Interview By: Lena Aburdene
LenaAburdene@TheCinemaSource.com

Peter Krause is either unknown to people or adored by them. Fans of the hit show Six Feet Under know him as Nate Fisher, the tortured yet complex oldest brother of the Fisher and Sons funeral home. When I told people I was to interview Peter, girls dropped their jaws and screeched, 'I love him,' while others would furrow their brow in confusion. If you know little about this talented actor, I suggest you start paying attention. His experience is wide ranging and dates back to comedy shows such as Sports Night and Carol Burnett and crosses over to tragic drama, as the title role of Nate Fisher, Hank Evans in his latest film We Don't Live Here Anymore and Quentin in Arthur Miller's After the Fall (which is playing on Broadway). I spoke with Peter about his latest film role, his show that has everyone talking and his thought provoking play, and found out how his depth has allowed him to play such challenging roles and how his sweet natured demeanor is far different than the self absorbed, tortured roles he sometimes takes on.

Peter is eager to speak of his new film, We Don't Live Here Anymore. Unlike many actors, he is interested in what others think of the film and asks us how we felt about it. His character Hank can sort of be compared to Nate Fisher, although, Hank seems more callous and self centered. Hank cheats on his wife with seemingly no remorse and acts like she doesn't exist. Hank could be thought of as the bad guy of the film or at least the least sympathetic. Peter's thoughts on this are more sympathetic towards his character: "I don't think it makes him a bad guy. When I think about Hank in terms of flaws I think his greatest flaw is that he skips over the rough stuff..maybe that's an okay way to go through life: I'm out for my satisfaction, I don't mean to hurt you, my wife is my home, once in a while I take a vacation. Jack my best friend sees me getting satisfaction everywhere, why shouldn't he' Hank really doesn't want a lot of conflict in his life and he doesn't address the fact that they're having an affair (Edith (his wife) and Jack). How can I call them out if I'm doing the same thing'"

But, as Peter continues, maybe being indifferent isn't necessarily an easier way to go through life: "Is he happy' Creatively he's struggling. He also ends up sleeping with Jack's wife, Terry which I think on some subtle level is revenge and leveling the playing field. Hank has not brought an affair close to home. He hasn't made it so incestuous."

In terms of Hank's marriage with Edith, Peter has his own ideas of what went wrong. He's very introspective and aware of what skills are required to make a relationship work, so he can easily pin point the flaws of the characters, as he says, "They're communicating ineffectively, they're not asking progressive questions so that's something akin to road runner cartoons in terms of the audiences frustration. Why don't you just communicate' But they don't. It is difficult to let go of that which is familiar. You become familiar with this combative relationship. Hank who has masterfully for years had his cake and been eating it too is finally backed into a corner by Edith."

Peter recently had a child, which is parallel with Nate Fisher who also recently became a father to Maya on the show. Furthermore, a strong theme of the film We Don't Live Here Anymore is the relationship between parents and their children. How has becoming a parent in real life effected the way Peter plays a father onscreen': "I think that being a parent is, if you want to be a conscious parent, in any adult relationships that you have, whenever children are present on a daily basis, they're modeling how they get along with people by what they see from you. So whether you're married or not, hopefully Hank and Edith will now have a relationship. Maybe their daughter who feels isolated and alienated wont feel that way anymore. If Edith and Hank actually do make it, this will be a good thing for them."

Peter has not only tackled television and his first film role, he has also gone back to his roots of theater (he has an MFA in theater from Tisch). Currently starring on Broadway as Quentin in Arthur Miller's play After the Fall, he feels extremely blessed being able to be so diverse as an actor: "It's been really nice to do film, TV and theater all happening at once. I'm about ready to take a vacation, a couple films have come up and the tv show starting again. I'm doing 8 shows a week 6 days a week."

Working under Arthur Miller, one of the greatest writers of our time surely must have intimidated Peter. Especially a play that has been called the "least done" of Arthur Miller's works. With lukewarm reviews every time the play has opened, this time around was still risky and still opened to mostly negative reviews. But, Peter took the challenge head on: "When I saw Richard Dreyfuss who is doing Sly Fox he said, 'how are you doing, are you nervous kid' and I said, 'actually pretty terrified', and he said, 'Well, it's never been done well, you've got that going for you.' It's an incredible brave and generous work of art. The play is really about embracing humanity..it's about saying hey, sometimes I wish certain people were dead. Once you know something you're responsible. That's something Miller is saying. I've gotten wind from some of the critics that it's the same stuff that was written in the 60s. Quentin recognized something in him which is human which could lead to the holocaust but he's not going to remove himself from humanity, he's going to say we're all in it together, we are 'them', there is no 'them', there is only us but he doesn't articulate that in the play and we divide ourselves on these institutions and what we're told to do."

Speaking further on Miller's questions about institutions in society, Peter continues his thought saying, "It's a difficult play to do, thematically. I find it very important because it deals with religious and social and political institutions, not all of those things get named in the play (the original work was 3 hours long) but he deals with religious based concepts like limitless love, revenge. It's exhausting but that sense of the life of the mind...the audience is not only connecting dots within the play but also connecting with their own life experiences. It's the type of play you can see several times."

Peter's career is only growing as he continues to prove himself as an actor, and more importantly a grounded nice guy who never let his experiences go to his head. He's gotten to spend hours upon hours with Arthur Miller, he's the backbone of one of the most celebrated TV shows of all time and he's starred in a movie with reputable and strong actors like Naomi Watts, Mark Ruffalo and Laura Dern. Where does Peter want to go from here' Jokingly he says, "I'd love to do some comedy again. My bones are tired from all the tragedy on top of Nate Fisher and this movie and the play."