![]() Patrick as Keith Charles, David’s occasionally hot-tempered boyfriend. The early cast was rounded off with Freddy Rodríguez as Federico “Rico” Diaz, the skilled restorative artist and Nathaniel’s protégé, Jeremy Sisto as Billy Chenowith, Brenda’s manic-depressive and possessive brother, and Matthew St. ![]() When Krause and Griffiths read together, Ball had his Nate and Brenda. Rachel Griffiths had come over from Australia (complete with perfected American accent) to audition for the part of Brenda Chenowith, the highly intelligent and psychologically complex girlfriend of Nate. Peter Krause, who had starred on Aaron Sorkin’s Sports Night, was most interested in playing the role of David due to the political and social aspects of the character. The real challenge, however, came in casting Nate Fisher, the free bird of the Fisher clan who would return to his family for the holidays but wind up staying to help run Fisher & Sons after the death of Nathaniel, Sr. What do they want me to come in for? My agent said, ‘You should go and audition.’ I said, ‘Well, okay, but I think I’m too young.’” Simple makeup, a tight bun and simple, plain clothing would have to do the trick, though - she was told she got the part while on the plane back from the network audition. “My agent told me about the show and gave me the script, and I read and I thought, “Well, I’m too young. For her, the role of Ruth was unexpected Conroy is only 12 years older than Krause, who would play her eldest son, and concerns about her age left her momentarily tentative about auditioning in the first place. I flung all these doors wide open playing this pansexual, somewhat sinister, party thrower and I just slammed all those doors shut on David right there - the definition of repression.”įrances Conroy, who played the matriarchal Ruth Fisher, was also starring on Broadway at the time in the play The Ride Down Mt. “I think a part of having a sense of how to slip into David was informed by the fact that I was playing the Emcee. “So I was really captivated by it and really, really put a lot into preparing for the audition.”įor Hall, who had major screen success with Dexter following Six Feet Under, it was his first role on television, coming straight from the New York stage playing the Emcee in Cabaret, a role which is perhaps as far from first season David Fisher as you can get. “Within five or six pages it was clearly as good as anything I’ve ever read for the small screen, big screen or the stage as far as original work goes,” Hall recalled. It felt very funny and real but in that whole Alan Ball voice and world still.” “I just thought it was a really interestingly written part for a young woman. “I read the script and was like, ‘I must be in this,’ and I think all my agents were like, “We have to make this happen,” Lauren Ambrose, who played Claire Fisher, said. But in talking with the cast, something becomes very evident very quickly: a universal recognition that Ball’s script was extraordinary. Great characters, great storyline and a little fucked up is now essentially the show’s calling card. We love the story, but the whole thing feels a little safe, Can it be more fucked up?” ![]() The response to Ball’s first draft? One note: “we love the characters. That avoidance of grief and burial of emotions was a Fisher family specialty. The distinct memory of having his mother whisked away and carried off behind a curtain when she started to cry at his sister’s funeral may sound familiar to anyone who’s at least seen Six Feet Under ’s pilot. Within two years of that, he lost four other family members, including his father. Ball’s own experiences could unfortunately serve as inspiration for the broad idea: his sister had been killed in a car accident in which he was a surviving passenger when he was 13 years old. I think from the audition forward to shooting the pilot, there was just a sense individually and then collectively when we all came together to make it that we just needed to step up so that we got it right because it was so rich.”įollowing both an Academy Award for his American Beauty screenplay and a failed sitcom on ABC called Oh, Grow Up, Ball took a pitch from HBO executive Carolyn Strauss about a series that would take place in a family-owned funeral home. ![]() “It was immediately clear that the show was inspiring to do something new and exciting. Soon to follow for the network were Sex and the City, The Sopranos and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and next in line? Six Feet Under. ![]() Just a few years prior in 1997, HBO has made its first foray into the one-hour dramatic narrative series with Oz and began a new trend. Hall, who played the tightly wound and closeted David Fisher, told me in a phone interview. “We had the sweet spot of the emerging golden age of TV,” Michael C. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |