He’s not the most ambitious guy in the world.
No seriously. When asked what his initial reaction to discovering tonight’s Wilson-centric episode of HOUSE is entitled “Wilson,” and essentially chronicles a day in the life of everybody’s favorite sidekick when an old friend (played by THE WEST WING’s Josh Malina) checks into Princenton Plainsboro with what might-or-might-not be cancer — actor Robert Sean Leonard proclaimed, “Oh, no, it’s my worst nightmare.” And continued to recount a story revealing just how work-adverse he really is. “When I first got out here [Los Angeles] five years ago, I read NUMB3RS and thought, ‘Well this is way too many scenes, too hard and I’m not interested.’ And then I read HOUSE, and this guy Wilson was in about three scenes per episode and I thought, ‘This is perfect!’ It’s good to be the lead of a show for a week, but I wouldn’t spread it all around too much. I like my role the way it is.”
He is not a Wilson/Cuddy shipper.
Although this is probably not going to be music to “Wuddy” fans’ ears, a fairly integral component to “Team Wuddy” isn’t exactly rooting for Wilson and Cuddy to live happily ever after. “Wilson has three ex-wives, lives alone, deals with death every day and his best friend is House, he’s a very odd and dark guy,” explained Leonard when asked on a recent conference call for his take on Wilson and Cuddy’s romantic possiblities. “When I think about Wilson with Cuddy, it doesn’t work; but I think in general people have a view of him that he’s kind of warm and fuzzy, and he’d be kind of an easy guy for Cuddy to boss around, and that might actually be the relationship. I don’t think Wilson would stand it very long. I think he’s a strange man.”
A has no interest in a movie career.
Or to be more specific, “Not in a million years,” explained Leonard when asked what his career plans are when HOUSE finally wraps its run. “I’ve been very lucky, I didn’t ever think I would make a movie, I didn’t want to, I didn’t dream it, I wanted to do stage and be in New York. I did Dead Poet’s Society and now I’m doing HOUSE which is an incredibly good gig, and one I”m very proud of. But, I have a daughter, and I’m so looking forward to skate keys and homework and driving her to soccer and being back in New Jersey, and just being home. HOUSE, financially, has given me the position to do that. So, no, this ain’t my home, and as Neil Diamond once said, ‘LA’s fine, but it ain’t mine no more.’ Oh, no, was it, “LA’s fine, but it ain’t home?’ ‘New York’s home, but it ain’t mine no more.’ Well, I’ll just keep quoting ‘I Am, I Said’ as we move on through the interview.”
He decorator sets in his spare time.
Okay not really. But what observant HOUSE viewers may have noticed over the years is subtle change in the way in which Wilson’s office has been decorated. Say the addition of anOrdinary People poster in his office. Well, that was no accident. Turns out, aside from being Robert Redford’s directorial debut and a brilliant showcase for actors Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore, it was also the poster Leonard singled out when a reporter once asked him what he’d like to see alongside Vertigo and Tough of Evil on his office wall. Said Leonard, “If I walked into an oncologist’s office and Ordinary People was on the wall, I’d feel very good. I’d like that. I’d like the guy who had that on his wall.” Adding, “The next day, my producer Katie [Jacobs] asked, ‘Were you serious about Ordinary People? and I said ‘Yeah,’ and she said, ‘Let’s see what we can do’.”
His dream guest star is Julie Christie.
Aside that is from real-life old friend Josh Malina who drops by Princeton Plainsboro tonight, Leonard (who was quick to point out that since his character rarely interacts with guest stars, there have been big names — such as James Earl Jones — who he never even got the chance to meet) his first choice for special guest patient would be film icon Julie Christie. “Mostly because I think we should get married,” joked the happily married actor. “And so we can just talk about Heaven Can Wait and McCabe and Mrs. Miller for the rest of my days. 