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Sorvino plays 'House' on Super Bowl Sunday
How does a show like House -- an already wildly popular series in which the stakes are life-and-death every week -- throw together a very special episode to air after the Super Bowl? Well, they start with an Oscar-winning guest star.
While luring an Academy-endorsed actress would normally be considered a coup for any series, Mira Sorvino actually instigated her own guest appearance.
"[W]hen I met Hugh at the Golden Globes three years ago, and I was five months pregnant and nominated for Human Trafficking and he was nominated for House and we were all seated at the same table, I just started gushing about how much I loved the show," Sorvino tells reporters on a recent conference call. "And I think I might have frightened him."
She continues, "But then a few years later they called and said 'We know Mira loves the show. We think we have one of the best female characters we've ever written on it. Would she like to come and do an episode?' I was really excited to do it, entering the world of my favorite show. It's the equivalent of me as a child getting to go and [appear] in the Six Million Dollar Man."
Sorvino's character on Sunday (Feb. 3) night's Very Special House is Cate, a doctor stationed at the South Pole. When Cate is plagued by a mysterious illness beyond her own diagnostic powers, she turns to Dr. House, which is what we'd all do under the same circumstances. Although House usually avoids bonding with his patients, Cate is somehow different.
"I think he feels sympathy for her when she's really all alone and has to diagnosis herself constantly and things go from bad to worse," Sorvino explains. "They understand each other. I feel that she gets him in a way that none of the actual people in his world get him. They're similar in that they're both loners and strong-willed and there's this nice little subplot, chemistry, sexual tension. There's actually a bizarre co-mingling of that."
Of course, getting in the way of that chemistry or sexual tension is the fact that House is in New Jersey and Cate's communicating via webcam. That's the kind of problem that would normally leave an actress sitting alone on a set reading sides with a production assistant. That isn't the way Hugh Laurie works.
"Hugh was awfully generous and would come and sit off-camera for me, even though we weren't physically in the same room and I would do the same whenever possible," Sorvino recalls. "So whenever the schedule allowed us to be in the same room, we still were even though we're supposedly just connected visually by a webcam."
And whatever chemistry developed between the actors may still play out in the future. Even though we've never seen her before, Cate's apparently a teaching fellow at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital and -- Spoiler Alert if you don't wanna know how things turn out in Sunday's episode -- Sorvino's character may be back.
"There's talk of it, but because of the writer's strike, no one knows what's going to happen," Sorvino says. "No one knows the plot lines because the writers have been unable to work since then, and they're obviously the ones who will decide what happens to this character and to House. But I would love it. I would love to come back for an extended story arc, it was fun."
A couple other highlights from Sorvino's chat:
On whether or not she'd ever appear on Dancing with the Stars, her other favorite show: Yes, I would, but my management would not let me do it. I think the problem is that the way that they have sort of categorized the contestants, you know the way that people can sometimes be sort of mean about them. I did Jimmy Kimmel when I was promoting Reservation Road and they always do the kick off that night and Mark Cuban came on and I met him and he was very nice. I was talking about how I was a fan of the show and Jimmy Kimmel was like, 'Oh you mean, Dancing with the D List Celebrities?' and that was so mean and not fair.
But at the same time, unfortunately, that's the way people look at the actors who do it, which isn't right or fair, but it's just sort of the way that it is. You can be like the biggest sports figure in the world, the best boxer and do it and no harm, no foul. But something about doing it as an actor right now seems to send out a message that there are problems in your career, which shouldn't be the case, but that's just the way people regard it. As soon as that goes away, I'm there. As soon as other people do it and there's like a kind of a 'Hey it's for everybody now.' I'm on it that second. I love that show that much.
On whether or not she'd ever take a regular TV series gig: You know, one never says never. But I know that I recently turned down some really nice opportunities, just because I want to spend all my time with my family as much as possible. And films allow me that project-oriented lifestyle where I can work or a month or three months on something and then not work for five months and spend all my time with my kids.
So my kids are the most important thing to me now and I have put them ahead of my career. Maybe when they're older, I could see taking on a more full time responsibility. But at this moment I'm just trying to minimize my commitment, so that I am available for them because they amaze me and delight me and I want to raise them; I don't want nannies to raise them.
I tvo'd the show. Sadly the game ran over so I only got half of House. Wonder if there is anyway I can see the rest. I am currently recuperating from knee surgery and am a couch potatoe for a short while.
Nora | Feb 4, 2008 1:25:30 AM | #I don't have a tvo, I'm still in the dark ages of the VCR. But, I would kill to see that episode because I'm the by far the biggest (HOUSE-HUGH LAURIE FAN).
Teresa de la Garza | Feb 4, 2008 12:31:19 PM | #FOX is rerunning the show on Friday - either this Friday or next Friday. Check their website or a listings website (like this one!)
Pam | Feb 5, 2008 11:28:02 AM | #
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