By Christina Radish

Mira Sorvino at the NBC Universal/Focus Features Golden Globe Awards after-party held on the rooftop of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. on January 16, 2006.

Sorvino spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about what it was like to work on a show of which she is such a huge fan, and expressed hope that the show’s producers will invite her back to appear on another episode in the future.

MediaBlvd Magazine> This episode has the much sought after, post-Super Bowl slot. Are you a football fan?

Mira Sorvino> Unfortunately, I totally am not very sports savvy. But, I definitely am excited that it’s the Super Bowl episode. That’s thrilling.

MediaBlvd> When you were shooting, did you know that it was going to be the episode that aired after the Super Bowl?

Mira> There was a little talk of it, half-way through. They said, “Oh, maybe this will be the Super Bowl episode,” and that was very exciting to me, but it wasn’t really confirmed until I was done. That was definitely a great piece of news.

MediaBlvd> What is it that turned you on to this show, this character and this particular story?

Mira> I’m a crazy House fan. It’s my favorite show on TV. Once I got pregnant with my first child, I ended up watching a lot more TV than I had for years, and I just became absolutely addicted to House. I just thought it was so intelligent and that Hugh, and the writing is so fantastic.  Everything about it just drew me in every week and continues to do so. So, when I met Hugh at the Golden Globes three years ago, and I was five months pregnant, and nominated for Human Trafficking while he was nominated for House, we were all seated at the same table, and I just started gushing about how much I loved the show. And, I think I might have frightened him. But then, a few years later, they called and said, “We know Mira loves the show, and 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. When you’re a film actor, you kind of reserve TV as the last bastion of suspension of disbelief. You get used to the characters and you don’t really think about the way that it’s made.  When I watch movies, I’m a lot more critical about the stunts, the edits and the performances. But, on TV, that’s my little place where I can go, “Okay, I’m just watching.” I’m like everybody else. I’m just a spectator enjoying it.                                                                    

MediaBlvd> How flattering was it for you that they called you and said they had the best role written for a woman and they wanted you to do it, on what is your favorite show?

Mira> I was very excited about that because, when you’re a fan and you feel like the compliment is returned, it’s a really nice thing. I had no idea that they were interested in me doing the show. I knew that I had told Hugh how much I loved it, three years ago, and then I thought, “Well, I’m never going to be on it.” So, to get the call that they had been saving the best for me, it was really nice and great. I was very flattered.

MediaBlvd> You’re this big fan of House and Hugh Laurie, but the script comes in and it turns out that the characters are about 10,000 miles apart. Was that a surprise?

Mira> They handled it with a great deal of grace, and Hugh was awfully generous and would come sit off-camera for me, even though we weren’t physically in the same room, and I would do the same whenever possible. 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. I haven’t seen the episode, so I can’t comment on whether I have a different acting style than usual. The fact that I felt like I already knew Hugh from the TV show seemed to give me more confidence.  It’s very bizarre, but the fact that I’m playing a character who’s supposed to have an instant repertoire with him, even if it’s argumentative at times, she has a lot of confidence with him. Somehow that was increased by the fact that I felt like I knew Gregory House from years of watching the show.

MediaBlvd> What did you take away from being able to work with an actor who was that generous?

Mira> I admired it because he was actually shooting two episodes at once, while I was doing my episode. They have such ambitious plans for those shows. They’re really like doing a movie per week, and I don’t think that they’re able to physically finish them in the normal way a television show is shot, so they’ve actually started doubling up and having two crews at once, shooting different parts of two consecutive episodes. And, Hugh being the lead, he is running around doing the lion’s share of the acting in both episodes, hopping from soundstage to soundstage, and he still found the time to come around and do off-camera work with me. I was really impressed with that.

MediaBlvd> What kind of personality does your character have? 

Mira> I’d say that she’s a match for him because she’s a little bit sardonic herself, but maybe a little warmer than he is. She’s intelligent, certainly, and kind of a loner. She has a stiff upper lip, won’t feel sorry for herself and won’t use the medicine that’s at her disposal because if she uses it up, her crew members could die, as she only has a very limited medical supply with her and she’s the only doctor on the base. She definitely stands up to him, but at the same time, I think she really understands him and appreciates him, and sees a deeper side of him than a lot of other people see because they write him off as this sarcastic curmudgeon. I think she sees a heart and a tortured soul in him.

