectation drives the English absolutely mad. I mean, we are a nation of Professor Higginses, and we’re all out to detect falsehood and artifice in the way English speakers speak.

PLAYBOY: Are there certain words that especially trip you up?
LAURIE: Well, the r words are the biggest problem. Coronary artery—that’s a bad day when that comes up. Court order—also bad. New York, oddly, is a nightmare. The most difficult is any speech in which I have to repeat a word. It’s impossible to maintain the same inflection. So if you watch the show and I’m going on about cancer, listen to the way the word cancer changes each time I say it. You’ll understand why I can’t watch the show.

PLAYBOY: Several shows this season have non-Americans playing Yank parts: Aussie Simon Baker and Englishman Rufus Sewell, to name two. On the big screen Russell Crowe, Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett frequently speak American English. Are there not enough American actors to fill those roles?
LAURIE: I think it’s because people know too much about actors in their home territory. One of the reasons I got the role of House is, coming from England, I was largely unknown to Americans. There were no preconceived notions or expectations about how I was supposed to look or sound. I was new, and that was attractive. It’s also a sign of the End of Days, I believe. Once you start having foreigners do your TV shows, it’s pretty much over. The Romans found that to be the case. They had a lot of Australians coming into the Colosseum right before the whole thing started to implode.

PLAYBOY: Very funny. When did you realize House would be a hit?
LAURIE: Well, it was very gradual. In the first year we went unnoticed. I mean, nobody watched. It wasn’t until we followed American Idol in season two that it started to pick up.

PLAYBOY: Did people start saying, “Hey, did I go to high school with you?”
LAURIE: By the second season, people began staring at me, definitely. Or squinting in vague recognition. You suddenly realize the cell phone and the digital camera have changed the nature of what it means to be in public. It’s not paparazzi you have worry about anymore as a celebrity. It’s everyone.
Then we had some very big episodes, like our Super Bowl episode last year, when 30 million people were watching, and that’s when things got really strange. People want to know everything about you. They believe your life has changed. But the truth is, success changes nothing. I think it was General MacArthur who said no piece of news is either as good or as bad as it first appears. That’s a wise way to regard fame as well. It’s neither as good nor as bad as you expect it to be. Thirty million people watch you on television, but the next day things aren’t a different color. They don’t taste different. If your back hurt yesterday, your back will hurt today. It may hurt even more.

PLAYBOY: How much have you learned from the show? Do you know the treatment for osteochondritis?
LAURIE: Absolutely not.

PLAYBOY: The cure for fibromyalgia?
LAURIE: I’m not even certain I know what that is.

PLAYBOY: You are a very good actor, indeed.
LAURIE: I might have known those answers a week or two months ago. Or in 2002. But I retain absolutely nothing in the way of medical information. It’s frightening, really. The demands on my short-term memory are so great for this show. It’s an astonishingly good exercise in keeping my brain fresh and active, but it all goes out of my head 20 minutes after the scene is done.

PLAYBOY: With all those weird diseases on the show, have you become a hypochondriac?
LAURIE: It gives you pause to realize just how close we all are to so many nasty, ravaging ailments. But, touch wood, I’ve been extremely lucky in that department. We don’t deal with too many run-of-the-mill problems on our show, so it often feels like fantasy more than stark reality. We are a drama, after all. Also, if you look at what we do medically, it doesn’t really add up. We make a million mistakes. We fix illnesses in 42 minutes that would take eight months to cure in reality, and doctors could never carry out as many procedures as ours do. There would be an MRI technician, a radiologist to interpret the MRI and another doctor to present those findings to the patient. But we can’t have a cast of 85 people. It’s more satisfying to have these characters do everything rather than show patients waiting around in an office for results. That would be slightly less exciting to watch.

PLAYBOY: About as exciting as watching people try to meet their insurance deductibles.
LAURIE: That’s something I do think about, by the way. Coming from England, where we have a very different health care system, I do think about America’s in the context of this show. Insurance in many ways is the elephant in the room on House. It’s something we rarely address, but the question remains: Who’s paying for all this treatment? Do all these people really have the insurance to cover these procedures?

