GwenRaiden
AKA Apology Girl
Ten years after its devastating finale, the show's creator and cast eulogize the life-after-death drama.
The cast of 'Six Feet Under'.
Life Before Death
Alan Ball (Creator/Showrunner): In the fall of 1999 I was working on this television series that I created for ABC called Oh, Grow Up, which, in retrospect, I'm not sure is a show that I myself would have ever watched. But American Beauty [which I wrote the script for] had premiered in September of that year as well. So I got call from [then-president of HBO Entertainment] Carolyn Strauss' office asking if I would meet her for lunch. That was right around the time I had just discovered The Sopranos, and I was amazed that, like, "Oh, TV can be this?"
So I just wrote the pilot on spec and had my agent send it over to HBO. "You know that show we talked about? Well, here's a version of it that I just wrote."
After they read it, they invited me in, and I went in and met with Carolyn and with Chris Albrecht, who was running HBO at the time, and they said, "We really like this, but we have a main note for the whole thing: It feels kind of safe. Could you make it more ****ed up?"
And I told them, "Well, yeah… I would be very happy to **** it up for you. I mean, I don't want to just **** it up arbitrarily, but if we can make the characters messier and weirder, yeah, absolutely."
Peter Krause ("Nate Fisher"): When I read the pilot script, I didn't put it down. I read it in one sitting without interruption, and when I turned that last page, I knew this is going to be HBO's next big series.
Michael C. Hall ("David Fisher): I was excited to see the script because HBO was emerging as the place to be as far as exciting new television and I was a fan of American Beauty,and understood that Alan had written a pilot script for a new show. Within a few pages, I recognized that it was as good as anything I had ever read as far as original work goes — not just for TV, but for any medium at that point.
Building the Imperfect Family
Ball: I don't really write characters with specific actors in mind. Once I started considering casting after the script was finished, I was thinking about Chris Meloni and Justin Theroux as being the two brothers, because I thought they looked like siblings and they were both two actors who I really admired. But Chris got the SVU thing before we went into production.
And I did have Freddy Rodríguez in mind because he'd done a couple of guest spots on Oh, Grow Up and there was something about him and his intensity that I just thought was great. But I didn't offer roles to anybody. Everybody came in to read. We did some casting out here in L.A.; Rachel was in Australia, but came to L.A. for it. Then I went to New York, which is where Michael Hall, Mathew St. Patrick [who played Keith, David's boyfriend], Frannie Conroy, and Richard Jenkins were.
Krause: Every now and then, the perfect actor comes along to play a par, and Michael C. Hall for David was perfect.
Michael C. Hall as David Fisher in 'Six Feet Under'.
Hall: There was definitely an immediate sense of how David was, how he breathed and held himself. There was something about his repression that I responded to and was able to embody. It might've had something to do with the fact that I was playing the Emcee in Cabaret at the time. I had slung open many doors to play that. So, David came along and I just slammed them all shut and there he was.
Ball: At the beginning of the series, we used to say that Nate was Marilyn Munster and that everybody else in the family was much more overtly strange. Nate seemed normal. But as the series went on, that was very clearly not the case.
Krause: One of the things I enjoyed the most was when Alan would direct, because he would free us up. In an episode where Nate inadvertently takes ecstasy, there's a scene where Nate is high and he's talking about flow, and I had improvised a little bit of something. Alan was standing at the monitors and said, "I want you to take that further." I don't know if you remember this shot, but my hands are going in and out towards the camera lens… And that was one of those times where Alan saw something and he wanted to expand on it in the moment. That would happen a lot with him, which made it really fun and vibrant. You weren't painting by the numbers. You were almost performing jazz or something. Something was happening in that moment, and people started riffing, and more than anyone, he allowed that and encouraged it.