MediaBlvd> What kinds of symptoms does your character present to House?

Mira> The first symptom is extreme kidney pain. I can’t really go into too much of her illness because that might give away too much, but in the very first scene she has terrible, incapacitating pain, and she throws up.

MediaBlvd> Can you talk a little bit about the relationship and chemistry between Cate and House? 

Mira> At first, I think it’s more founded on a little bit of skepticism, on both sides. He doesn’t really believe in psychiatry at all and mocks her for that. He doesn’t think of her as a real doctor.  She is the only medical professional on site to help the whole Antarctic exploring team down there, so she doesn’t want to use up any of the medical supplies on theoretical diagnoses. She doesn’t want to just try things because she feels that that will hurt her colleagues’ chances of surviving some illness or accident because they’re all trapped down there for a good season, due to the weather. So, it starts out that way, and then, as they start communicating, I think he feels sympathy for her, when she’s really all alone and has to diagnosis herself, and things go from bad to worse. They understand each other. She gets him in a way that none of the people in his world get him. They’re similar in that they’re both loners and they’re strong-willed. There’s this nice little subplot where they have chemistry and sexual tension. There’s actually a bizarre co-mingling of that. And then, there’s the medical mystery side, where she has to give herself a self-exam, nude with a webcam, and he’s watching from the comfort of his living room with a roaring fire going on and he starts playing “Let’s Get It On.” But, it’s kind of odd because she’s looking for cancer. It’s a pretty interesting, really well-written episode. 

MediaBlvd> Your character is a psychiatrist and House is a character with a lot of emotional issues, and that a lot of people might say has psychological problems. Does she psychoanalyze him a little bit?

Mira> A little bit. She has one line that I really like where he says, “Oh, now you’re going to fix me,” because she’s telling him about some of his issues. She reads them and is giving them to him, and he says, “And now, I suppose you’re going to tell me I need to be fixed.” She says, “I never said you needed to be fixed.” So, she kind of likes him the way he is with all of his issues, which I think is cool. Everybody else is always trying to change him, and they’re always moralizing. Wilson is always missing the fact that House is actually a good guy, even though he’s a jerk.

MediaBlvd> In this episode, your character is trapped in the South Pole with this room of supplies, and you’re trying to cure yourself. Did you ever think, “Oh, my God, I’m MacGyver!”?

Mira> No, I did not. But, it was pretty interesting how we sort of Jerry-rigged various instruments to try and mimic the diagnostic capacity of a real hospital. The thing with the egg in the middle of the water was quite inventive. 

MediaBlvd> This episode is very similar to the South Pole doctor who had breast cancer in 1999, and had to perform her own biopsy and self-administer chemotherapy treatments. Was that a direct inspiration for this episode?

Mira> I don’t know. I’m pretty sure, because of the similarities, that the writers probably drew some inspiration from her. It certainly doesn’t directly follow her story line, but I think the concept of a person trapped in the South Pole with some medical experience, but no hospital to treat herself with, is pretty similar. 

MediaBlvd> Did you follow that story with any interest, when it happened nearly a decade ago?

Mira> No, I was not aware of the story before, actually. Before I did the episode, I didn’t know that there had been such a tale, so it’s even more remarkable knowing it’s partially true.                                                                

MediaBlvd> How familiar are you with the whole webcam technology thing? Do you use it when you’re on set doing a movie, to keep in touch with your family, or was it a whole new realm for you?

Mira> I’ve never used a webcam, actually. There is one on my computer, but I’ve never used it, so I wasn’t that familiar with it. But, of course, they used a higher quality one on the show than would actually come with a computer. They used something more like a chip camera.  I can’t really tell you much more than that because I’m not that conversant in the technology, but I know it was a higher resolution camera than what comes with a computer. 

MediaBlvd> Could you use it, now that you’ve learned more about it?

