Jim Parsons Reveals His Favorite Part Of Playing Sheldon Cooper On ‘The Big Bang Theory’
Big Bang Theory fans who assumed that Jim Parsons is a sentimental soul in real life — in contrast to his logical on-screen counterpart, Sheldon Cooper — might be surprised to learn that Parsons is only to happy to bring a moment of sappiness to a quick end. In an interview with Variety, Jim revealed that what sets Sheldon apart is what the actor loves so much about playing him.
“In a very specific way, one of my very favorite things about this character is his sort of lack of sentimentality. I don’t mean to sound unromantic or unsympathetic, but I cannot stand sentimentality, and I feel very lucky to be playing a character that, nine times out of 10, when something sentimental is happening in a script, I get to be the one to burst that bubble. And that gives me such great pleasure, I cannot tell you.”
The interview comes as The Big Bang Theory enters an elite club: television shows that have lasted for more than 200 episodes. The landmark installment, which aired last Thursday, featured the gang celebrating Sheldon’s birthday for the first time. Overcome with panic, Sheldon at first retreats into the bathroom and sits alone with Penny before going back to the party. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Parsons talked about how Sheldon has changed over the past nine seasons of The Big Bang Theory.
“He’s still a child but he does have a girlfriend and has started to feel these things. They’ve all grown in different ways. We’ve tried really hard to let these small moments of growth happen but not let them float away from the characters that we know and love. To me, that’s the balancing act that we work hard on.”
But that growth, for the moment, does not include parenthood — at least for Sheldon. Howard and Bernadette are set to become parents, but Parsons told Entertainment Tonight Sheldon and his girlfriend Amy won’t be next. Sheldon and Amy just consummated their relationship after dating for several years; but Parsons thinks they should perhaps have another night together, and perhaps a wedding, before that next step.
Mayim Bialik told The Hollywood Reporter that Amy and Sheldon’s relationship hasn’t actually changed, despite his procurement of a ring and onetime plan to propose.
The birthday episode was an interesting collection of Big Bang Theory guest stars past and present, including Leonard’s mother, Leonard’s long-ago sometime girlfriend Leslie Winkle, Wil Wheaton, and original Batman Adam West. Executive producer Steven Molaro told TV Guide he doesn’t actually know Sheldon Cooper’s age, although fan sites claim the character was born in 1980. Molaro says he thinks of Sheldon as in his “mid-30s.”
Although The Big Bang Theory is now a great ratings hit and is available almost everywhere in reruns, it took some time for the show to pick up steam. It was not a phenomenon on day one, which Parsons told Variety helped everyone involved in the series to become good at their jobs without having to worry about being on top of the ratings game.
“We were never playing to keep the lead, as they might say in sports, do you know what I mean? And so we kind of kept doing our thing, and by the time we were doing well, you just keep doing what you were doing.”
New episodes of The Big Bang Theory air Thursday nights at 8 p.m. on CBS.
[Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images]