Ball: You know, I remember when DreamWorks was getting ready to release American Beauty, I just kept hearing them say, "How are we going to market this? It's so dark." And I was like, is it? It's not nearly as dark as A Nightmare on Elm Street or some teenage slasher movie. And HBO was saying exactly the same things about Six Feet Under. They're like, "Oh, we don't know how we're going to sell this. It's so dark," and I was like, is it really darker than The Sopranos? I don't think so. And you don't really have a problem selling that.
The Beginning of the End
Ball: I called HBO around 2004, and I said "I'm done. I can't do another season after this upcoming one," and they said, "Well, then we'll just end the show." Oddly enough, I did exactly the same thing on True Blood, but they kept it running for two more seasons. I think because it was generating a lot more money for them than Six Feet Under did.
Richard Jenkins and Peter Krause in the series finale of 'Six Feet Under.'
Kill Them All
Ball: When I convened with the writers for that last season, because we knew it was the end, we had to know where we were going. And somebody in the room said, "We should just kill everybody." And I was like, yeah, that's funny, whatever — and I wish I could remember who it was, because it wasn't me. But they said, "No, no, no. We should be with each character at the moment of their death," and when I heard that, I was like, "Well, of course. I mean, what else can you do? That's the perfect organic ending for this show."
Hall: With Six Feet Under when I remember it and try to think of a highlight or a fondest memory, there are so many it's hard to single anything out. But I remember it as if it all really happened. That's how rich the experience was. I remember Claire realizing I was wearing her T-shirt before I went out and did ecstasy. I remember watching Ruth crumbling in front of her dead husband and my father's grave. I remember the scene with Nate in our father's secret room. It just goes on and on. I remember it like a life I lived.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news...os-beloved-masterpiece-20150820#ixzz3jSrRRIN9
The cast of 'Six Feet Under'.
Life Before Death
Alan Ball (Creator/Showrunner): In the fall of 1999 I was working on this television series that I created for ABC called Oh, Grow Up, which, in retrospect, I'm not sure is a show that I myself would have ever watched. But American Beauty [which I wrote the script for] had premiered in September of that year as well. So I got call from [then-president of HBO Entertainment] Carolyn Strauss' office asking if I would meet her for lunch. That was right around the time I had just discovered The Sopranos, and I was amazed that, like, "Oh, TV can be this?"
So I just wrote the pilot on spec and had my agent send it over to HBO. "You know that show we talked about? Well, here's a version of it that I just wrote."
After they read it, they invited me in, and I went in and met with Carolyn and with Chris Albrecht, who was running HBO at the time, and they said, "We really like this, but we have a main note for the whole thing: It feels kind of safe. Could you make it more ****ed up?"
And I told them, "Well, yeah… I would be very happy to **** it up for you. I mean, I don't want to just **** it up arbitrarily, but if we can make the characters messier and weirder, yeah, absolutely."
Peter Krause ("Nate Fisher"): When I read the pilot script, I didn't put it down. I read it in one sitting without interruption, and when I turned that last page, I knew this is going to be HBO's next big series.
Michael C. Hall ("David Fisher): I was excited to see the script because HBO was emerging as the place to be as far as exciting new television and I was a fan of American Beauty,and understood that Alan had written a pilot script for a new show. Within a few pages, I recognized that it was as good as anything I had ever read as far as original work goes — not just for TV, but for any medium at that point.
Building the Imperfect Family
Ball: I don't really write characters with specific actors in mind. Once I started considering casting after the script was finished, I was thinking about Chris Meloni and Justin Theroux as being the two brothers, because I thought they looked like siblings and they were both two actors who I really admired. But Chris got the SVU thing before we went into production.
And I did have Freddy Rodríguez in mind because he'd done a couple of guest spots on Oh, Grow Up and there was something about him and his intensity that I just thought was great. But I didn't offer roles to anybody. Everybody came in to read. We did some casting out here in L.A.; Rachel was in Australia, but came to L.A. for it. Then I went to New York, which is where Michael Hall, Mathew St. Patrick [who played Keith, David's boyfriend], Frannie Conroy, and Richard Jenkins were.
