Весь перевод, постаралась убрать личные ремарки переводчика "My scene in bed with Cuddy"
It was a powerful moment at the end of season 6: House and Cuddy kissed. And this time it wasn't a hallucination! Season 7, which begins tuesday on RTL-1Vi, picks up right where we left our misanthrope and his boss.
They both want to make their relationship work. But is it really possible to believe that House will find happiness? Eagerly awaiting these new episodes, we met and talked to Hugh Laurie...
This time only, our consultation with Dr House takes place in Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills instead of in Fox Studios. Scruffy and with hair, Hugh Laurie looks like he just got out of bed. But he hasn't – Before playing twenty questions with us, the British star has already spent a good part of the morning verbally sparring with Cuddy. This explains why he’s looking a bit haggard!
He has a cup of coffee and is good to go with plenty of aplomb, as you will discover in this interview...
Do you and House share any characteristics in real life?
I am someone who loves to use my brain for other purposes than basic motor functions. The human brain's power of analysis and reflection has always fascinated me. This cerebral side is the most obvious thing I have in common with Dr House. Possibly along with my inability to smile. Like House, I also show my sense of humour with a straight face and when I wish to show my joy it's usually only a grin that appears on my face! In addition, like House, I also have a distant relationship with my razor.
Your character is very cynical, don't you think a little more compassion would make him more appealing?
He does have a kind of compassion with his patients. You could even say it's a type of devotion. But House is a rough human being. Perhaps he has not yet understood that psychology, kindness and listening skills can also play an important part in the healing process.
I don’t think House will transform into a good doctor giving lollipops to sick children and pushing old impotent people around in wheelchairs. If that were the case, there would be nothing attractive or interesting about this show and this character. It’s his thorny side that we love !
Where did the idea of having House wear sneakers come from?
If I suggested this idea to production, it wasn’t to get artistic credits, but because it’s practical! I wear nothing but sneakers in the city! Sneakers are to shoes what charentaises are to slippers, that is, the ones best made for people like me. I have feeet which swell. At which point you should say, as long at it’s not my head that’s swelling up, right? I should also add that House limps… Limp with bad shoes and you're guaranteed to get blisters, or worse, hurt yourself. And the show takes place in a hospital. To my knowledge, nurses and doctors…."
About season 7, what is the state of the relationship between House & Cuddy?
My Character is going to show that he has feelings towards Cuddy. They even have coitus. Shall I remind you that he even tells her 'I love you'? A few months ago, it would have been unconceivable. But these two have wagons of pain to carry around and it remains to be seen - at the time being - if they can manage to find themselves on the same station deck. Now, you're probably going to ask me about the state of mind Lisa and I were while shooting that merging scene? You want details! I'm going to tell you everything. We became aware of what was going to happen to us around 9 am on set. At 9h30, we were asked to smooch. A few hours later, we were getting undressed. Lisa and I, we know each other very well. But most of all we are professionals of simulation. Anyway, for this scene - on the horizontal - there were no rounds of observation or adaptation. We went straight to the point, staring in each other's eyes. And as usual in front of 200 crew members on set all dressed in jeans, we courageously had to remove our clothes. If I remember correctly, the script girl was even eating a donut when we started to entwine each other. We stayed focused despite everything!
What do you make of having acquired this success (popular and critical) at the age of 45, after having been a comedian for twenty years, and being British, on an American TV show?
If my career resembled the curves on an EKG reading, you’d be able to see that I’ve known both highs and lows. To succeed and gain a place in the sun, I’ve had to endure many hard tests. Periods of doubt, expectations, disillusionment, have all benefitted me in the end. I have learnt to control my frustrations. I think if I had been more successful at an earlier age, I would have become SAVAGE. I might even have been one of those people in the newspapers destroying hotel rooms like Charlie Sheen.
I can never thank the American studios enough for having chosen me to play House. This role has permitted me to make my name internationally known and allowed me not to worry about difficult months. In the UK I was almost unemployed, I was only given secondary roles. I’ve now played House for seven years – knowing that the average actor in the same situation usually only has a job for 3 and a half years, I count myself very lucky.
People now identify you with the character of House – do you think you would be able to play other types of characters, in a movie for example?
Yes! In Street Kings I played a detective and the first day on set, when the director said action, I started limping! A Housian deformity! But I assure you, on the second take, I was walking normally. I won’t hide that I had some worries. Having to limp all day, I’m sure one day I’ll develop some skeletal dysfunction.
Do you have an movie plans in development? Do you think Dr House could make it to the big screen?
I haven’t heard anything about a project like that. Generally those types of projects are discussed when shows near the end. Personally, I don’t think a movie adaptation of House would be a good idea. With police shows, etc, I understand it. The big screen offers the opportunity to make the action scenes, explosions, etc more intense. But House takes place in a hospital. It’s kind of an enclosed space! What would a cinematographic production add to it? Sheets that are even whiter? More hostpital staff? More MRIs, better equipped ambulances? You know what I mean. If someone proposes a bigger and better scenario, I would probably go to the audition to get the job again!
