Krause Dives 'Six Feet Under' One Last Time
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - As Nate Fisher, the funeral home director he plays on HBO's Emmy-winning "Six Feet Under," Peter Krause logs a lot of time helping bereaved clients come to terms with the death of a loved one.
Off camera, however, the actor candidly admits that he's not ready to deal with the fact that his series is entering its final season beginning Monday, June 6.
"I'm sure I will be [sentimental about it] when it's over, but right now I just keep swinging from one moment to the next in Nate's life," Krause says at the end of a recent production day. "That's about all I can focus on.
"A television series obviously is very different from films and plays, where there's a beginning, middle and an end, and as the actor, you can look at it as a whole piece. When you start this extended story, you don't know where it's going to lead, much like your own life. You kind of have to surrender to both the things that happen to you and also to those things that dislodge your plan about life.
"John Lennon has a famous quote: 'Life is what happens while making other plans.' Nate certainly made other plans as we all do along the way. His circumstances were a little rougher than most. He's gotten buffeted around by life more than some."
Season five finds Nate hoping for a little peace, now that he's come to terms with the death of his first wife, Lisa (Lili Taylor, back for a ghostly cameo), and returned to his troubled soulmate, Brenda Chenowith (Rachel Griffiths). Soon, however, a private tragedy casts a pall over the couple's wedding day in the season premiere.
Krause's searing portrayal of Nate's bumpy quest for happiness has earned the actor two Emmy nominations and, with his cast mates, two Screen Actors Guild Awards for best ensemble cast. Ironically, he originally had auditioned for the role of Nate's gay brother, David (Michael C. Hall), but series creator Alan Ball asked him to look at Nate instead.
"I reread the script, focusing more on Nate, and discovered the character probably would be tougher to play," Krause recalls. "He was less clearly drawn there at the beginning, and as I delved more deeply I discovered some striking similarities between the character there on the page and myself.
"In the pilot episode, Nate struck me as a searcher who is drawn toward happiness, and when things weren't going well and making him happy, he would simply move away from them. Some people might look at that as running away from conflict or problems, and there may be some truth in that, but mainly it just seemed that he was running toward something 'better.' Part of his journey included his father's death and his mother asking him to stay home for a while -- which ended up being, for all intents and purposes, for the rest of his life."
Like Nate, Krause started doing some deep thinking about life back in high school, although he admits he is at a loss to explain what first put him in that mind-set.
"For whatever reason, I was seized by some of these larger questions: What is the ultimate definition of reality? At the time, I didn't have the sort of tools to understand that I have now, which is that you can see any one thing from many different points of view," Krause explains.
"Generally, the 'best' truth is an amalgam of many different points of view. That's one thing I'm terrifically proud of about 'Six Feet Under,' that it displays a multifaceted view of life. No one character's vision is given so much more weight than the others that you (think), 'Oh, well, this person sees life as it is.' Each character brings, through his own eyes, a vision of reality that ends up completing a picture while you watch the show."
Krause first got serious about theater during college but unexpectedly found himself in the world of TV comedy after landing a job as a regular on a Carol Burnett variety show just two months after graduation. He played Cybill Shepherd's son-in-law on "Cybill," where he met Ball, then he moved on to the critically acclaimed "Sports Night," where he played acerbic sportscaster Casey McCall.
Krause made his Broadway debut in 2004 in a revival of "After the Fall," the last major production in which playwright Arthur Miller participated before his death in February.
"Arthur was a true champion of anyone who wanted to do his plays," Krause says. "He was remarkably generous and open about Michael's (Mayer, the director) interpretation and mine as well, while still wanting to have as much of a voice as he possibly could.
"Even at his age, Arthur struck me as one of the few people in my life who struck me as being completely unafraid to be happy. He took the pursuit of happiness very seriously."
Krause, who became a first-time father like Nate during his "Six Feet Under" run, faces another life passage in a couple of months. The actor turns 40 in August.
"I wasn't thinking about it at all until I had to spend a week celebrating Nate Fisher's 40th birthday party earlier this year," Krause says. "It was like 'Groundhog Day'; I'd go into work and, 'Oh, I'm turning 40 again today.' I guess it was that repetition that finally made me start reflecting on my own turn into midlife.
"I finally understood, I think, why 40 is such a big birthday. We all kind of bank on about 80 years, barring any unforeseen accidents or other mishaps. So you're working to get up that hill until you're 40, then suddenly you're digging in your heels to try to stop that fast downward slide to 80.
"It's like the end of the series, though: I don't think I'll really know how I'm going to react until I actually get there. I'm not dreading it, but I'm not anxious to get there, either."
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