“I count myself lucky on so many fronts – and certainly in regards to the Hodgkin’s [lymphoma],” a fit-looking Hall, again sporting a full head of hair after his treatments, told People this week at San Diego’s Comic-Con International.

“It’s a real gift to be able to go back to work,” says Hall, 39. “One of the best things about it is that it emerged at a time when we were close to the end of shooting. I was able to treat it over the hiatus and it didn’t interrupt our production schedule, which, obviously, would have its effect on me, but it would have its effect on our cast, our crew, people who count on this family to keep making the show.”

“It was amazing to see the support,” concurred Hall’s wife – and Dexter costar – Jennifer Carpenter, “which he would offer back to any one of them at any second – and does. The cast and crew, we spend a remarkable amount of time together. We do know each other’s business, and there’s a lot of love kicking around that set.”

“Everybody was worried about him and then happy that he’s fine,” added Dexter‘s new executive producer, Chip Johannessen, who noted that Hall “sets the tone of the whole set.”

Costar James Remar, who plays a spectral vision of Hall’s father, said that seeing Hall back at work “makes me the happiest man on the planet. I love him. I’m just thrilled and inspired.”

Source: People

The awards will be presented live on NBC on August 29.

Drama series
Breaking Bad
Dexter
The Good Wife
Lost
Mad Men
True Blood

Outstanding Actor In A Drama Series
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
Hugh Laurie, House
Matthew Fox, Lost
Jon Hamm, Mad Men

Also:
- Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series
- Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series (John Lithgow)
- Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (Hello, Dexter Morgan)
- Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series
- Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series (The Getaway)

View the full list of nominations here.

Edit: Fixed with this year’s release, sorry about the mistake made earlier today. (I was half asleep and didn’t even notice it heh)

When Michael C. Hall took to the stage to accept a Golden Globe in January, it represented his first win after four nominations for his role as a serial killer on Showtime’s Dexter. Just a week earlier, with awards season then in full swing and his Globes appearance at the Beverly Hilton Hotel imminent, Hall was compelled to make a startling announcement: He was undergoing a battle with lymphoma. Though he joked backstage that the hat he wore to conceal the hair loss effects of his treatment gave him “a justifiable excuse for accessorizing,” he has kept his battle quiet. His wife and costar, Jennifer Carpenter, recently announced that the 39-year-old actor has “fully recovered.” In April, as Dexter began shooting its fifth season, which will begin airing in September, Hall shared his thoughts about America’s most lovable sociopath.

Why do you think Dexter as a character has connected with audiences, despite his objectionable actions?

I think audiences relish the opportunity to identify with these central, even glaring, flaws. I think all of us have a shadow that we carry around — whether it’s as formidable as one that inspires you to be a serial killer …. But I think there’s something on a metaphorical level that resonates with people.

Aside from the strict code that Dexter lives by, what else keeps him relatable either for you as an actor or for the audience?

For me, it’s always been about what separates him from the rest of the world that makes him interesting: He lacks authenticity. We all struggle with issues of our own relative authenticity or inauthenticity. We all know what it’s like to behave compulsively and just feel like we’re not really in a place of choice when it comes to certain behaviors. The fact that he does take responsibility for his affliction is something that I think is admirable in spite of how it manifests itself.

Is it the moral ambiguity that’s also attractive to the audience?

I think audiences sort of respond to being given more credit than they’re accustomed to when it comes to considering a character who operates in shades of gray, not black and white. That’s how most people experience their life.

Is it difficult to live with that character and his dark passenger when you’re shooting the show?

Toward the end of the season, we’re all kind of running on fumes but that would be the case no matter what the story was. Whatever goes along with it is welcome. It’s an occupational hazard that you take your work home with you to a degree, but I don’t ever get confused. [laughs]

Is there anything that you’re hoping to explore with Dexter in the next season?

Well, I’m certainly interested in going through the aftermath of the enormous mess that has been made of Dexter’s world at the end of the fourth season. And I think the relationship to the code, to the father, what happened at the end of the fourth season is sort of a revamped version of Dexter’s origin story. But in this case, he has some responsibility for what happened. I don’t know if that’s going to lead to his complete mental collapse — doubt it — or rehabilitation — I doubt that too. But how will he move forward? It’s the question that everybody who watches is probably pretty interested in.

The sociopathic side of Dexter seemed to be pretty in check during the last season with his idyllic suburban life. Do you think he’s progressed?

