page_title: Pilot (House)
section_title: Casting
hierarchical_section_title: Pilot (House) / Production / Casting
caption_attribution_description: English: Bryan Singer at the Valkyrie premiere in Berlin on January 20, 2009 Deutsch: Bryan Singer bei der Valkyrie-Premiere in Berlin, 20.1.2009 Italiano: Bryan Singer alla prima del suo film Operazione Valchiria (20 gennaio 2009).
context_page_description: "Pilot", also known as "Everybody Lies", is the first episode of the U.S. television series House. The episode premiered on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. It introduces the character of Dr. Gregory House —a maverick antisocial doctor—and his team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. The episode features House's attempts to diagnose a kindergarten teacher after she collapses in class.
  House was created by David Shore, who got the idea for the misanthropic title character from a doctor's visit. Initially, producer Bryan Singer wanted an American to play House, but British actor Hugh Laurie's audition convinced him that a foreign actor could play the role. Shore wrote House as a character with parallels to Sherlock Holmes—both are drug users, blunt, and close to being friendless. The show's producers wanted House handicapped in some way and gave the character a damaged leg arising from an improper diagnosis.
context_section_description: Producer Bryan Singer originally demanded that an American actor play the role of House; according to Singer, the more foreign actors he watched audition for the part, the more sure he was that an American was needed. At the time of casting, Hugh Laurie was filming the movie Flight of the Phoenix. He put together an audition tape in a Namibian hotel bathroom, the only place with enough light, and apologized for its appearance (which Singer compared to a "bin Laden video"). Laurie improvised by using an umbrella for a cane. Singer was impressed by Laurie's performance and commented on how well the "American actor" grasped the character, not realizing Laurie was British.
  Laurie initially believed that House was merely the "sidekick" of Wilson, because the script referred to Wilson as a doctor with "boyish" looks. Laurie did not realize that House was the protagonist until he read the full teleplay. According to Shore, "it's easy to make an asshole character unlikable. What's tricky is to make them watchable. And Hugh came in and brought everything that
  was there to the part, the nastiness, the not politically correct stuff. And yet you wanted to watch him, you wanted to spend time with him."
  Similarities between House and the famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes appear in the pilot; Shore explained that he was always a fan of Holmes, and found the character's traits of indifference to his clients unique. House and Holmes have only one real friend (Wilson and Watson, respectively) who connects the cerebral hero to human concerns. This Holmes and Watson dynamic was something the producers were looking for in the characters of House and Wilson, especially in terms of chemistry.
  Robert Sean Leonard (Dr. James Wilson) read the pilot scripts to Numb3rs and was planning to audition for the part, but was drawn to auditioning for House because he enjoyed the role of being "the guy [the protagonist] counts on", as well as the similarities to Sherlock Holmes. Leonard felt he did not audition well, and thought his long friendship with Singer helped land him the role. When asked in an interview why his character would ever be friends with House, Leonard replied:
  I think Wilson puts up with House for the same reason that millions of people watch him every week. I think he’s really dynamic and fun and audacious and self-deprecating. All those things that I think make people really appealing, and he tells it like it is. The money things, he doesn’t tend to pay you back, but I have a lot of friends like that. So I don’t find it that much of a mystery. I think House is a very attractive character. I think most people would want to be friends with him.
  — Robert Sean Leonard, interview with BuddyTV
  Australian actor Jesse Spencer's agent suggested that Spencer audition for the role of Chase, but he was hesitant, fearing the show might be similar to General Hospital. Once the actor saw the scripts, he changed his mind; Spencer then persuaded the producers to change his character into an Australian. Omar Epps, who plays Foreman, found influence from his work as a troubled intern on the TV show ER. Epps and co-star Jennifer Morrison read the scripts and believed that the show would be either a hit or miss.
caption: Producer Bryan Singer initially thought actor Hugh Laurie was American.
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