Hugh laurie, who plays Dr Gregory House in the medical drama House MD, says that if he weren’t an actor, he would have been a rockstar
Has the show made you a better or a worse personIJ
I hope, I’m a better person (touch wood) because of the show. I haven’t been on the inside of a hospital, on the other side of things, so don’t know how I will be if I were to ever be on that side.
Your father was a doctor. How much do you take from your father on the showIJ
Quite a lot, although he was nothing like the actual character of House MD. His practice of medicine gave me a sort of respect for it and reverence for it in some ways — for the scientific, logical, rational and empirical thought. He was a very wise man, a very sane man. He could not be swayed by sentiment. That makes him sound harsh, but it was just the opposite.
What if you weren’t an actorIJ What would you be doingIJ
I would be a rockstar. But to be honest, I still feel that I’m sort of looking for a calling. I realise I’ve just reached 50 and the shadows are lengthening, and it’s about time I have actually worked out a plan. But I’ve never really had one. Maybe it’s something to do with not having trained to do this. I’m very aware of the fact that everyone I work with have trained and studied to be where they are today and I don’t have any. That’s probably always led me to feel more like an amateur drifter.
After all these years of playing this character, how much of Dr House is in youIJ
None. It’s just a character that I am playing. The director has given me the lines and tells me what to do. I follow the instructions and the script. In fact, there’s much more of Dr House in David Shore, the writer. Shore is much closer to House, intellectually. He’s a very self-possessed and healthy, pragmatic person.
Dr House is self-destructive. Would you agreeIJ
Self-destructive is a very big work to use, it sounds very grand. He is a genius and opines that the people around him should also be on the same wave length as him. Of course, that can’t be possible — there is only one Dr House. The fact that he is made to do mundane things like treat outdoor patients instead of spending his time with more serious cases makes him what you see in the series.
You had said you enjoy watching TV. Do you still get time to do soIJ
Usually, I end up watching law & Order pretty much any time. I tend to watch things that are not in my field. Also Family Guy is brilliant. It is one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen.
What do you do when not workingIJ
I play the piano. I ride a motorcycle and I am in the ring boxing.
Do you sometimes get tired of the characterIJ
I get angry with myself a lot, yes. But that’s always been the case. I don’t blame Dr House for that. I am not a perfectionist in that sense, I just have an idea in my head about how it should be and if I can’t get it, it’s frustrating.