PLAYBOY: Right. Because it can’t be inexpensive to see Dr. House.
LAURIE: Not at all. I mean, just look at our set—corridors that would be a ward in Britain, the sort of sumptuous and endless well of resources people who come into the hospital seem to have on the show. But of course, they wouldn’t really have that. Only on TV do they have that. We have MRI machines coming out of our ears and every luxury to try experimental treatments and every test in the world. The reality is, for millions of Americans, the situation is quite different. It’s not our role to change a system like that, obviously, but I do think about it.

PLAYBOY: Have you had any lasting effects from limping for five seasons?
LAURIE: Yes, I get some shoulder pain or, as I like to call it, the makings of a massive civil suit against Fox. Then again, the rewards of doing my job make up for any physical distress the show may be causing.

PLAYBOY: Since you bring it up, is it ironic that you are paid far more than most real doctors are?
LAURIE: It’s a peculiar aspect of what I do, yes. I often think about my father, who was a physician, and how strange it is that I am better rewarded for faking this job than he ever was for doing the real thing. Go figure. It doesn’t seem right. He certainly treated more patients in an average week than I do.

PLAYBOY: Did you ever go on rounds with him?
LAURIE: I went on house calls with him. Usually I would sit in the car while he was inside lancing a boil or whatever. I mostly remember being at home answering the phone for him. This was in the days before answering machines. Being my father’s son, I sounded like him, and before I could say, “This isn’t the doctor,” they would jump in and say, “Doctor, thank God! It’s all exploded. I can’t stop it.” And with no obvious juncture for me to step out of the way, I would, you know.…

PLAYBOY: Make a diagnosis?
LAURIE: Let’s just say I’d reassure them. You’re an adolescent. You’re craving stimulation. “Well, it sounds like you’re doing the right thing there,” I’d say. Or “Oh yes, it will probably be all right. Call back if the swelling worsens.” As far as I remember, I never lost any patients.

PLAYBOY: Were you a rebellious teenager or just bored?
LAURIE: I think I suffered from the arrogance of youth. When I was 15, I and a group of school friends took a sort of pledge that we wouldn’t live beyond 40. We decided we’d kill ourselves. In fact, there were some hard-core members of the group—I wasn’t one of them—who wanted to make it 30. “I hope I die before I get old” sort of thing. Talk about arrogance. The arrogance of youth, it trumps all. We felt we knew absolutely everything there was to be known and the future held only decay and compromise and defeat. We vowed to get out of here before that happened. It’s an interesting problem, isn’t it? Because it’s hard to know whether your 15-year-old self is the true expression of who you are and everything that follows is a sort of diluted, watered-down, compromised version of that, of all those ideas and dreams you’ve had and that sort of fiery essence you had at 15. Or whether actually you’re just a sort of pencil sketch at 15. Which is the true you?

PLAYBOY: Your father didn’t live to see you on House. What would he have made of a doctor like that?
LAURIE: He would have been appalled. My father was a very polite man, a very gentle, soft-spoken fellow. He did not like arrogance, and he would have been appalled by the way House occasionally conducts himself. Very English, my dad. Reserved in that way. I remember when I wrote my novel, The Gun Seller, I dedicated it to him, which I thought he’d be rather pleased by. But suddenly it dawned on me that actually he was, if anything, slightly embarrassed by the fact that he had received a dedication in a book that contained profanity, not to mention sex and violence. He didn’t quite know how to cope with that. But I don’t know. I refuse to believe he wouldn’t have been pleased to see me on House. I think he would have been proud. He would have enjoyed seeing all the medical equipment, if nothing else.

PLAYBOY: I take it your father didn’t wear his Olympic medal around the house when you were growing up.
LAURIE: No. He did not wear it around the house. In fact, it was quite odd, but he hid it in a sock drawer. I didn’t even know about it until I was around 12. I remember I went fishing with my mother on a lake, or the loch, as they call it in Scotland. We got into this boat and my dad took the oars, and—I remember this moment—I rather anxiously said to Mother, “Does he know how to row?” But then I found this medal. Hey! What the hell is this? Very odd. Although it wasn’t actually gold. Because this was the first postwar Olympics, gold, like a lot of things, was in very short supply. It was gold leaf over tin.

PLAYBOY: But still.
LAURIE: Absolutely! And later at university he ended up coaching me in rowing. I rowed with him; we’d sometimes go out on a boat together. He was ferociously strong, a very powerful force to behold.

PLAYBOY: That was at Cambridge, where you also got your first taste of performing.
LAURIE: My first taste came when I was around 13. That’s when I realized I quite liked being onstage. I knew especially I liked making people laugh—and girls, most especially. I was scared to death of girls at that age, but onstage—as a king in a school play, for example—I would actually be seen by them, which is to say I wouldn’t be completely invisible, as was my normal condition. When I started performing for a living, I always thought of my audience as female. The audience was to be charmed and flirted with, seduced. But in reality my audiences very quickly became male. I’d go onstage, and it would be a group of very sullen-looking blokes with arms folded as if to say, “Okay, then. Whaddya got?” The audience was something that had to be beaten.

PLAYBOY: Your Cambridge cohort and former girlfriend Emma Thompson once described you as “lugubriously sexy, like a well-hung eel.” What exactly did she mean?
LAURIE: It’s quite a confounding image, isn’t it? I mean, are eels even hung at all? Those were blissful days, I must say. We couldn’t even imagine a life in Hollywood back then. Hollywood was as distant and impossible as El Dorado. It was all about fun. Watching Emma was like watching the sun or wind or some other elemental force. Her talent even then was inescapable. I remember she once did a monologue as a sort of gushy actress winning an award. I still remember the first line: “This award doesn’t really belong to me.” We thought, This woman is so gifted, she will win an award like that one day, maybe even an Oscar. That was also around the time I met Stephen Fry.

PLAYBOY: A Bit of Fry and Laurie was a huge comedy hit in the U.K., but you two haven’t worked together in a while. Any plans for a reunion?
LAURIE: I certainly hope so. It’s something we talk about a lot. Neither of us is a very good planner, though, and I think we’re both spoken for until, like, 2012, but we have some ideas for the stage, television and movies we think could work really well. Right now he’s putting the finishing touches on a documentary about the U.S. He has traveled to all 50 states. I suspect the people who commissioned the series were half hoping he would do some sort of sardonic satire on the foibles of Americans, but that isn’t Stephen’s way. I mean, he’s capable of being pretty savage, but he’s also a very generous and good-hearted soul. He looks to see the good in everything.

PLAYBOY: For those Americans who are unaware, can you please tell us who Ted Cunterblast is?
LAURIE: My God, I haven’t thought about that character in a very long time. He was a fictional author we created for a Fry and Laurie sketch, and the name got us into a lot of trouble with the controller of BBC Two. He called the producer the next day and said, “They used the word c-u-n-t!” And our producer said, “Well, actually, they used a name, C-u-n-t-erblast.” I wouldn’t dream of asserting there was anything clever or witty about that, but for some reason it amused our childish selves at the time.

PLAYBOY: Where do you fall on the famous rift between English and American comedy?
LAURIE: There is an old chestnut English people use to comfort themselves: the notion that, first of all, Americans have no sense of irony. Absolute nonsense. I don’t know who came up with that. Demonstrably, manifestly untrue. British comedy is simply more idiosyncratic and a bit less polished, but that’s because it’s usually done by one or two people rather than a committee of dozens of sitcom writers. When John Cleese did Fawlty Towers he and Connie Booth wrote all 12 of them. Almost all the great landmarks of British television are the product of one or two minds. Basil Fawlty is a magnificent creation because he’s a singular creation. As is Captain Mainwaring, from Dad’s Army, which you probably wouldn’t know.
By and large, British people align themselves with the underdog more than Americans do. Americans rather like the idea of being able to top the joke. I remember someone pointing that out in Animal House, in the scene when John Belushi is walking up the stairs at a frat party and someone is playing “Kumbaya” or something on the guitar and he smashes the guitar. If that had been an English film, the guitarist would have been the hero. That would have been Norman Wisdom. Belushi would have come off as a brutish, thuggish lout.

PLAYBOY: How important was it for you to make it in the States?
LAURIE: It wasn’t at all. No disrespect, but in England there’s an element of treachery in going abroad to ply one’s trade. It’s rather frowned upon. There were two beacons on that front: Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Both were fantastically talented, but Peter stayed in London and Dudley left. Because he left and because he lived in glorious California, Moore was widely assumed to have made a deal with the devil that involved beautiful blonde women and beaches and sunshine and Ferraris. Peter maintained the slightly drizzly temperament we revere in England. Moore was perceived as a traitor.

