Orlando Jones (House M.D.)

Shakefire interviews Orlando Jones about his upcoming role on the TV medical drama House M.D. where he plays the brother of Dr. Eric Foreman.

Shakefire: 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.

SF: You mention that you were going to be working for House. Now will you be in more than one episode this season?

OJ: 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.

SF: 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?

OJ: 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.

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

OJ: 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.

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

OJ: 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.

SF: What about the interactions between you and Foreman on the show, your brother. Is there going to be a lot of drama?

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

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

OJ: As a watcher of the show 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.

SF: What kind of other projects do you have planned for 2010? You mentioned a movie that you were shooting earlier. Can you tell us about that?

OJ: 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.