'Never say never'

Known for his Emmynominated roles in Dexter and Six Feet Under in which he played a sociopathic serial killer and an uptight undertaker respectively Michael Hall recently completed the eighth and final season of Dexter Hall is now focusing on his film career and returning to his first love the stage Where do you see yourself heading next I would like to do more films certainly after making these two openended commitments Six Feet Under and Dexter to characters that took me through five and then eight years of my life respectively Irsquom interested in doing things that have a definitive beginning middle and end and mixing it up a bit more I learned after Six Feet Under never say never because I said I never wanted to do another television series That said Irsquom interested in mixing it up a bit more so that probably means more films and stage He has just completed work on a documentary about global warming which took him to Bangladesh and is promoting Kill Your Darlings a drama based on the early lives of the Beat poetsAllen Ginsberg William Burroughs Jack Kerouac and an incident that changed their lives PicThe interview people Anything set in stone Therersquos a play called The Realistic Joneses on Broadway that Irsquom going to start rehearsing in January Sam Gold is directing it and it will open in March next year Are you just taking it easy now Well when Dexter ended I immediately went and shot a film in upstate New York called Cold in July Then I went to Bangladesh and participated in this documentary on climate change Irsquom there not in a hard news way but as a correspondent Itrsquos a series I actually havenrsquot taken any time off yet though I look to be pretty free and clear until after the holidays Irsquom looking forward to catching my breath a little bit You play a complex conniving character in Kill Your Darlings What was it that really resonated when you read the script and was there anything that surprised you about David when you researched the role I was aware of this story and went through my period of fascination with the Beats and was excited that it was being told and especially that it was being told as well as it was with John Krokidas the director and Austin Bunnrsquos script I was excited more specifically about the opportunity to humanise and sympathize with this guy who is sort of a footnote in a lot of the accounts of the formative years of the Beat Generation He was if anything characterised as a bit of a twodimensional villainstalker I liked that the movie seemed to aspire to round him out a bit Why did you want to do it Generally the idea of the film was appealing to me because Irsquom familiar with these guys the Beats I knew about the story I always was amazed that it had never been told I was excited at how well told it was The specific reason initially was the script It had a freshness I donrsquot think itrsquos really a biopic because it doesnrsquot span anyonersquos lifetime Itrsquos a specific period of time It was nuanced and carefully crafted and the characters were so well drawn I sort of liked the fact that this sort of shadow figure was given a voice too Obviously his behaviour is suspicious in terms of the nature of it But in terms of motives go I think he was lovesick not someone who was twisting his moustache That excited me Were you able to do much research on him Was there a lot out there There is relatively little but there was enough in The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice that was Allen Ginsbergrsquos journal There were some real time accounts of his first meeting with David Kammerer There was enough that I could make informed choices as I filled in the blanks There was some research but it was an imaginative exercise too The beat poets and generation have such a staying power theyrsquove been around for 50plus years Every generation relates to it When you were younger did you have some angsty writing that you put down that either reflected this kind of feeling which these guys wrote about Why do you think they have such staying power I think wersquore still feeling the ripple effects of the cultural phenomenon or revolution that they perhaps started I think our fascination with their work does coincide with a period when yoursquore coming into awareness in the ways of which whatever conventions there are might constrain you It speaks to that awareness and appetite to break those boundaries or chains I definitely have some journal entries that are characterised but ultimately just runon sentences I definitely tried to emulate what they had inspired me Is there any difference in playing people who are in that period versus playing people who are contemporary Yeah I think especially with the job that our wardrobe people did and the script is so well rendered that a lot of it could be unconscious You could just give over to living in a world that is contextualised in a totally different way and everybody has different things that are useful whether itrsquos listening to music or putting on the clothes or what have you Are there added challenges as an actor in portraying a real person Itrsquos fun to have some real things to hold onto It makes it to some degree a different exercise to play a real person I certainly think whether itrsquos purely fictional or based on a real person judgment must be withheld or not exist in the first place if yoursquore going to do it In the case of David Kammerer I certainly didnrsquot think of him as a stalker I thought of him as someone who was in love with the wrong person and couldnrsquot let it go Press AssociationThe Interview Peopleu00a0