PLAYBOY: Do you worry people in England say that about you now?
LAURIE: Not really, but it’s because my life is still in England, even though I have a house in Los Angeles. It would have been different if I had relocated my entire family here, but my kids go to school and university there, and my wife still lives there. I suppose I have too much of a Presbyterian streak from my parents ever to rejoice in the fruits of my labors and give over completely to whatever it was Dudley Moore succumbed to. I’ve actually always rather enjoyed Los Angeles. It’s partly to do with what people tell you to expect. People said, “Los Angeles is the most terrible place of all. You’ll go crazy. You won’t last a month. You’ll be going out of your mind, it’s so superficial.” Well, I am superficial, so it suits me down to the ground. For instance, I like fast cars and motorcycles, and there’s no better place to be for that.

PLAYBOY: It must drive Fox crazy that you risk life and limb. Have they tried to add a no-adrenaline clause to your contract?
LAURIE: Fortunately, I signed the contract before anybody was watching the show, so they couldn’t be bothered whether I wiped out or not. I hope it doesn’t bother them too much that I drive my motorcycle to work, for instance, and generally enjoy speeding around the hills of L.A. But I maintain that no one has a greater interest in my not falling off than I do. I claim supremacy in that area.

PLAYBOY: By the way, are you the guy on the 405 freeway zipping by at 80 miles an hour while we sit in traffic?
LAURIE: I may be that guy. Are you the guy in the four-ton SUV who’s texting? I mean, I have had moments when I actually wondered about the way I’m going to die. To see some bleached blonde putting on eyeliner at 60 miles an hour in her Humvee without any concept of the forces involved in controlling that vehicle or its capabilities or limitations! None whatsoever. It’s absolutely amazing to me. I pass an accident in Los Angeles at least twice a week. In London—and I’m not saying we do things better over there; I don’t believe in that—but I’d say it’s about twice a year. Here people just cannon into one another almost as a sport. It’s just a gigantic pinball machine. Dry sunny days, no traffic, and some car’s on its roof. I don’t think it’s America. I think it’s limited to Los Angeles, but it makes the ride to work interesting.

PLAYBOY: Has it been a strain on your marriage to be so far away from home? What kind of husband are you?
LAURIE: Wow. I have no idea, having no idea what to compare it with. I do my best, though I suspect it’s not great a lot of the time. I don’t know. I’ve probably created a fair amount of disruption and frustration for the family, but my wife is very grounded, and things could be worse. I once met a guy who worked on a nuclear submarine. He had to check a box on a piece of paper, saying whether he wanted to be informed in the event that something horrible happened back home, because if something horrible did happen, he wasn’t getting off that sub. Something did happen to a friend of his, and he didn’t hear about it until they returned to land. At least I don’t have to make that choice. I know if something happens, I can always fly home.

PLAYBOY: Does it surprise you that people view House—and you—as a sex symbol?
LAURIE: Completely. It’s utterly absurd. Weird. Deranged. I can’t explain it.

PLAYBOY: How do you explain it?
LAURIE: House is a sexy character in his own way. You know, he’s that sort of wounded genius. There’s a Beauty and the Beast element and a bit of the Phantom of the Opera thrown in. House is a scarred figure hiding in the upper reaches of the opera house. I can see there’s something attractive about that. Women want to fix him. For some reason women find that terribly sexy.

PLAYBOY: But he doesn’t get a ton of action. Why doesn’t House have more sex?
LAURIE: I think he does want that, and I think he’s getting it somewhere, somehow. I hesitate to speculate on the liaisons he has when he’s not at Princeton--Plainsboro. But he’s primarily a loner, a character driven by torment. It’s hard to get close to someone like that. But that’s the case with a lot of men.

PLAYBOY: Men are loners by nature?
LAURIE: I was having a chat on the set recently; we were discussing what the bathroom stands for besides the obvious function of what the bathroom stands for. Most of the men agreed the bathroom was sort of a refuge, a place of “Oh, world, please go away,” whatever that may mean—either the conversation or the worry or the phone call you don’t want to take. It’s a sanctuary where you can retreat and silence the world. By contrast, most of the women were thinking, I go to the bathroom because I want to chat with other women, then they rush to get back to the table because they fear they’re missing something. Men and women are very different in how they relate to other human beings. Except on Facebook, of course.