Krause: Every now and then, the perfect actor comes along to play a par, and Michael C. Hall for David was perfect.
Michael C. Hall as David Fisher in 'Six Feet Under'.
Hall: There was definitely an immediate sense of how David was, how he breathed and held himself. There was something about his repression that I responded to and was able to embody. It might've had something to do with the fact that I was playing the Emcee in Cabaret at the time. I had slung open many doors to play that. So, David came along and I just slammed them all shut and there he was.
Ball: At the beginning of the series, we used to say that Nate was Marilyn Munster and that everybody else in the family was much more overtly strange. Nate seemed normal. But as the series went on, that was very clearly not the case.
"So I went out into the lobby with Lauren and told her 'You just have to play up the meth more.' She's like, 'I don't know what that's like. I've never done crystal meth!'"
Ball: Lauren [Ambrose] was always my favorite [for Claire]. I remember when we took Claire to the network, you go in with favorites, but you bring more than one, because if you go in with just one, it's very easy for them to say, "I don't know, I need to see some more." The smoking-crystal-meth scene was part of the audition for Claire, and they felt like it wasn't realistic. So I went out into the lobby with Lauren and told her "You just have to play up the meth more," and she's like, "I don't know what that's like. I've never done crystal meth!" I said: just be really nervous and antsy. And then she came back in, and she was so great. I remember early in the first season, there was a shot of her just walking across the parking lot at her high school, and I went: This girl is a star, because I cannot take my eyes off of her, and all she's doing is walking across a parking lot.
Krause: One of the things I enjoyed the most was when Alan would direct, because he would free us up. In an episode where Nate inadvertently takes ecstasy, there's a scene where Nate is high and he's talking about flow, and I had improvised a little bit of something. Alan was standing at the monitors and said, "I want you to take that further." I don't know if you remember this shot, but my hands are going in and out towards the camera lens… And that was one of those times where Alan saw something and he wanted to expand on it in the moment. That would happen a lot with him, which made it really fun and vibrant. You weren't painting by the numbers. You were almost performing jazz or something. Something was happening in that moment, and people started riffing, and more than anyone, he allowed that and encouraged it.
Ball: You know, I remember when DreamWorks was getting ready to release American Beauty, I just kept hearing them say, "How are we going to market this? It's so dark." And I was like, is it? It's not nearly as dark as A Nightmare on Elm Street or some teenage slasher movie. And HBO was saying exactly the same things about Six Feet Under. They're like, "Oh, we don't know how we're going to sell this. It's so dark," and I was like, is it really darker than The Sopranos? I don't think so. And you don't really have a problem selling that.
The Beginning of the End
Ball: I called HBO around 2004, and I said "I'm done. I can't do another season after this upcoming one," and they said, "Well, then we'll just end the show." Oddly enough, I did exactly the same thing on True Blood, but they kept it running for two more seasons. I think because it was generating a lot more money for them than Six Feet Under did.
Richard Jenkins and Peter Krause in the series finale of 'Six Feet Under.'
Kill Them All
Ball: When I convened with the writers for that last season, because we knew it was the end, we had to know where we were going. And somebody in the room said, "We should just kill everybody." And I was like, yeah, that's funny, whatever — and I wish I could remember who it was, because it wasn't me. But they said, "No, no, no. We should be with each character at the moment of their death," and when I heard that, I was like, "Well, of course. I mean, what else can you do? That's the perfect organic ending for this show."
Hall: With Six Feet Under when I remember it and try to think of a highlight or a fondest memory, there are so many it's hard to single anything out. But I remember it as if it all really happened. That's how rich the experience was. I remember Claire realizing I was wearing her T-shirt before I went out and did ecstasy. I remember watching Ruth crumbling in front of her dead husband and my father's grave. I remember the scene with Nate in our father's secret room. It just goes on and on. I remember it like a life I lived.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news...os-beloved-masterpiece-20150820#ixzz3jSrRRIN9