What role would you like to do next?
I would love to play a statue, a tree, an apartment building or something static. That would give me the opportunity to take a break and reflect. I’ve had the feeling of being without an “off button” for seven years.
THEN on the side, there’s another little article
MUSICIAN AND ROMANTIC
You excel at everything you do: music, writing, cinema… if you had to chose one of these activities…
It’s impossible to answer that. It’s as though you were asking me to choose between amputating my left leg or right leg. I’d still feel wobbly without either one! At the moment, I’m trying to keep on top of all these passions. I am, for example, in the process of releasing a CD. It’s a blues CD on which I sing, play piano, guitar and sax. It’ll be released in mid april. It’s a cover of ten songs from the 20-30s. Some titles are well-known, others have not been hears for ages. I have not written the songs, I’m happy just to redo old songs. Maybe a career as a rockstar awaits!
After the international success of your police novel “Everything is Under Control”, is a TV or movie adaption in the works? If yes, will you be acting or directing?
The movie rights have been sold, so a film project is in the works! I would of course love to direct it. After all it is my baby. But with regards to the acting, I’d prefer someone else to do it. I wouldn’t want people to see, in the credits, “A film directed by Hugh Laurie, written by Hugh Laurie, starring Hugh Laure, distributed by Hugh Laurie” etc. I know there are actors in Hollywood who love getting that kind of attention, I’m more discreet. And between you and me, doing all of those things would probably lead to me developing multiple personalities!
When will the second book come out?
I knew you would ask me that question! Are you in cahoots with my editor? Is he the one who told you to ask me? (laughs) Hmm! I’m quite embarrassed. Please tell him that I’ve already spent the cheque he sent me to write the second instalment and that with the shooting schedule of House – we complete one episode every 8 days – I don’t have time to concentrate on writing. You know, your first novel is always easy to churn out. You have a lot of things to say, the ideas come naturally. Writing a second book is more difficult. The best thing would be to go directly to the fourth novel. That would take some of the pressure off and relieve some of my fears!
OK and then underneath there’s another small article
“Without my wife’s love I would have been completely lost!”
Even though he admits to sharing some character traits with House, with regards to family life, he’s the complete opposite. A few years ago he even became depressed because of the distance between him and his family who have since, fortunately, joined him in LA…
In a promotional photo for season 7, House appears with a lollipop shaped like a heart, on which it says “Love Sucks” – is this your experience?
Definitely not! House has his theory regarding love. I have my own. I know that without my wife’s love and my family, I would have been completely lost. Love for me is a kind of GPS. It has permitted me to believe in myself and prevented me from self-destructing. I would rather have written “love is complicated” on the lollipop! But that wasn’t possible. Complicated takes up too much space. The lollipop would have been so big you wouldn’t have seen my face! Besides, I was promoting House, not the lollipop .
Are you aware of your popularity with the ladies?
I became aware when the fan mail started coming in at the beginning of the show – most of the ltters were from women. There was one from a lady who wrote a long letter about the parallels between House’s cane and his sexuality. In her eyes, it was obvious that the cane was a phallic symbol. More an ostentatious extension of his libido. I didn’t have the courage to contradict her. I also received a letter from a lady who asked me to , I quote, donate my beautiful eyes to science after my death. I wrote back that I would throw in the ears.
If you needed a doctor, would you want to be treated by a doctor like House? Even though he’s an excellent doctor, he’s still very sarcastic…
I’ve never encountered a man like that and I’m not sure I would want to be treated by such an odious doctor. Unless I was on the brink of death, in that case, I would obviously accept to be exposed to his bad mood, chornic rudeness, etc. What I appreciate with House is that he’s not infallible. Which makes him human. House has lost some patients. About twelve I think. All of that because he wasn’t able to diagnose them! The producers would have made a big mistake if they had presented this character as someone without faults. We don’t want to be one of those crime shows where at the 42nd minute, they always find the bad guy and send him to prison.
Were you afraid of doctors when you were little?
My father was a doctor, so I was around this profession every day. But my father had colleagues that I would not have wanted at my bedside. In particular one who had bad breath and who didn’t wash his thermometer after taking people’s anal temperature.
Did you study medicine before becoming an actor?
No! I studied anthropology! Although I’m not sure the word “study” is appropriate. I spent my days stalking women and figuring out how to hook up with them.
We would love to know if, being on a show where patients all arrive with strange and rare diseases, Hugh Laurie doesn’t end up being a bit of a hypochondriac?
My father was a doctor. My mother died from illness. I lived with my mother’s pain and the helplessness my father felt at not being able to find a treatment efficient enough to alleviate her suffering. How would I react now if I caught a serious illness? To be honest, I don’t know. One always have to think of one’s children, one’s wife, and the immense pain it would bring them if one disappeared! Have I become hypochondriac due to House? For now, the illness I’m most afraid of is the adverse effects of fame. Fans who think I’m a real doctor, for example, and really do have a limp and really have made love to Lisa Edelstein (laughs)"
http://community.livejournal.com/iwatchforcuddy/585411.html
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