House That Hugh Laurie Built

Paul Challen

Description

At the centre of the critically acclaimed Fox drama House, British actor Hugh Laurie has become the focus of fans across North America, Britain, and Australia. Winner of the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series, honoured by the Queen with an Order of the British Empire, and one of People's Sexiest Men Alive, Laurie has become an icon. The House That Hugh Laurie Built will also serve as a magnifying glass, providing episode analysis, cast biographies, selections of Dr. House's caustic wit, and production bloopers and medical mistakes that only Dr House could expose.

Sujets

• Lettres et linguistique
• Television

Informations

• Publié par: Ecw Press
• Date de parution: 14 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781554903085
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

THE HOUSE THAT HUGH LAURIE BUILT
An Unauthorized Biography and Episode Guide
PAUL CHALLEN

Copyright © Paul Challen, 2007
Published by ECW PRESS 2120 Queen Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4E 1E2
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW press.
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
Challen, Paul, 1967– The House that Hugh Laurie built : an unauthorized biography and episode guide / Paul Challen.
ISBN 978-1-55022-803-8
1. Laurie, Hugh, b1959 –. 2. House (Television program). 3. Actors — Great Britain — Biography. I. Title.
PN2598.l39C43 2007 792.02'8092 C2007-903579-5
Cover Image: CP/AP/Reed Saxon Back Cover Image: Everett Collection/The Canadian Press Cover and Text Design: Tania Craan Typesetting: Mary Bowness Production: Rachel Brooks Printing: Victor Graphics
The publication of The House that Hugh Laurie Built has been generously supported by the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit, and the Government of Canada through the Book
Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP).

This book is set in Sabon.
DISTRIBUTION CANADA: Jaguar Book Group, 100 Armstrong Avenue, Georgetown, ON, L7G 5S4 UNITED STATES: Independent Publishers Group, 814 North Franklin Street Chicago, IL 60610
PRINTED AND BOUND IN THE UNITED STATES