There is some sort of undeniable development or progression toward humanity, but I think that every step he’s taken on that front has been a pragmatic step, one that he needed to make in order to continue to live a life that allowed him to indulge in his primary compulsion. Yes, I think undeniably Dexter is someone who has taken unique responsibility for his darker impulses, not killing indiscriminately. And does experience what seems to be a genuine connection to at least the children in his world. It has so much to do with the way Dexter frames it. He has to frame that progression and that learning and those different kinds of behaviors within a context that allows him to continue to do what he does without ending up in an insane asylum.

Source: LA Times

The wife of Michael C. Hall says the Dexter star is “fully recovered” from cancer and has returned to work.

Jennifer Carpenter said Friday that Hall was “incredibly brave” when he announced in January that he was undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer that attacks the lymph nodes.

The 38-year-old Hall went into remission and continued treatment at a health facility near Los Angeles.

Source: The Associated Press

Benz, who stars alongside Hall in Dexter, told Radar Online that the actor had initially decided to keep the news private because he didn’t want people to worry about him.

Speaking about Hall and his wife Jennifer Carpenter, she said: “It was caught very early and they didn’t want to make a big deal about it. They didn’t want people to worry about them.

“I think it’s a testament to their love that they lean on each other for support and they don’t need to lean on others.”

Benz added that Hall is improving, explaining: “He is doing fantastic, and I think it goes to show you that if you catch cancer early enough you can kick its ass and that’s exactly what he did.

“I do believe that with great healthcare and early detection that we can put an end to cancer. I think that’s why he came out and wanted to talk about it, because it really is about detecting it early.”

Source: Showbiz Spy

How about celebrating the day on his behalf by watching your MCH favorite performances. Perhaps a favorite episode of Six Feet Under or Dexter.

A couple of my favorite excerpts:

As for the folks back home in North Carolina.
“They like the show — at least that’s what my Mom tells me. I think it’s fun for them to see me. Honestly, I think some of my family members of a certain generation were more skittish about me playing a gay character on Six Feet Under than watching me play a killer. Now what does that say about the culture we live in that we can relate more to a murderous rage?”

He’d like to thank his mom.
“By the time I had decided to pursue acting, my father had passed away. But, my mother, thankfully, was by no means like a stage mom. She just basically said, ‘Okay. You do that.’ I’m sure she was biting her tongue thinking, ‘How are you going to pull it off? I mean the odds are so against you. Anyway, she gave me some good advice growing up like, ‘Showing up is 95% but don’t overstay your welcome,’ ‘Try not to be a burden on anybody,’ and ‘Don’t worry about a thing.’”

Just a week after winning a Golden Globe for his serial killer star turn on Showtime’s Dexter, the actor was named outstanding actor in a drama series at Saturday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards. And, he told People Magazine backstage, his cancer is in remission.

“I’m two-thirds of the way through this treatment that already has this thing in remission,” he said. “It’s nice in the homestretch to have this kind of shock of positive energy. It’s a celebration.”

Hall, 38, who is very private, initially said he revealed that he was being treated for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, because he knew he would be making several public appearances. “Because award shows were imminent, I had to make a statement,” he said at last week’s Globes.

As it turns out, there has been one unexpected and positive result of his admission. “I’ve been feeling very well,” he told reporters backstage at the SAG Awards, “because I made this announcement. Because of these public events, I’ve heard from people I would have not have heard from otherwise.”

Source: People

How have you spent your time in the days between winning your Golden Globe Award and your Screen Actors Guild Award? And how are you feeling?

I have been feeling very well. Because I made this announcement [about recovering from Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer], these public appearances were on the horizon, and it’s actually been a nice surprise. I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me who otherwise wouldn’t have: high-school teachers, friends from college. I spent a lot of this week responded to a lot of concerned but ultimately congratulatory e-mails and things like that. It’s been a lot of fun.

When you started Dexter, did you foresee getting any awards for the show? Did you think the show would be as critically acclaimed as it is?

I didn’t know. I knew our task was to sympathize a serial killer, and that it was a unique goal. I thought that the show would probably develop some sort of cult following, but I didn’t anticipate that the following would be as broad, that it would attract as many different kinds of viewers as it’s had. And I certainly didn’t foresee [Dexter] bobbleheads and video games and all that stuff.

Where did you put your Golden Globe, and where are you going to put your Screen Actors Guild Award?

I put it [the Golden Globe Award] in a little passageway in between the bathroom and the guest bedroom, where we have such things in our house. I’ll probably put it [the Screen Actors Guild Award] up there.

Michael shook his head in disbelief and thanked Jennifer “for wearing that dress.”