PLAYBOY: What do you mean?
LAURIE: Well, I was with a group of people the other night who were comparing—I don’t have a Facebook page—their own Facebooks or however you put it. “Oh, I’ve got 450,” one said. “Oh, I’ve got 600,” said another. It turned out they were talking about friends—Facebook friends. Now, I don’t think I’ve met 450 people in my life. I certainly can’t keep track of them, and I certainly don’t want to stay in touch with that many people. I don’t know how on earth you do that. I realized very quickly I am too old for this level of social engagement.

PLAYBOY: You’re about to turn 50——
LAURIE: It sounds so ominous when you put it like that.

PLAYBOY: What are some things you wish you knew earlier in life?
LAURIE: To tell you the truth, the older I get, the less I know. I keep meeting people, both older and younger, who seem to have accrued so much more knowledge or expertise or certainty about who they are and the jobs they do. I just marvel at it. I don’t know how they get that certain about what they’re doing. I certainly don’t have that. I look back on what we’ve done on House and think, Wow, it’s like we’ve come through a minefield. One wrong move, one bad casting decision, one story line that didn’t work and the air would have gone out of the thing. People would have started to whisper, “Oh, that show? It’s not very good.” And suddenly we’d be canceled. I don’t know how anything works, frankly. I’m quite conscious of the fact that no secrets are being revealed to me with age.
Which is not to say I don’t have things I want to learn and do as I look ahead. For example, I had my first earthquake the other day. We were shooting, the camera was rolling, and everything started to sway. The lamps started to move. I loved it. I loved it. It passed quickly, and we were back to work. But let’s say that had been, you know, the big one, if that were the end. I can’t tell you how many things I would regret not having done. The list would have a billion things on it, a billion things. I do feel it’s something about, I suppose, my infantile nature. I don’t really feel as if I’ve got going yet. Like so many eternally adolescent males, I still feel I’m going to live another thousand years and there’s plenty of time.

PLAYBOY: But then the earth starts rocking and——
LAURIE: Exactly. You’re shaken out of your dream. I’m deluded, obviously, because, as you say, I am approaching 50. But part of me still fears, for instance, that I haven’t chosen my profession yet. I certainly haven’t worked out who I am. I haven’t worked out what to do with my life. I haven’t made half the choices and decisions I want to make. It’s insane, I know, but that’s sort of how I felt. I think that’s what I like about boxing: You’re forced to live intensely.

PLAYBOY: Boxing? Are you any good?
LAURIE: I’m hopeless, but I love it. I absolutely love it. Well, I sort of love it. But it’s love mixed with fear. Not fear of physical harm, because unless you do it repeatedly and get hit in the head a lot, you’ll survive. It’s more the fear of being humiliated, which sort of messes with your perceptions of, I suppose, maleness. To question your maleness is a very intense experience. But there’s something else. When I’m making a television show, eight months go by just like that. It’s a wonderful thing to have a completely opposite experience, which is to get into the ring for three minutes and have time essentially stop. You cannot believe how long three minutes is until you’ve spent time in a boxing ring. If we could live our lives as intensely as one does in those three minutes, it would be like living for 10,000 years. I love that feeling.

PLAYBOY: Do you ever wonder where you would be if House hadn’t come along?
LAURIE: Yes, I do. I mean, I was aware of the fact that this was my shot. Not a shot at just anything but a shot at doing an American network television show—to play the lead on one, anyway. Because I was already too old for that. I think if their dreams had come true, Fox would have found some chiseled fellow of 28 who could have kept going for 20 years, for one thing. That would have suited their demographics. So this was my shot. I thought, If it doesn’t work, fine. I’ll be playing the neighbor or the kindly uncle or Mr. Smithers, the geography teacher, but I won’t be the main guy. Fortunately, things worked out differently.

PLAYBOY: How would you like to see things end up for House? What do you imagine he’ll be like in the final episode? 

LAURIE: Happy. In a relationship with a kindred spirit. Understood. But if it doesn’t happen, it’s probably just as well. See, I have these practical theories about television, which is that characters don’t grow and change. They can’t, or you wouldn’t have a series. Columbo didn’t grow and change; he just solved more stuff. My theory with House is he’ll continue to be separated from joy right to the end. That’s just who he is.

