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Death becomes him: An interview with Peter Krause |
by Jenny Stewart
After watching Peter Krause play Nate Fisher for four years on HBO's smash hit series "Six Feet Under," we've realized a few things: Nobody can pull off the mortician suit and rock star haircut like he can. Nobody breaks down into tortured sobs more convincingly. Nobody can be as commitment-phobic, unfaithful, lost and reckless as his character has been -- and still arouse in us such burning affection and attraction.
Now that the fifth and final season of "Six Feet Under" is under way, fans of the show are wondering how they're going to get by without their weekly fix of the dreamy funeral director. PlanetOut Entertainment Editor Jenny Stewart discovered Krause might be going through some separation anxiety himself when she talked to the actor about practical jokes on the set, his relationship to his co-stars and his dysfunctional relationships (on screen and off).
You've said that Nate Fisher is such a part of your mindscape that you've had dreams as Nate. After five years, Nate is about to be over. How will you deal with him being gone from your life?
There will be some remorse about leaving Nate behind. But one thing positive about the difficulty of this role is that I've gotten a lot better at leaving my work at work. The first couple of seasons, I was pretty obsessive, and as time moved on it became much less productive. It started to affect my personal life adversely. So I needed to find a much more compartmentalized way of dealing with my job.
When you initially auditioned for "Six Feet Under," you tried out for the role of David, Nate's gay brother. How do you think your life would have been affected had you taken that role?
Hmmm ... Maybe I'd be living in San Francisco and own a pair of assless chaps or assless jeans. [Laughs.] No, I'm sure it would be different. I think that both David and Nate have suffered, but looking back, I think Nate in some ways was much more psychologically tormented. David was able to liberate himself from some of his own psychological chains. But what's encouraging is that through it all, Nate never became absolutely despondent. He's certainly gotten depressed, but there was always one day or one morning where he woke up and moved forward.
It occurs to me that Nate is the only Fisher sibling not to have had a gay experience.
Hey -- I did teach David how to masturbate! [Laughs.] That was something Nate said when he was high on ecstasy, so I don't know if that can qualify as a gay experience. I think that Nate is decidedly a heterosexual and greatly enjoys women and enjoys the attention he gets from women.
There have been so many great guest stars on the show. Anyone in particular you had a great experience with?
I didn't have as much time with Patty Clarkson as I would have liked to, but Kathy [Bates] and I got along great. We once pulled a practical joke on Michael Hall. There was an old woman in a casket who was supposed to be dead, and we were checking out Rico's work on her. We had installed a remote-controlled fart device inside the casket. The old woman was in on it, and I had the remote control in my pocket. So Michael and I leaned over to look at the woman, and I pressed the button, and fart noises started going off. Me and the crew started giggling. But Michael got very upset because he felt we shouldn't be laughing at this poor old woman who couldn't control her intestines. Kathy was directing, and she was back behind the monitor and she was just ... crying, she was laughing so hard. Michael was not too happy when he found out he was a target.
Truth be told, Lili [Taylor] and I -- some of those scenes we had to do were quite difficult. But she and I had got along quite well. We really enjoyed each other's company, so sometimes it was really difficult for us to want to play the "great Bickersons," simply because it went so much against our natural chemistry. Oh, and it was also great to have James Cromwell around. Oh wait -- my God! Rainn Wilson, who played Arthur, was also great.
So, people naturally wonder if you've ever been in a relationship as dysfunctional as Nate and Brenda's.
Umm ... let me see how, many have I been in like that? [Counts out loud.] I can't count that high.
Really? So even the dysfunctional relationship hits close to home?
Yeah, there have definitely been a few, for sure. But wait -- then again, I've been in a bunch that haven't been like that, so I think it evens out.
You are very close to the cast -- and you guys sometimes address each other by character names off the set. You say you think you are going to have to let Nate go completely after the show, right?
I think I'm going to have to, yes.
OK, say you let Nate go, and then in a few months, you get together socially with the cast. Wouldn't being around them bring out your innate Nate-ness? And could that be damaging to your getting back to being Peter?
I'm sure it definitely will happen, but I don't necessarily think it will be damaging. When Michael and Lauren and I get together, it definitely feels like we are siblings, and Frances is sort of my quasi-mom. You really do begin to feel like these people are their characters because you spend so much time with them in an imaginary world.
But we'll just have to see what happens. What I imagine it will be will not be what it is, I know that much.
What are you going to do next?
There are a number of films that have come my way this coming summer, and I'm trying to figure out what I want to do. In terms of TV, the past seven years I've spent doing "Sports Night" and "Six Feet Under," so it's kind of hard to top that.
Speaking of "Sports Night," you co-starred with Felicity Huffman on that show, and now she's on "Desperate Housewives."
I was so proud of Felicity when she got that role. I had a great time working with her on "Sports Night." When I first tuned in to "Desperate Housewives," it didn't have as much dimension as it does now, and that's the wonderful thing about television series -- they're allowed to grow.
And it's a fascinating show, because they've given themselves a story format where anything can happen. They can get really dramatic, they can get really comedic -- kooky stuff can happen, and they don't have to hang on to some model of "this is what the show is." I think that's smart.
I have to tell you this thing about Felicity. The first season we did "Sports Night," there were some kids visiting the set. Felicity said "I'm not particularly fond of children." [Laughs hard.] And I said, "Felicity, I can't believe you said that." I actually wrote it down on a piece of paper, dated it and saved it. And lo and behold she got pregnant and now has two daughters in real life, and on the show she's got a bunch of kids, so she's dealing with kids all the time now.
If you could star in a same-sex love story, which male actor would you want to play your boyfriend?
Hmm ... Based on Michael Hall's comfort with Matthew St. Patrick, maybe I'd go with him. Or maybe Michael -- but wait, he plays my brother, so that would be weird. Or what about Jeremy Sisto, who plays Brenda's brother Billy? And all the women I know want to get it on with Richard Jenkins, who plays my dad on the show.
Are you serious?
Yeah, women find him really sexy. How about you? Do you find him sexy?
Hmmm. Well, I do like him a lot [Laughing] but I guess I just don't think of Richard Jenkins in a sexual way. But let me think about it a little more. Nice chatting with you. Here's hoping you don't die this season.
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