Mad Men won Ensemble in a Drama Series over Dexter.

Check out the first photos in the gallery!

“Thank you. Thank you so much to our union for this recognition. Thank you to our writers for their plate-spinning ability and audacity. And thank you as well to our crew who I think have as much to do with the cohesiveness that we manage on this show as anyone. And finally, again, to my cast mates, thank you for your professionalism and your talent, and for your willingness to endure all those awkward pauses while Dexter thinks his voiceover. (laughter)

Thank you to my wife, Jennifer. Thank you for wearing that dress. (laughter) And thank you to my mom for keeping all the most important doors open for me.

Thank you.” (applause)

I have already gotten my copy and made caps. I will be uploading these probably tomorrow and I will be adding clips to the site as well.

By the way, I have more Golden Globes coverage to add but I’m currently having problems with my resizing program so it’s taking a little longer than I’d like. Going to try and get these up for everyone tomorrow if possible.

“He’s great. Very lucky [he] caught it early – it’s 98 percent curable, so it’s basically choosing the treatment and sticking with it.”

“After two rounds of treatment, he was in complete remission. He’s just finishing up to make sure it stays that way. He wanted to let everybody know and he’s been receiving so much support and good thoughts. That’s been the kick that he needed to just finish it up.”

“It’s always felt like an opportunity to get closer and I’m just so impressed with him and anyone who’s had to go through it,” she said, becoming visibly emotional. “Every second’s special with him, it sounds corny but it’s true. I’m very lucky.”

Source: Access Hollywood

Not only is Michael victorious, John Lithgow won for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. Dexter lost Best Series – Drama to Mad Men but I honestly don’t even care, I’m so happy for Michael!

Congrats to the Dexter family!

“It’s really a hell of a thing to go to work at a place where everyone gives a damn. That’s definitely the case with Dexter. It’s an amazing group from top to bottom — such an invigorated sense of collaborative energy all the time. It’s a dream job, and I’m so grateful.”

As he spoke, his Dexter co-star John Lithgow, who had just won the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, looked on with his hands clasped and an enormous smile on his face. So too was Dexter co-star and real life wife Jennifer Carpenter beaming.

“Jennifer, all my love and gratitude,” he said.

He then added, “Hi mom!”

E! News just caught up with Dexter costar Lauren Vélez at Melanie Segal’s Hollywood Helps Haiti Event, and the actress teared up when asked about costar Michael C. Hall’s cancer diagnosis.

Vélez, who plays Lt. Maria LaGuerta on Showtime’s hit series Dexter, tells E! that Hall and his wife, Jennifer Carpenter—who also stars on the Showtime series—kept Hall’s illness to themselves during series production this past year.

“You know they’ve always been incredibly private and kept to themselves, and he’s always been very private and throws himself into his work, so I knew nothing of it, and I don’t think anyone else did either,” says Vélez.

Press play above to see the emotion for yourself, and then click in to find out how the Dexter gang will be spending Globes weekend…

Vélez says she will see Hall and the rest of her costars Friday night at a Showtime dinner.

Dexter is nominated for Best Drama, and Hall himself is nominated for Best Actor in a Drama Series at this year’s Globes. Velez tells us of the nominations: “We’re really excited about it. We are so blessed.”

Vélez says the cast and crew return to work on Dexter season five in May.

The Associated Press reports:

“I feel fortunate to have been diagnosed with an imminently treatable and curable condition, and I thank my doctors and nurses for their expertise and care,” Hall, 38, said Wednesday in a statement.

The actor was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, which is part of the body’s immune system. The disease is considered highly treatable with the potential for full recovery.

Craig Bankey, a spokesman for the actor, said the cancer is in complete remission and Hall’s treatment will continue as planned.

When Hall was diagnosed and the name of the Los Angeles-area health facility where he’s undergone treatment were not released.

Hall plans to attend Sunday’s Golden Globe awards and the upcoming Screen Actors Guild ceremony with his wife, actress Jennifer Carpenter, who plays his sister on Showtime’s “Dexter.” Hall is a nominee at both awards shows for his role as Dexter Morgan, a serial killer working as a blood-spatter expert.

Bankey said Hall will return to production on the drama’s fifth season later this year.

