Simon Helberg dishes on his 'Big Bang Theory' hopes and new film role

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Helberg on Streep: We took a sledgehammer to classical music

Face2Face: Simon Helberg discusses how difficult it was to becoming a classical pianist for the new film 'Florence Foster Jenkins' and then take a sledgehammer to the music he learned

"The Big Bang Theory’s" Simon Helberg co-stars alongside Oscar winner Meryl Streep in “Florence Foster Jenkins,” based on the true story of the famous 1940s socialite who made it all the way to Carnegie Hall. Helberg takes on the role of pianist Cosme McMoon. He spoke to FOX411 about the film, his musical skills plus and what’s in store on his hit TV series, “The Big Bang Theory.”

FOX411: What is something you want to know about [your “Big Bang Theory” character] Howard? And what can we expect from the upcoming episodes?
Simon Helberg: I’d like to meet his dad. I mean, I respect, the writers are so great that there's nothing I would tell them, but I hope, just selfishly at least, that something comes up about his father, even if we don't meet him.

…I don't know anything that ever is going to happen, except that a baby will come out because I know how physiology works. She’s [Helberg’s on-screen wife Melissa Rauch] going to have a baby, but I have no idea when… It could be Rosemary's baby. I don't know.

FOX411: Could you ever have imagined that Howard Wolowitz would become a household name?
Helberg: Oh, no. It's a terrible, terrible day in America (laughs)… I didn’t think one way or another, actually. Maybe that's a good thing. I kind of entered into it just doing it and thinking ‘This is a great pilot. Just the first one is good, and then the next one. Oh, this is still good’ and then as the seasons went on… It’s hard to sort of see it when you're in it, but I'm very happy. I’m very happy people still like it.

FOX411: You play the piano in real life for your role in “Florence Foster Jenkins.” How long have you been playing the piano?
Helberg: I'm not as well trained as I should be, but I played until I was about 16, and I played jazz, and I played in rock bands and all that but never classical or opera. So…I kind of bluffed to [Director] Stephen Frears when he was very eager to find somebody that could do this, and I just thought ‘I can at least put my hands in the right places’… I wanted to be in this movie badly so I said ‘whatever it takes.’

FOX411: And it’s all you?
Helberg: It’s all me, and we're doing it live actually. What you're watching is what is happening in that moment. It’s a challenge... a lot of movies do it to playback -- so she would have lip-synched, and I would have kind of mimed it, but I don't know. Stephen Frears is a mad man, and there we were doing it live.

FOX411: If there was one question you could have asked the real Florence, what would it have been?
Helberg: I guess I would have wanted to know… what she heard in her head, and I don't know how you would even describe it. And I'd like to know if she ever had any doubts and how she managed that because she's so un-self-aware, and there's something so freeing about watching a person that has no real care… just one take wonder.