Robert Sean Leonard on 'House', movies and his happy lack of ambition

Fans of Dr. James Wilson, Robert Sean Leonard's character on "House," have a lot to look forward to in the Nov. 30 episode – titled "Wilson."  Leonard's screen time has increased this season, since Hugh Laurie's Dr. House moved in with Wilson, but that's nothing compared to the upcoming episode.

"He's examined more," Leonard said, in a phone interview Tuesday morning from Hidden Valley.  "You see my assistant, who you've never met. You see the oncology floor; you see where I work.  I have my own patients, my own assistant and my own day that doesn't include House.  So you basically follow Wilson around for a few days and see what his life is like."

The episode features "The West Wing's" Josh Malina as Tucker, a cancer survivor and an old friend of Wilson's. After Tucker experiences partial paralysis, Wilson seeks out the help of House's team in diagnosing Tucker's condition.  However, when Tucker takes a turn for the worse, Wilson struggles to separate his work from his personal connection with the patient.  "I've got some moral decisions to make," Leonard said of his character.  "Any time the character is in a moral quandary is interesting. That's been true from the Greeks on down."

This isn't the first time Wilson has struggled with medical ethics.  Earlier this season, he wrote a speech about euthanasia, admitting that all doctors do it.  Leonard is quick to remind fans that, beneath the surface, Wilson isn't just your run-of-the-mill nice guy.  "I don't know that I'd hang out with House myself, but Wilson's a really strange man.  People seem to overlook this a lot.  He has three ex-wives, he lives alone, he's best friends with House, he deals with death everyday, he has a schizophrenic homeless brother. … God only knows what his parents are like! I think he's a very strange, dark guy." 

Leonard was eager to discuss the significance of the movie posters in Wilson's office, which have intrigued "House" fans for many seasons.  "I didn't have any input at first," Leonard said, but when he mentioned at a press conference that "Ordinary People" was one of his favorite movies, producer Katie Jacobs added it to the wall.  "We had to get permission from every actor, because they appear on the poster. I think it says a lot about Wilson.  I think that movie is a fascinating study of human relations and familial relations and human interaction.  The complexity and the difficulty of facing what's going on inside you and admitting it, letting it inform your relations with other people. I think if you deal with death every day, and people who get the news of their own death, well, [oncology] is not like plastic surgery."

Though Leonard enjoyed the opportunity to play the title character for once, he's not interested in making Wilson-centric episodes a regular occurrence. "It was my worst nightmare. Are you kidding?" Leonard joked. "When I read [the 'House' pilot], Wilson was in about three scenes per episode, and I thought, 'This is perfect!' I'm the 'Carlton the Doorman' of my show.  You know, I'm not the most ambitious guy. I like playing the best friend. It's good to be the lead of a show for a week, but I wouldn't spread it around too much. I like my role the way it is."

In fact, when "House" eventually ends, don't expect to see more of Leonard on your TV screens – unless it's in reruns.  "Not in a million years," Leonard said when asked whether he'd consider doing another TV show. "Los Angeles is a bleached-out, soulless pit.  I prefer stage work, as an actor. I'm pretty lazy. With theater, you get to the theater at 7:30 and you're done by 11, and for me that's nice. Getting up at 4 in the morning and getting home at 7:30 -- unless you're William Randolph Hearst -- that's a little excessive. It's a long, tedious day for me, but having said that, I'm massively overpaid and over-praised, and it couldn't be a better gig."

In the meantime, he's happy to stick with "House," especially since recent story lines have sent other popular cast members packing.  "It always [changes the environment on set]," Leonard said of cast changes.  "I remember when they first told me Kutner was gonna go by suicide, I was as shocked as everybody else. Perhaps as shocked as Kal Penn himself! I just think that's the way it happens in life.  People surprise you, and I like that about David Shore and Katie Jacobs, our producers. Kal had to go, he had a job, and I like that our writers said, 'OK, you're gonna kill yourself.' It was so shocking and so daring. I like how people come and go. House is a weird, weird show, and I really like it."
 