Special Features Include the Following:

- Audio commentary with Writers/Directors Neveldine/Taylor and actors Amber Valletta, Alison Lohman, and Terry Crews
- Inside the Game multi-part making-of documentary
- First Person Shooter: The Evolution of Red featurette
- Never before seen theatrical trailer
- I-Con Mode interactive feature (Blu-ray only)
- Gamer Cheat Codes (interactive specialized scene-specific audio and video commentary accessible throughout the film) (Blu-ray only)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Simon Baker – The Mentalist
Bryan Cranston – Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall – Dexter
Jon Hamm – Mad Men
Hugh Laurie – House

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
The Closer
Dexter
The Good Wife
Mad Men
True Blood

Dexter also received a nomination fro Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series. The 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be simulcast live nationally on TNT and TBS on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. CT, and 6 p.m. MT from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center. (Check local listings if viewing via satellite or in HD).

Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series – Drama
Simon Baker – The Mentalist
Michael C. Hall – Dexter
Jon Hamm – Mad Men
Hugh Laurie – House
Bill Paxton – Big Love

Best Television Series – Drama
Big Love
Dexter
House
Mad Men
True Blood

Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role In A Series/Mini-Series Or TV Motion Picture
Michael Emerson - Lost
Neil Patrick Harris – How I Met Your Mother
William Hurt – Damages
John Lithgow – Dexter
Jeremy Piven - Entourage

A comedy/drama about 35-year-old Morris Bliss, who is clamped in the jaws of New York City inertia: he wants to travel but has no money; he needs a job but has no prospects; he still shares an apartment with his widowed father; and perhaps worst of all the premature death of his mother still lingers and has left him emotionally walled up. When he finds himself wrapped up in an awkward relationship with the sexually precocious, 18-year-old daughter of a former classmate, Morris quickly discovers his static life unraveling and opening up in ways that are long overdue

About the only thing close to being official I’ve found is the composer’s website, Daniel Alcheh which announced the news of his composing and Michael’s attachment.

Filming was to begin this month on New York’s lower east side. The script is based on the novel of the same title, which received the 2007 Benjamin Franklin Award for Fiction.

Thanks to Emma for the heads up about this potentially fabulous news!

Update: Variety and Entertainment Weekly confirmed the news.

After getting his start in flashy stage shows like Cabaret, and then investing five seasons in playing a gay undertaker on HBO’s Six Feet Under, Michael C. Hall saw his career take a pleasingly homicidal turn. The 38-year-old actor is about to star in the fourth season of Dexter, as a murderous vigilante with his own offbeat moral code. To keep up the facade, the killer leads a supposedly honest life as a blood-spatter analyst, a new husband and a father of three. Can Dexter survive it all? More important, can Hall survive our questioning?

We were scheduled to talk at 1:35 exactly. That’s a very specific, Dexter-like time. Are you as meticulous as your character?
Yes, that was very specific. It was actually scheduled for 1:35 and 43 seconds, but I didn’t pick the time. I think I’m much less organized and meticulous than Dexter. My house is certainly clean, but it’s not as tidy. Plus, my wife [Jennifer Carpenter, who plays Debra on the show] and I don’t have a great deal of stuff, so it’s actually nice and relatively sparse.

You’ve got a background on Broadway. Have you seen the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
I’ve heard about it. Are you pitching a musical episode for Dexter? If you have any ideas, maybe you could send me some recordings and I could pitch them to the producers.

Did I just come up with an original idea?
Honestly, that’s been a joke that’s been floating around for a while. I think everybody is in on it. It came up when I was on Six Feet Under, too. When you’re on a show long enough, you sort of think, maybe we’ll do a musical episode at some point. But I anticipate that it will remain a joke.

Are you into it?
Not really [Laughs]. In theory it doesn’t really appeal. Maybe the reality of it would prove to be really compelling and fantastic, but I can’t quite see it.

But this season guest-stars the also-musical John Lithgow as another serial killer.
True. He does sing in one episode, but it’s contextual, he doesn’t burst into song or anything.

Do you guys sing backstage at least?
No, but we do a lot of laughing.

Tell us more about season four.
Dexter finds himself in a relationship with a new character, the Trinity Killer, who’s as formidable and fascinating as anyone he’s ever encountered. The shades of light from his suburban family life and the shades of dark in terms of the person he’s stalking get entangled. The two sides are as extreme as they have ever been.

Now that we’ve spent some time on the phone, I have something personal to tell you: I display a Dexter bobblehead in my kitchen. Did you ever dream of such a thing?
When we were shooting the pilot, I just hoped we would get to make a whole season’s worth of episodes and that people would watch it. The idea of action figures and bobbleheads wasn’t really on my radar.

Well, you’re a brand now. Last Halloween I saw someone on the subway dressed up in Dexter’s kill outfit.
I actually ran into a guy at the airport who said he had just bought the rights to manufacture that costume.