Mira> Maybe. It’s a good idea. I’m doing a movie in Florida called Dandelion Dust with Barry Pepper. My husband will be there for only part of the time. He’ll mostly be in L.A., and I’ll have the kids with me, so it would be a really good way for them to see Daddy and talk to him every day. So, maybe we’ll try that.

MediaBlvd> Hypothetically, if you were ill, would you rather have the doctor who is warm and has the great bedside manner, even though he’s not the top guy, or would you want Doctor House, even if he were nasty to you and hurt your feelings?

Mira> I would want whomever was the most motivated to cure me. If I were coming in for some kind of out-patient procedure, like having a broken bone fixed, or something like that, I guess I’d want the nicest doctor. But, if I’m dying, or if I think I’m dying, I want the person who’s just going to bend over backwards to figure out what’s wrong with me, be they nice or not. But, in this episode, there’s actually a little bit of chemistry between the two of us, so it’s not just a patient-doctor relationship. It’s more like a meeting of the minds between two somewhat similar people.

MediaBlvd> Hugh Laurie is this tremendous comedy actor and performer from England, and then he came to America and did this pretty serious role. Did you get to meet the comic side of Hugh Laurie off-camera, and is it hard to imagine the two inside the same person?

Mira> I don’t find it hard to imagine because I think that House is quite funny. I think he has amazing timing. His delivery is just so spot on, and he always knows the best way to hit one of those over-the-top lines that he has, where he’s just saying something shocking or rude, but he knows he can get away with it, like a naughty boy. In person, he’s funny, but he’s also very smart, just like the character. I’ve never really seen his British farcical work, so I’m more exposed to this character than any other work that he’s done.

MediaBlvd> Do you feel like there are parts of the overall House experience that you’ve missed out on because of the episode you had? Were there actors you wanted to work with that you didn’t get to because of the storyline for the episode? 

Mira> Well, I didn’t get to work with Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), and some of the other doctors. I did have interaction with some of the doctors, but not all of them. But, it was pretty great having all those one-on-one scenes with House, so I didn’t really feel like I missed out on anything. I do know that if the opportunity arose for this character to be revisited, and for a more intense relationship, or perhaps romance, to grow between them, that would be really neat and fun. And then, I would assume I would have more interactions with everybody else as well. They were all really great to work with. They were all really generous, sweet and talented.

MediaBlvd> Since you were such a huge fan of the show, what did you look forward to most about guest starring on House?

Mira> Kicking it back and forth with Hugh. That was the thing that I was most excited about.

MediaBlvd> What was the biggest challenge working on the show, as compared to a day on a film set?

Mira> The pace is faster and you shoot more pages per day. You have less time to get it right. There was a lot of pressure to feel like the performance had to be dead-on within a couple of takes and then move on, although that’s not that different from independent film. You just felt this crazy pace, and the work still had to maintain the same high quality.

MediaBlvd> Now that it’s over, what was the best part of the whole experience?

Mira> Acting with Hugh was great, and getting to relate to him was pretty great.

MediaBlvd> Having now been on House, do you think the show will have the same resonance for you?  Will you still be able to enjoy it as that guilty pleasure, even though you’ve been on it and seen how it works?

Mira> Yes, I think I’ll still be able to do it because I’m an actress still. I know how they make things. It’s not like it was the secret peek into the toy shop and now it’s all gone. I’ve seen a couple of episodes since then and enjoyed them. I don’t think it’s going to ruin anything.   

MediaBlvd> In addition to House, what other TV shows do you like to watch?

Mira> I love So You Think You Can Dance. It’s so silly, but I love dancing, and it’s one of the only shows on TV that I feel I can watch with my 3-year-old and my 1 ½ -year-old because there’s nothing violent about it and nothing scary, and even the criticism is not really mean.  Sometimes on American Idol, they’re so vicious that it almost sets up a bad message for kids that they have to be perfect otherwise people are going to mock them painfully. And, I think Dance has such a spirit of fun to it. My daughter calls them princesses because of the sparkling dresses they wear, and she gets very excited when one of them is wearing pink. That’s a totally different kind of show then House, but that’s something that I can watch while they’re awake. And, I also really like Without A Trace and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.  I like those procedural shows a lot. 