PLAYBOY: And what about you?
LAURIE: No, no. Joy is absolutely the essential thing for me. It has become my obsession to find it, to hold on to it. One of the biggest things I fear is happiness. Fear is probably my only obstacle to it right now. I have a very good life. I am fortunate in so many ways. Now the secret is simply to delight in every breath and every step. Oh my God, that was a Sting song! I can’t believe I’m ending this on a Sting song.

[Lupus Erythematosus]

Hugh Laurie est dans le magazine playboy (version US) qui est sorti le 16 février 2009.

Heu, on n'est pas le premier février aujourd'hui ?

[Venusia]

Petite erreur que je viens de corriger. :)

[Lupus Erythematosus]

Bon, est-ce que quelqu'un a fait une traduction et est-ce que ça intéresse des membres ? (pour ne pas faire doublon une fois de plus et me faire travailler pour rien).

[Venusia]

Personne n'a fait la traduction.
Si ça te tente de la faire, je pense que ça intéressera pas mal de monde. :)

[Kerni]

La voix du Dr House sur TVMag.com!

Il est 16 heures à Los Angeles. Hugh Laurie tourne « à l'arrache » les derniers épisodes de la saison 5 de Dr House. Entre deux prises, s'excusant mille fois d'appeler si tard - il est 1 heure du matin à Paris -, il accorde quelques (trop courts) instants à TV Magazine. Trente minutes à cœur ouvert.

Regrettez-vous parfois le jour où la Fox vous a choisi pour interpréter House ?
Hugh Laurie : Je me suis en effet parfois demandé ce que je faisais là. Cela vient sans doute de quelques accès de nostalgie et de la somme énorme de travail. Car cette série est à l'image de la démesure américaine : cela ne s'arrête jamais. À part cela, jouer House reste un incroyable challenge. Je suis honoré de faire ce que je fais, conscient de la chance que j'ai, et totalement conquis par l'équipe au sein de laquelle je travaille.

Comment est la vie à Los Angeles ?
Je n'ai guère le temps de profiter du soleil ! Mais ces jours-ci, par exemple, les jasmins étaient en fleur. Vous savez comme les Anglais aiment la nature et les fleurs... C'était magnifique, paradisiaque.

L'Angleterre vous manque-t-elle ?
Tout le temps. D'abord parce que ma famille est là-bas. Ensuite parce que, si enchanteresse soit-elle, Los Angeles a des aspects inquiétants. Son immensité. La proximité du désert - on sent qu'à la moindre occasion, le sable pourrait tout envahir en moins de quarante-huit heures. Et les murs des maisons sont si minces ! Bref, l'Angleterre me manque, ma femme, mes enfants, la nature, l'humidité, les maisons de pierre... Vous ne me croirez sans doute pas, mais j'ai accroché des drapeaux britanniques chez moi, dont un immense dans le garage. Jamais je ne me serais cru capable de faire une chose aussi ridicule ! (Rires.)

Pourquoi l'avoir quittée, alors ? Vous y faisiez une jolie carrière...
Je n'ai pas quitté l'Angleterre. Je me suis absenté pour faire une série télé. Ce n'est pas tout à fait la même chose. Au départ, je pensais ne tourner qu'un épisode. J'étais à mille lieux d'imaginer qu'il y en aurait un deuxième, puis un troisième... Voilà cinq ans que j'y suis et je ne peux toujours pas le croire. Je viens seulement d'acheter une maison. Jusque-là j'étais à l'hôtel, avec mon petit bagage, prêt à reprendre l'avion. Il y a tant de séries qui ne durent que quelques semaines.

Gregory House est-il plus américain que Hugh Laurie ?
Définitivement. House est 100 % américain.

Comment vous y prenez-vous avec ce personnage ? Est-ce un gros travail ?
L'accent reste de loin la partie la plus difficile, même après cinq ans de tournage. Parler américain quatorze ou quinze heures par jour relève parfois du supplice. Mais il faut croire que j'aime ça.

Vous sentez-vous proche de lui ?
Nous partageons beaucoup de choses, sans quoi je serais probablement incapable de l'incarner. Son scepticisme notamment, face à la déshumanisation, à l'incrédulité, à la disparition de la science pure au profit de méthodes de plus en plus aléatoires. Ce sont des tendances regrettables. J'aime House parce qu'il renvoie l'image cohérente et incroyable d'une personne compliquée, tourmentée, impatiente, parfois cruelle ou mesquine, mais toujours à la recherche de la vérité.