"House's" patient-of-the-week format allows for lots of guest stars coming and going.  "I want Julie Christie to do the show, but that's mostly because I think we should get married," Leonard, who is happily married with a baby daughter, joked. "We can talk about 'Heaven Can Wait' and 'McCabe & Mrs. Miller' every day for the rest of my life." When it comes to the future of Wilson's love life, Leonard isn't holding his breath. "I got to date Anne Dudek as Amber for six episodes; you don't get any luckier than that. I'm not going to press my luck."

-- Carina MacKenzie (follow me on Twitter @cadlymack)

Photo: Robert Sean Leonard as the title character of the Nov. 30 "House" episode, "Wilson." Credit: Fox

Comments

[Joy]

I'm not the most avid House fan, but I've always loved RSL's work. This is a great interview; cool to see his take on the show and Wilson's role in it.

[Pamela]

What? a wilson episode? Boring.
Bring Cameron back!

[Bery]

YES! A WILSON EPISODE! DREAM COME TRUE =D

Thanks so much for this great interview, RSL is the best <3

[genagirl]

YEAH!!!!! Wilson is awesome. RSL makes him so cool, his expressions kill me. It's about time we got a look at House's BFF and found out just why those two are friends.

[Aroha]

"Los Angeles is a bleached-out, soulless pit."

Haha, don't hold back, Robert, tell us how you really feel!

I'm excited for a Wilson-centric episode. There's more to him than just a 'nice guy' - if he was so nice, House wouldn't get on with him so much.

Great interview, Carina, love your stuff!

[Tish]

Great interview! I enjoyed Sean Leonard's candour about LA and his career ambitions, as well as his insights into the darker side of Wilson. You have to be kind of damaged to be friends with House.

[Jennifer B]

Wilson is my favorite character on House. I feel like he's the moral compass that makes sure the show doesn't lose itself in sarcasm and inappropriateness.

I've adored RSL since Dead Poet's Society and love that he's being recognized. His work in Amber's death last season was staggering.

Love the interview!

[iss]

lol no cameron plz.

anyway. the more wilson, the better! and hilson ;)

[Bridget]

Fantatsic insight on the character of Wilson from RSL. He seems to be a pretty intriguing guy, himself.

For me, this quote "I think that movie is a fascinating study of human relations and familial relations and human interaction," pretty well sums up why Wilson is such a strange and interesting character, actually. He's always been overly curious about the complexity and workings of human emotions and actions.

Great interview!

[rbrown205]

I can get that Robert likes to be where he is, but as Wilson he oozes talent so much that he can't help but get attention. What a wonderful complement for the amazing Hugh Laurie's House - I agree that Wilson makes his misanthropic friend easier to tolerate and appreciate. Sincere thanks to David Shore and the House producers for allowing us to see this fantastic actor and his increasingly more complicated character week after week.

[Vin]

"I don't know that I'd hang out with House myself, but Wilson's a really strange man. People seem to overlook this a lot."

I love when actors REALLY get the character they're playing.

Great interview, it's refreshing for an actor to be so frank about their goals and their views on LA/Hollywood.

[Helen Surly Brown]

"Los Angeles is a bleached-out, soulless pit.''

Probably because of all the 'New York is my REAL home', over-emoting stage actors who come out there to bleed television jobs dry, rake in the $$$ all the while complaining how stultifying they find L.A.

Hidden Valley real estate does not come cheap, Mr. Leonard.

[skeener]

Wilson is a great character, I'm really looking forward to an episode about him!

[Jill]

I've always liked Wilson. Since Cameron was dropped he's the only character I would watch for.

An episode focused on Wilson The Doctor sounds very interesting.

[J]

Can we stop with the Cameron issue. Its pretty obvious after this episode that her character is one dimensional. It got boring with all the moral high-ground antics that she took every episode. The only way I would want to see her come back is if her character changed into something worth watching. Also they are targeting 18-49 males and unfortunately the character of Cameron provided little sex appeal. Though Jennifer Morrison does have that in real life. However, I do think that the reason they kept Chase around is for the 18-49 females as he is the best looking out of all the main character actors if they were not actors.