Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

So it’s about that time that the whole population of internet-frequenters is suffering from a withdrawal of new episodes of DR. HORRIBLE’S SING-ALONG BLOG. Lucky for you, iF has a fix available that involves the infamous supervillain himself.

We caught up with Neil Patrick Harris, who stars in Joss Whedon’s viral hit, at a CBS/CW/Showtime TCA after party last week. While Harris was on hand to promote the fourth season of his show, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, we were also interested in milking what we could out of him regarding DR. HORRIBLE. For those of you who are not following Whedon’s every move (which, really, you should be), DR. HORRIBLE is a musical that was presented in three acts via the web.

In the meantime, while you’re waiting for the just-announced fourth part of DR. HORRIBLE, take a look at our interview with Harris:

iF: Have you worked with Joss before?

HARRIS: He’ll do Shakespeare readings and plays in his backyard every couple of months, and he throws different parts at different people. I’ve gotten to participate in that, but nothing on film yet. He’s such a great conversationalist. He loves Sondheim, so I went and did a singing gig for a Sondheim event in New York and he was there and he got to go meet Stephen Sondheim and go to his house and I was jealous of that. So we just share stories — he’s a great guy. He’s so smart, you know. When you read the script, when you watch the show, when you listen to the lyrics, when you hear the structure of everything, of the song, of the canon, of his whole universe, it’s all so well thought out and not too pretentious and it’s a great combination.

iF: What’s your musical background?

HARRIS: RENT was the first thing I did musically, and that was in ’99. So I’ve been doing it pretty regularly for a decade or so.

iF: What’s your take on creating work that’s meant just for the internet?

HARRIS: It frees you up in a certain way. You have a limited budget because there’s no real budget yet for the internet, but you also don’t have to answer to anyone, so it allows for a freedom that is unprecedented because you are your own boss. Joss is a great boss to have, and so it was really nice. It was like a great "Here’s a barn, here’s a costume, let’s put on a show" kind of moment.

iF: Would you be interested in using the internet for your own projects?

HARRIS: Yeah. Joss, still, I don’t think, has cracked the code to figure out how to market it. Thankfully, Joss has a fan network that is ginormous, and so it all spread like wildfire innately, but if you try to do your own thing you have to figure out how to do it.

iF: Well, you’re you...

HARRIS: I don’t have a website or anything, so I don’t know. I might have a website and make little films and put them on there. I’d rather do a film like a short film and take it to Sundance. I’m still old school like that.

iF: Any more plans for DR. HORRIBLE?

HARRIS: I think they’re all very enthusiastic about the reception that it got. I’m sure it’ll rear its horrible head again. In what context, I have not been told.

iF: Would you be interested?

HARRIS: I’m Dr. Horrible. Of course I’d be interested.