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In the 'House' with Guest Star Orlando Jones
by Troy Rogers
After making the leap from MADtv to the big screen
in such movies as The Time Machine, House of D,
The Replacements, Evolution, and Bedazzled, Orlando
Jones has bounced back and forth between film
and television, most recently in the MTV2 animated
series The Adventures of Chico & Guapo, which
Jones co-created in addition to lending his voice
as co-star.
Now Orlando Jones returns to TV in the February 1 episode of House, "Moving the Chains", in which Jones plays Marcus Foreman, the brother of Omar Epps' Dr. Eric Foreman who makes a surprise visit to the hospital after getting out of prison.
Leading up to House and "Moving the Chains" on February 1 at 8pm on Fox, we checked in with Orlando Jones on a recent conference call to learn more about the brother of Dr. Foreman, how he's connected to Foreman's storyline, and whether we'll see Orlando Jones on future episodes of House.
Did you have to do any
kind of medical research?
Orlando JONES: 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?
 JONES:
As a watcher of the show, 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.
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?
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.
You mentioned that you
were going to be working for House. Will you
be in more than one episode this season?
 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.
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?
JONES: What I can tell you is ... 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?
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?
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 dramatic
scenes with Hugh Laurie?
 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?
Interactions between
you and Foreman on the show, your brother, will
there be a lot of drama?
JONES: Yes, I would say so. Anytime you have a family member getting out of prison, it's always drama.
What are you doing right
now?
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.
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