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT HUGH LAURIE
CHAPTER TWO BACK IN THE DAY
CHAPTER THREE BREAKING THROUGH
CHAPTER FOUR TO THE BRINK
CHAPTER FIVE BUILDING THE HOUSE
CHAPTER SIX IN THE RING
CHAPTER SEVEN ALL-ROUNDER
DEAN OF MEDICINE LISA EDELSTEIN
RELUCTANT HOUSE -MATE ROBERT SEAN LEONARD
FROM BROOKLYN TO FOREMAN OMAR EPPS
KID STAR MAKES GOOD JENNIFER MORRISON
AUSSIE SENSATION JESSE SPENCER
HOUSE BUILDER DAVID SHORE
EPISODE GUIDES SEASON ONE
SEASON TWO
SEASON THREE
SOURCES
Humanity is overrated.
- Dr. Gregory House, MD
CHAPTER ONE WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT HUGH LAURIE
So, how is it, exactly, that an American TV series about an abrasive, limping, pill-popping doctor with the bedside manner of Attila the Hun - played by a depressive, Cambridge-educated, English actor, doing a fake New Jersey accent - has emerged as one of the most popular primetime dramas in recent years, among fans and critics alike?
And why do so many people love Fox s House, MD - the casual fans watching at home and the more rabid ones who build websites devoted to the show, the newspaper and magazine writers, and the folks who vote on the Golden Globe and Emmy awards? And, despite having been on the air only three seasons, why are many people already talking about House as a classic, a series that, despite its relative youth, is mentioned in the same breath as other great dramas like ER and Law Order?
Certainly, the quirky juxtaposition of a lead character who works in a profession devoted to helping people but who delights in insulting patients, residents, and humanity in general is part of the reason. Television - or, more broadly, drama - has always loved the idea of characters whose jobs or positions in society are just the opposite of their true personalities (such as the bumbling cop who always manages to catch the crook, the hooker with a heart of gold, etc.).
But let s face it: That kind of contrast in a lead role isn t enough. Ted Danson tried the grouchy doctor shtick in Becker , the CBS offering that ran from 1998 to 2004 ( His bedside manner is no manners at all, ran the show s tagline) and although the show did have a pretty good run, with 128 primetime episodes in total, with all due respect to Danson, Becker was . . . well, Becker - a show with lots of easy laughs and convenient plots, but not much depth.
And there have surely been a sufficient number of grouchy MDS on shows like Ben Casey, ER, St. Elsewhere and even General Hospital to take enough shine off this type of role, such that the mere presence of a sure I help people but I m a jerk character alone cannot explain the huge success of House .
Taking the dramatic analysis one step further, could it be that the strength of the show comes from its brilliant writing and directing? Certainly, the lines delivered by the lead and supporting characters in House are among the snappiest - and at times, funniest - heard on the small screen in decades. And it s true that the show s Canadian creator and lead writer, David Shore, has invented characters who talk in ways that are unique on primetime, delivering pronouncements on complicated medical cases in specialized scientific lingo one minute, then engaging in witty banter about their personal lives or their complicated relationships with one another the next.
And the several directors who have been brought in to work their magic on the show - including veterans like Paris Barclay, Deran Sarafian, Bryan Singer, and Daniel Sackheim - have all managed to give this medical drama just exactly the right pacing and its clever, behind-the-scenes look and feel, including the show s popular close-up plunges inside the human anatomy as House s doctors discuss and cure the myriad of medical problems that come their way.
But great writing and directing alone can t be the answer - or at least not all of the answer - to the success of House . There have been - and indeed, are currently - lots of shows that thrive on zippy, smart dialogue ( The West Wing, Seinfeld , and The Sopranos all come to mind as fairly recent examples). And for those cool techno-effects that feature the camera zipping through a human heart or stomach, well, nobody does that little trick as well as CSI . Certainly, good writing and directing play a big part in the overall impact of House - but they don t explain it all.
Instead, you have to look to the man behind the show s main character - that Englishman doing the phony American accent - to truly understand the foundations upon which this House has been built. That s Hugh Laurie, former member of the Footlights comedy troupe at Cambridge, veteran of the British stage, television, and movie scene, motorcycle and boxing enthusiast, depressive, novelist, crack musician, husband, father of three, and former world-class rower, who really provides the show with the legs it has needed to become one of primetime s best.
In fact, it s exactly that varied, multifaceted background that has allowed Laurie to excel as much as he has in House . In an age where specialization is king, and when many actors seem to get their start as kids and then do little else of note their entire lives (adopting weird religions or African orphans, just for the great publicity it brings, doesn t really count), it s heartening that someone with a list of accomplishments and talents as long and diverse as Laurie s can bring the kind of energy, maturity and poise that a smart, serious drama like House - and the title character that drives it - really need. If House - watchers - professional critics, bloggers, and casual fans alike - note one thing about the pull that Laurie exerts in the show s lead role, it s that he brings depth to the character; there seems to be a lot more behind the three-days-stubble mask than simply a vacuous, polished actor with a pretty face, mailing in a weekly performance for a steady paycheck.
But at the same time, as Laurie has managed to convey a great deal of his personality to the public since becoming a hit on House , we ve learned that his off-screen life is far from a self-satisfied, smug existence. For all of his accomplishments, both off the stage and on it, Laurie remains, if not exactly a tortured soul, at least a person who, as one U.K. reviewer put it, is a big hit at everything but being happy.
Or, as Laurie himself has said about his career, I ve been lucky and I ve always found stuff to do, but there have been times when I ve thought, Am I really cut out for this? Is this what I really want to do? Should I go off and become a teacher? . . . Or should I try to write Ulysses? . . . But that s been done.
Certainly, those closest to the working Laurie - fellow actors, directors, producers - have all pointed out that while Hugh seems to have every element needed for a happy life, he just can t seem to shake off a basic sense of inner gloom. Katie Jacobs, one of the show s executive producers, told an interviewer about a typical day for Laurie on the Los Angeles set of House: Every day at about four or five o clock, Hugh s sitting on the curb, completely despondent. He s miserable no matter what he does. Never thinks he s good enough - never thinks he s got it right.
And of course, that sense of isolation and general confusion about the world has been a perfect match for Laurie s character on House . One reviewer, writing in the Times of London, summed up that Laurie s character at times seems a more suitable subject for treatment than his patients.
In the pages that follow, we ll look at how all of these aspects of Hugh Laurie - as dramatic and comic actor, athlete, writer, musician, moody fellow who has struggled with depression, and family man - came to be, and how he s brought all those aspects of his character into the role of Dr. Gregory House, the role that so many fans and critics have praised and enjoyed.
I went there to row . . . and anthropology was the most convenient subject to read while spending eight hours a day on the river.
- Hugh Laurie, on why he attended Cambridge University
CHAPTER TWO BACK IN THE DAY
To begin at the very beginning: Hugh Laurie - born James Hugh Calum L