But before that, the then-24-year-old had been reluctant to even audition for the role of Chase, who was originally written as a 35-year-old American radiologist. His motivation came from his agent asking what else he was going to do today, and realizing that the pub was perhaps his only other option. When he recalled that he had to pay for his own plane ticket to appear for a second audition, Attanasio suggested perhaps they should pay him back now.
Jennifer Morrison claimed her House audition was the worst she'd ever had, and she went to bed depressed after meeting Singer as “a sopping mess” in the lobby beforehand. However, admitting for the second time that his directorial eye may not translate well to recognizing faces, Singer recalled FOX sending him a reel of audition tapes and asking him to choose two actresses as finalists for the role of Cameron. “They sent me one of you as a blonde in Dawson's Creek, and one of you as a brunette in something else,” Singer recalled to Morrison.
“And you picked both of them,” Morrison remembered with a laugh. “I ended up being my own worst competition.”
Writing the Gospel
All the panelists praised the writing of the show, with head writer Shore in particular expressing his pride in his writers, who were sitting in the audience. “I've got a great writing staff,” he said in response to a question about how they find the medical stories that drive the plots, “and we have a lot of help from a lot of doctors. I don't think of it as a procedural, but you need the procedure.”
When he and Attanasio discussed the pilot for the show, Shore had told him: “I've only got one idea. I don't know what episode two is going to be. Paul's advice was, 'you only need one right now.'”
Each medical story begins with a real life case, but evolves with the dramatic needs of the show and the characters. “We've resisted a lot of weird stories because they don't fit the show," Shore said.
When an audience member who suffers from vasculitis and runs a vasculitis foundation asked why they'd chosen that disease as the possible diagnosis that seems to pop up in every episode, Shore quipped: “Because we're doing God's work” before adding: “No, we're just trying to entertain.”
Article comments
1 - Joanie
Congrats! This article has been placed on Advance.net
2 - Cathy Fornabaio
To Diane Kristine-
Loved your article- have a question about it if you don't mind. You wrote... When an audience member who suffers from vasculitis and runs a
vasculitis foundation asked why they'd chosen that disease as the possible diagnosis that seems to pop up in every episode.......
I was inquiring on who you speak of. I have written in many time about the vasculitic disease- Behcet's disease. This very rare disease has come up many times on HOUSE. I have written in about it many times as well. I was inquiring so as to get connected with this person as we seem to be working towards the same goal. Would it be possible to give this person my contact info? Thank you so much for your help.
Sincerly,
Cathy Fornabaio
President American Behcet's Disease Association
3 - Diane Kristine
Sorry, Cathy, I have no idea what her name was or the specific name of her organization, though it's possible it was simply called the Vasculitis Foundation. I didn't speak to her directly - she mentioned all that as a prelude to her question about why they chose vasculitis.
And I think (besides that they're "doing God's work") the answer is that they didn't really chose it. It just pops up because the medical cases are always rare with a variety of symptoms, and vasculitis is rare with a wide variety of possible symptoms, so it ends up fitting as a possibility in many of their endless differential diagnoses.
In answer to her question, David Shore was clear that any awareness the show brings to the disease was completely unintentional, but obviously nice if it happens, and that it's the work of foundations like the questioner's that do the good work that should be recognized. So he could be serious too - I just pointed out the funny.