MediaBlvd> Any talk of a follow up visit to House?

Mira> There’s talk of it, but because of the writer’s strike, no one knows what’s going to happen.  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 to come back for an extended story arc. It was fun.

MediaBlvd> Do you feel like the distinction between film and TV actors still really exists, at this point, or is there more of a blurring between the lines now?

Mira> There’s definitely a lot of blurring between the lines. I just haven’t done any episodic TV, besides Will and Grace, so I still allow myself the guilty pleasure of watching it, and completely sinking into it and believing it, and not being at all professional about it when I watch. When I got to the set and I was inside House’s office to do off-camera for him and the other cast members I was like, “Oh, I’m inside his office.” And then, they started moving the walls, and I was like, “Oh, it’s not real.” I was literally like a stupid kid. That’s how much I was tickled to be a part of the show. But, in the broader sense, there’s this huge fluidity now between film and television. I just have never decided to do a series.

MediaBlvd> Could you see yourself deciding to do a TV series in the future?

Mira> One never says never. But, I recently turned down some really nice opportunities, just because I want to spend time with my family, as much as possible. Films allow me that project-oriented lifestyle, where I can work for a month, or three months, on something and then not work for five months, and spend all my time with my kids. 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.

MediaBlvd> Given your love of dancing shows, would you consider something like Dancing with the Stars?

Mira> Yes, I would, but my management would not let me do it. I think the problem is the way they have categorized the contestants. I did Jimmy Kimmel, when I was promoting Reservation Road, and they also had on Mark Cuban, who had just gotten kicked off, 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?,” which was so mean and unfair. But, at the same time, unfortunately, that’s the way people look at the actors who do it. It isn’t right or fair, but it’s just  the way that it is. You can be the biggest sports figure in the world, or the best boxer, and do it with no harm, no foul. But, something about doing it as an actor seems to send out a message that there are problems in your career. That 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 a feeling of, “Hey, it’s for everybody now,” I’m on it, that second. I love that show that much.

MediaBlvd> What are some of your favorite things to do with your children and husband?

Mira> My daughter is just crazy about dancing, and my son is now, too. My son responds so well to music. As soon as you turn on music, he starts dancing around the room. So, we all like to dance together, informally, just running around the living room. My daughter also loves taking any kind of mommy and me ballet class. And, she’s done hip hop now, and she just loves it.  She’s obsessed with the tutu and going there and dancing. We also have these music classes we to go in New York, at this little place called “Hands On A Musical Experience.” It’s just a great little resource for toddlers because it’s very informative. It really helps them understand all the basics of music, like tempo and rhythm, and the keys, and different instruments. They play different instruments every week, and the teacher plays all the major instruments. They have so much fun at the music or dance events. I took her to the Nutcracker Suite this year, and it was her second time going to it because she went when she was 18 months old and enjoyed it then. But, this time, she was over the moon because she identified with the ballerinas in their tutus. She was very excited, except for the part with the rats. And, we have this tradition of going to Disneyland a lot because we have annual passes. We just go because it’s pretty close. For us, it’s less than an hour drive, so we just go down there and hang out in Toon Town with Minnie Mouse. That’s my daughter’s favorite thing. The kids just love it there, so we get to feel like we’re children when we’re there with them. 

MediaBlvd> Do you and your husband have date nights? What do you like to do, just the two of you?

Mira> Yes, we have to organize them far in advance. I’ll say, “So honey, which day next week do you want a date night, so that I can call the babysitter?” We don’t have a full-time nanny. We just go out to dinner. That’s a lot for us. We’ll go to Nobu, or something, and that’s perfect.

MediaBlvd> Is dancing the way to keep a happy marriage, since you guys dance all together?

Mira> I certainly am overjoyed when I’m dancing, and my husband likes dancing, and the kids love it, so I would definitely say it adds to our lives. I don’t know if I can give it any higher praise than that, but it definitely makes us happy.