KEY POINTS:
Former Six Feet Under star Michael C. Hall talks about playing Dexter, an avenging serial killer with a day job as a Miami police forensic scientist.
So what got you interested in the role?
I was drawn to the character. The idea of breathing life into someone
who claims to be without the capacity for authentic human emotion was a unique challenge, or opportunity, or assignment as an actor and while it was an open-ended commitment, it was a commitment to something that had a great deal of potential for growth and development from an acting standpoint.
Didn't the content of the show disturb you at all?
No. I certainly recognised that it would be a commitment and a dark place to go at times but I admire its aspiration to create a sense of moral ambiguity in the audience - it operates in shades of grey. That was attractive to me.
Why do you think the show's producers thought you would be a good choice for Dexter?
I think they wanted someone who could believably kill somebody and, I don't know, they wanted someone who could pull it off.
Do you think they found common ground in the morbid streak in Six Feet Under with the body count in this one?
Oh well ... yeah. I'm surrounded by dead bodies one way or the other.
If it's not embalming fluid it's something else.
Exactly. I'm more on the supply side now.
So no qualms about doing another show about death?
No. I recognised there was a parallel there but it certainly wasn't enough to dissuade me from doing it.
Were you happy at how Six Feet Under finished?
I was glad that it ended under its own terms; that [creator] Allan Ball didn't try to squeeze every bit of revenue that he could and that from an artistic point of view he was ready for the story to conclude.
It was one of the shows which seemingly altered the tone of American television.
Both Six Feet Under and Dexter are part of that evolution of pay cable television in the United States being able to do things artistically that network television just isn't able to do.
We've had highly immoral characters in the likes of The Sopranos and Deadwood. But for a vigilante serial killer to be the lead character of a show, hey, that's real progress ...
Yeah. I think on the progression towards anti-heroes he is probably one of the bolder entries.
Having played this character, are you more intimidating in real life? Do people fear you now?
I hope so because that was certainly what I was after - to instil fear in strangers. But if I instil fear in someone I have serious questions about why they are afraid. Maybe they have some skeletons in the closet that they don't want Dexter to know about.
LOWDOWN
Who: Michael C. Hall In Dexter
Where & when: Sky 1 Tuesdays from September 4, 9.30pm; replayed Sundays at 8.30pm.