Q&A: A Conversation with Kal Penn of House
Here's another interview.
Q&A: A conversation with Kal Penn of 'House'
BY DAVID MARTINDALE
Special to the Star-Telegram
Dr. Lawrence Kutner is no longer a member of the medical team on House. He took his own life, a no-warning shocker that left devastated colleagues at Princeton Plainsboro baffled as to why. Dr. Gregory House, the man who always has all the answers, is particularly vexed -- and not knowing why Kutner killed himself is something that will nag at him for the rest of the season. There's no mystery why Kal Penn, the actor who played Kutner for two seasons, chose to leave the show, however. Penn has a new non-showbiz job lined up in the Obama White House. He's going to serve as associate director in the White House Office of Public Liaison. Since Penn announced his intentions, the Harold & Kumar star has heard every possible "White Castle-to-White House" joke, along with countless well wishes. But there's also one thing people keep asking him: "Are you nuts?" Penn is quick to admit that, yes, maybe he is crazy to leave a hit TV series and to indefinitely put his acting career on hold. But being branded as crazy is "nothing new," he says. "I've had people tell me I'm crazy from the time I was 17 when I said I want to be an actor. I don't think there's any actor who I know who wasn't told they were crazy when they were an aspiring actor moving out to California to follow some sort of a dream." House, which has big changes coming in the aftermath of Kutner's death, airs at 7 p.m. CT Mondays on Fox.
Before we discuss Kutner's suicide, tell us about the job that awaits you in Washington.
"The job itself is that I will be an associate director in the White House Office of Public Liaison. What the OPL does is similar to what I was doing on the campaign, but now it is the actual administration. We go into communities across the country and continue the dialogue that people started during the campaign. We make sure that a lot of these new voices that have emerged are brought to the table -- from Democrats, Republicans, everyone in between -- and build relationships that embody the types of changes that President Obama had run on. The reason that was appealing to me is I have friends who need a voice. I know folks who were in Iraq. I'm 31 years old, but I still have friends who dream about going to college but don't have the financial opportunity. So this seemed like the opportunity that I would enjoy doing and honored to serve at."
Is it true that, years ago, your grandparents marched with Gandhi? Is it possible that they awakened the public servant and the activist in you?
"I remember my grandmother telling me stories at the dinner table about boycotting salt and cotton. You just think that every grandparent has stories like that. It was not until much later, probably in high school or college, that I said, 'Wait a second. Grandma told me a story about this chapter that's in this history book and she was there! That's insane!' It was never preachy. It was never used to try to coerce us into doing anything. But that was always on my mind growing up, almost second nature, knowing that it was those types of small public service actions that have made a difference. So if I can make some small difference, I'm honored to do it."
So you approached the producers of House, you asked to be released from the show and they made your character commit suicide. Were you shocked by that development, especially given that Kutner had given no warning signs?
"I was shocked by it, but I think that was what they were going for. When they told me about it, I asked if there was anything in his background that would have indicated it or if there were any warning signs beforehand and the answer was no, that this is something that was just as shocking to the team as it is to the audience, that it's something nobody sees coming. It's kind of tough to wrap your head around that, especially as the actor who plays the character, to know that he was obviously tormented about something but didn't share it with anyone. I think that's indicated pretty well at the very end when House [played by Hugh Laurie] goes back into Kutner's apartment and starts going through photos, searching for some sort of an answer, and he sees pictures that we had never seen a side of Kutner before. We never knew that he had a girlfriend. We never knew that he hung out with his college friends at the beach regularly. That last picture that he pulls out right before the episode ends is of Kutner looking very different than we've ever seen him before. The look on his face is so completely different from him being kind of jovial in the hospital or even saving somebody's life. It's this distraught look that we just don't have an answer for. He didn't leave a note. He never discussed it with anyone. For the first time, House doesn't have an answer to something."
Were you on the set at all while they filmed the episode, while all the other characters were mourning?
"I was there when Olivia Wilde [who plays Thirteen] and Omar Epps [who plays Foreman] shot that scene where they discover Kutner."
So those legs were yours, not the legs of a stand-in playing dead?
"They were. Greg Yaitanes directed that episode and, even though we were being shot from way back in the other room, he wanted it to be as authentic as possible. So we were fully in that moment."
Would the showman in you, the ego in you, have relished getting a showy farewell death scene, the kind that gets Emmy nominations?
"I like the way it happened. The thing that I enjoy about being an actor and the thing that I enjoy about the arts in general is the ability to make the audience feel an emotion that they weren't intending to feel before they went in. I think that the writers did that in such a great way, that people did feel loss and anger and confusion about this fictional character. I don't know that you would have gotten that same sense if it were some sort of a very Kutner-heavy episode where you see the trials and tribulations. I think part of the loss that the team on House feels from what he did is transitioned over into what the audience feels because there was no explanation. So I'm glad we didn't have a big Kutner dramatic scene to wrap it up."
