House Spoilers: Hugh Laurie Directs Himself

 [Photo: Parade.com]

Parade.com's Jeanne Wolf has an interview with Hugh Laurie on how he landed as the director for an episode of "House". He also talks about how difficult the character of House is and how embarrassment is a big deal for him.  Read on and find out.

Directing as a reward for meddling.
"The truth is, I've always been a bit of a backseat driver and I'm always meddling and giving instructions. And I do the same thing on the set of House. I guess it probably became so annoying for the people running the show that they finally said, 'OK, you drive. See how you like it.'"

Directing himself.
"It's an unusual episode. It's actually sort of divided into five different stories and I'm only in one of them. So I had two very intense days when I was acting and also directing myself. The rest of the time I was just behind the camera so I was able to wear my own clothes instead of House's. I could actually carry a wallet, keys and a phone and have real money so I could buy a sandwich."

Teddy bear power.
"When you're directing, you can ask for just about anything. It's like if you say, 'I'd love to have a teddy bear in this scene,' someone's got to go out to a half a dozen toy stores, buy teddy bears, audition the teddy bears and then I've got to pick a teddy bear. I find it fascinating to have that power. But, actually, there are no teddy bears in the episode I directed."

Skipping self-diagnosis.
"We deal with a lot of diseases, and when you learn about them you sometimes go, 'It probably isn't that but I've got this pain.' Then I'd think, 'Could it be that? It could be but it probably isn't.' It's just a fact that only one in one thousand times do you have a disease that you fear. I look at the odds and I know that, statistically, some of the terrible afflictions we've dealt with are literally going to strike one in a million. So I don't lose too much sleep over whether I've got one of them."

Coming to terms with portraying a difficult man.
"I know a lot of people think he's often a jerk. I don't know why I portray that so convincingly. I suppose there's a big jerk inside me. There must be. That's the only explanation. Although, I must say, most people think I'm a pretty nice guy. Anyway, there are all sorts of aspects of House that I feel very sympathetic toward. He's a complicated man so I can't just dismiss him as jerk."

Coping with a common problem.
"Embarrassment is a big factor in my life and not just about myself. It's like when I watch a little bit of American Idol; it is agony to see someone sweat and do badly. I wish I could sort of reach into the television and somehow save them. I'm very sympathetic because it's a frightening and uncomfortable thing. It's how you feel when you fluff your lines or do something that makes you look like an idiot. But the terrible experiences I've had as an actor came not from being nervous, but being insufficiently nervous, not worrying enough about my performance." 

Spending more time on the set than at home.
"I wouldn't say that doing the series has made my marriage easier. Better? I don't know about that either. Doing weekly TV is like joining the Navy and going on the other side of the world for ten months of the year. But the truth is that whatever challenging situation you're in, somebody somewhere has got a much more extreme version. So I think one ought to shut up and not moan about
it."

How he'd like to end the series.
"We don't talk about when we'll pack it in. But when the time comes, I think it would be good to have sort of a clean finish rather than just sort trailing off. I'd like to go out with a bang, not a whimper. In the meantime, House is a character I still am fascinated by. I think that's part of an actor's job, to love the character you play. I would be foolish not to go the distance playing him, how ever far that may be. House is tough on patients and tough on his co-workers, but he's pursuing something that I think is rather noble. He is pursuing the truth -- scientific truth and emotional truth."