Interview: Orlando Jones from House

We had the pleasure of talking with Orlando Jones from Season House about his character guest spot as Foreman’s brother, what it was like working with Hugh Laurie, and the possibilities of a recurring role in the future.

So your character, if my House memory serves me well, Foreman had some trouble before he became a med student and a doctor; he was in a gang. Does your storyline somehow tie to his past, and if you can give us any details?

Orlando Jones: Well, obviously, we’re brothers, so I’m sort of tied to his past in that way, and I am just getting out of prison, and House gives me a job at the hospital, so I start working for him. The rest of it sort of unfolds through the episode so I won’t spoil anything for you, but it definitely gets a little dicey.

Interesting, and my followup for you is that you mentioned that you were going to be working for House. Now will you be in more than one episode this season?

Orlando Jones: This season, no. I’m actually on location shooting a movie right now, so I’m sort of out-of-pocket for the rest of their shooting season. But, hopefully, I’ll rejoin them next season, and we’ll see what happens from there.

I just was wondering, since House is always finding himself in the middle of everyone else’s business, what can you tell us as far as him getting involved in the personal stuff?

Orlando Jones: What I can tell you is obviously, I think, for my character getting out of jail and starting to work for him, it certainly places House in the middle of the situation. It’s tough. I think it’s a tough situation for both Omar’s character and my character as we’re sort of trapped in the middle, but I think that is the bulk of what you’ll be seeing in the episode and future episodes. So I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but I can certainly say House is always in the middle of everything.

Is Thirteen going to play a role since her and Foreman seem to be making amends?

Orlando Jones: Yes, they do seem to be making amends, don’t they? You know what, I’m curious to see myself on that one. She obviously plays a role through their relationship. How much I’ll play a role in this episode or in the future, to be honest with you, I don’t even know that.

Were you a fan before you got cast for the show?

Orlando Jones: I was. I actually like the show a lot for many different reasons, so I was definitely a big fan.

Do you have any meaty scenes with Hugh Laurie? I would guess that there’s a certain amount of, a little bit of lightness in some of the episode, but do you have some serious stuff going on as well?

Orlando Jones: Yes, and I might spend more time with Hugh than my brother, or it’s evenly split; I’m not really sure as I haven’t seen the completed episode, but it’s certainly not comedic, how about that?

I was wondering about the interactions between you and Foreman on the show, your brother. Is there going to be a lot of drama?

Orlando Jones: Yes, I would say so. Anytime you have a family member getting out of prison, it’s always drama.

What kind of other projects do you have planned for 2010? You mentioned a movie that you were shooting earlier, I remember.

Orlando Jones: I am in Louisiana, New Orleans, right now, shooting a thriller called Seconds Apart, so I’m here doing that, and at the end of February I’ll figure out what’s on the rest of my docket, but between House and this film, that is how 2010 is shaping up right now.

I was wondering, did you have to do any kind of medical research?

Orlando Jones: Did I have to any kind of medical research? Good question, no, I did not. That wasn’t my research.

Did you learn anything interesting about the medical industry from being on the show?

Orlando Jones: As a watcher of the show? Then obviously, I have learned a lot in the past. In this episode, because it’s sort of leaning more on the personal relationships between the characters on the show, the part of my learning curve was more about that and less about the nitty-gritty medical.

It was an amazing opportunity to work on this show. Obviously, as I’ve said, I’m a fan of it, and I’m looking forward to seeing the episode along with everybody else. So, I think it will be collectively exciting for everybody, and I’ll look forward to being back on House again.

Official House Site: http://www.fox.com/house/