Source: Star Telegram
Q&A: A conversation with Kal Penn of 'House'
BY DAVID MARTINDALE
Special to the Star-Telegram
Dr. Lawrence Kutner is no longer a member of the medical team on House. He took his own life, a no-warning shocker that left devastated colleagues at Princeton Plainsboro baffled as to why. Dr. Gregory House, the man who always has all the answers, is particularly vexed -- and not knowing why Kutner killed himself is something that will nag at him for the rest of the season. There's no mystery why Kal Penn, the actor who played Kutner for two seasons, chose to leave the show, however. Penn has a new non-showbiz job lined up in the Obama White House. He's going to serve as associate director in the White House Office of Public Liaison. Since Penn announced his intentions, the Harold & Kumar star has heard every possible "White Castle-to-White House" joke, along with countless well wishes. But there's also one thing people keep asking him: "Are you nuts?" Penn is quick to admit that, yes, maybe he is crazy to leave a hit TV series and to indefinitely put his acting career on hold. But being branded as crazy is "nothing new," he says. "I've had people tell me I'm crazy from the time I was 17 when I said I want to be an actor. I don't think there's any actor who I know who wasn't told they were crazy when they were an aspiring actor moving out to California to follow some sort of a dream." House, which has big changes coming in the aftermath of Kutner's death, airs at 7 p.m. CT Mondays on Fox.
Before we discuss Kutner's suicide, tell us about the job that awaits you in Washington.
"The job itself is that I will be an associate director in the White House Office of Public Liaison. What the OPL does is similar to what I was doing on the campaign, but now it is the actual administration. We go into communities across the country and continue the dialogue that people started during the campaign. We make sure that a lot of these new voices that have emerged are brought to the table -- from Democrats, Republicans, everyone in between -- and build relationships that embody the types of changes that President Obama had run on. The reason that was appealing to me is I have friends who need a voice. I know folks who were in Iraq. I'm 31 years old, but I still have friends who dream about going to college but don't have the financial opportunity. So this seemed like the opportunity that I would enjoy doing and honored to serve at."
Is it true that, years ago, your grandparents marched with Gandhi? Is it possible that they awakened the public servant and the activist in you?
"I remember my grandmother telling me stories at the dinner table about boycotting salt and cotton. You just think that every grandparent has stories like that. It was not until much later, probably in high school or college, that I said, 'Wait a second. Grandma told me a story about this chapter that's in this history book and she was there! That's insane!' It was never preachy. It was never used to try to coerce us into doing anything. But that was always on my mind growing up, almost second nature, knowing that it was those types of small public service actions that have made a difference. So if I can make some small difference, I'm honored to do it."
So you approached the producers of House, you asked to be released from the show and they made your character commit suicide. Were you shocked by that development, especially given that Kutner had given no warning signs?
"I was shocked by it, but I think that was what they were going for. When they told me about it, I asked if there was anything in his background that would have indicated it or if there were any warning signs beforehand and the answer was no, that this is something that was just as shocking to the team as it is to the audience, that it's something nobody sees coming. It's kind of tough to wrap your head around that, especially as the actor who plays the character, to know that he was obviously tormented about something but didn't share it with anyone. I think that's indicated pretty well at the very end when House [played by Hugh Laurie] goes back into Kutner's apartment and starts going through photos, searching for some sort of an answer, and he sees pictures that we had never seen a side of Kutner before. We never knew that he had a girlfriend. We never knew that he hung out with his college friends at the beach regularly. That last picture that he pulls out right before the episode ends is of Kutner looking very different than we've ever seen him before. The look on his face is so completely different from him being kind of jovial in the hospital or even saving somebody's life. It's this distraught look that we just don't have an answer for. He didn't leave a note. He never discussed it with anyone. For the first time, House doesn't have an answer to something."
Were you on the set at all while they filmed the episode, while all the other characters were mourning?
"I was there when Olivia Wilde [who plays Thirteen] and Omar Epps [who plays Foreman] shot that scene where they discover Kutner."
So those legs were yours, not the legs of a stand-in playing dead?
"They were. Greg Yaitanes directed that episode and, even though we were being shot from way back in the other room, he wanted it to be as authentic as possible. So we were fully in that moment."
Would the showman in you, the ego in you, have relished getting a showy farewell death scene, the kind that gets Emmy nominations?
"I like the way it happened. The thing that I enjoy about being an actor and the thing that I enjoy about the arts in general is the ability to make the audience feel an emotion that they weren't intending to feel before they went in. I think that the writers did that in such a great way, that people did feel loss and anger and confusion about this fictional character. I don't know that you would have gotten that same sense if it were some sort of a very Kutner-heavy episode where you see the trials and tribulations. I think part of the loss that the team on House feels from what he did is transitioned over into what the audience feels because there was no explanation. So I'm glad we didn't have a big Kutner dramatic scene to wrap it up."
Source: Star Telegram