Votre père était médecin. House tient-il de lui ?
Mon père était l'exact négatif de ce qu'est House. Totalement opposé. C'était un homme très gentil, attentif, attentionné, généreux, poli. Il faisait tout ce qu'il pouvait pour aider les gens à se sentir mieux. Il aurait été horrifié par House. Et en même temps, je pense qu'il aurait applaudi son rationalisme, sa logique et sa démarche scientifique. Maintenant, suis-je inconsciemment sous l'influence de mon père... C'est possible.

S'il devait évoluer ?
Impossible. Une des choses dont House est intimement convaincu, c'est que les gens ne changent pas. Alors, à quoi bon ? Il est ce qu'il est. Le bon et le mauvais l'animent comme chacun de nous. J'aimerais cependant le voir heureux. Mais je ne crois pas qu'il trouve jamais le bonheur. Il n'a pas été conçu en ce sens.

On dit de vous que vous l'êtes rarement...
Oh, c'est assez fluctuant. J'ai des hauts et des bas comme tout le monde. Enfin, je crois ! (Rires.)

Que faites-vous quand vous avez du temps libre ?
Je joue du piano, je fais de la moto, du tennis, de la boxe, j'écris... Tout au moins, j'essaie.

La boxe ?
Très défoulant. Cela permet d'entretenir son corps et de décharger toutes les tensions nerveuses.

Le piano ?
Très réconfortant. Le piano est un de mes bons amis. J'aime jouer seul [Laurie a composé deux thèmes pour la série] et je fais partie d'un groupe composé principalement d'acteurs de séries : le Band From TV. On se retrouve cinq ou six fois par an. Jesse Spencer (Dr Robert Chase) y joue du violon, il est magnifique.

La moto ?
Tous les jours ! J'adore ça. J'avais 11 ou 12 ans lorsque j'ai conduit pour la première fois. Rien de bien méchant. C'était une toute petite cylindrée et nous tournions dans un champ. Ce fut une découverte extraordinaire. Aujourd'hui, je voudrais m'offrir une machine de collection et partir faire un cross à travers les États-Unis. J'avais imaginé vivre cette expérience avant mes 50 ans. Mais voilà, j'aurai 50 ans dans deux mois... Disons que je le ferai avant 55 ans.

Êtes-vous collectionneur ?
Si on veut... J'ai deux engins, une Triumph, magnifique moto anglaise, et une Harley Davidson. Sans doute ma façon de m'américaniser un peu.

Et celle que vous utilisez dans la série ?
C'est une Honda, une des plus grosses machines que j'aie jamais enfourchées. Nous l'empruntons lorsque nous en avons besoin.

L'écriture ?
J'ai publié il y a quelques années en Angleterre un polar un peu drôle intitulé The Gun Seller, Tout est sous contrôle, en français. À l'époque, c'était plus une expérience que la volonté véritable de devenir écrivain. Une velléité en quelque sorte, publiée qui plus est sous un pseudonyme. Je trouvais l'anonymat très libérateur. Je ne m'attendais pas à ce que le succès de House génère un tel engouement.

Sera-t-il porté à l'écran ?
J'ai cédé les droits du scénario à la boîte de production de John Malkovich, elle-même appartenant à United Artists, eux-mêmes récemment gobés par MGM, qui vient d'être racheté par Sony. Donc, c'est un peu compliqué. Mais cela viendra peut-être.

Avec vous dans le rôle principal ?
Sûrement pas !

J'ai lu que vous écriviez à nouveau...
Je l'ai lu aussi... (Rires.)

De quoi s'agit-il ?
Ce serait la suite de Gun Seller. C'est une commande.

Le cinéma ?
Pas le temps !

L'après-House, vous y songez parfois ?
Vous savez, je suis plutôt le genre qui ne voit guère au-delà de l'heure qui suit.

La saison 5 ?
Nous tournons les derniers épisodes. Elle s'achemine vers une fin totalement inattendue.

House va-t-il enfin avoir une vraie histoire avec le Dr Cuddy ?
Je n'ai pas le droit de vous le dire.

Enfin, qu'est-ce que ça fait d'être l'homme le plus séduisant de la planète ?
Ne dites pas des choses pareilles, c'est indécent, je vous en prie !

Julia Baudin - Mise à jour le 03/04/2009