With Halloween coming up, do you have something you’re dying to wear?
I’ve always fantasized about having a full, totally legit head-to-toe Stormtrooper costume. It would be heavy and hard to move, but it’d be worth it. I’m of the age that Star Wars was a part of my mythology as a kid, and I just always felt the Stormtrooper outfit was really cool. That, or maybe Boba Fett.

There’s also a Dexter video game. Have you played it?
No. I had seen some early mock-ups, and it was impressive the way they re-created the sets.

Do you plan on playing it?
No, I don’t really play video games. And I get to do the real thing. Or at least the simulation of the real thing.

Wait a minute. You’re not actually killing people?
[Laughs] No. Unless it’s the last take.

Season four of Dexter premieres Sun 27 at 9pm on Showtime.

Source: Time Out New York

As Dexterheads into its fourth season, its eponymous hero has married his girlfriend, fathered a son with her, continues in his job as a Miami Police Department blood splatter expert – and keeps up his secret hobby as a serial killer of other murderers. This year, he tangles with a wily adversary played by John Lithgow. Michael C. Hall, who has received two Emmy nominations for his portrayal of one of television’s most complex characters, is as tight-lipped about spoilers as Dexter is about his after-hours activities.

Here’s what Hall has to say about his role in this exclusive iF interview.

iF MAGAZINE: When you did your first press conference for Dexter in 2006, you seemed a bit intimidating. At this party, you seem a lot more relaxed talking about your character and the show. What’s different now?

MICHAEL C. HALL: I don’t really remember what I was thinking that day. I do know that we didn’t know what the response to the show would be, so I was probably somewhat guarded as a result. I didn’t know what the questions would be, I didn’t know if people would be disgusted by the show, I didn’t know what to expect. So I don’t know. There was not a conscious choice. I might have been enjoying the fact that I was shedding one character [SIX FEET UNDER’s David Fisher] for another.

iF: You’ve made Dexter, a serial killer, really likable. Is that attributable to the writing on the show or is it the way you play him?

HALL: I think it’s both. It has to do with the way the character is written, it has to do with the way the character is presented, it has to do with the kinds of people he kills and it has to do with the way it’s played as well. It’s a collaborative thing.

iF: How long did you have to think about it before you took the role?

HALL: Two weeks.

iF: What caused your hesitation in accepting it?

HALL: Well, I knew it was an open-ended commitment. I’d just finished a television series that lasted five seasons. The last thing I saw myself doing was another television series. So I just wanted to make sure I had a sense of how I was going to tackle it.

iF: Dexter is based on a series of books by Jeff Lindsay, but the series and the books are fairly different. How do you feel about the divergence between the two?

HALL: We certainly honor where he started, but he certainly has moved forward in his way and I just try to stay on top of it and negotiate the twists and turns. If it’s [too] close to the books, people read the books and know what to expect. Also, I think a book is one thing and a television series is something else.

iF: Are there any plot and/or character developments that have surprised you?

HALL: Sure. The fact that [in second season] he was entertaining the idea of rehabilitation was not something I anticipated, but I thought it was very interesting. I think as an actor, sometimes actors get a role on a show, they get some success, and the next thing you know, they’re saying, “Oh, my character wouldn’t do that, my character wouldn’t say that.” But I think the real work is in really making sure that that is in fact true before you say ‘no’ to something and trying to negotiate the twists and turns that are presented to you.

iF: Are you finding it easier or harder to go with Dexter’s fluctuations as the character progresses?

HALL: Both. I think when you play a character, for a long time, you start to know it on a cellular level, and you have to get out of its way, in a way. At the same time, negotiating twists and turns that I never could have anticipated when I started requires a new kind of consideration and focus. So it’s sort both.

iF: A lot of times, Dexter will be acting one thing, thinking that he’s thinking another thing and actually feeling some third thing. Do you actually have to sit down and break it down for yourself top level, middle level, bottom level?

HALL: Sometimes, you have to break it down, sometimes you have to leave it to the moment.

iF: Given that Dexter began his relationship with his now-wife Rita, played by Julie Benz, in order to maintain an appearance of being ordinary and average, and given that he continues to maintain to himself and to us that he doesn’t have actual feelings, does Dexter know/do we know that he’s heterosexual, since if one were pretending to be average, one would probably pick a heterosexual relationship.

HALL: I think yes [Dexter is heterosexual]. I mean, I don’t think it’s a question he’s ever asked himself, and for that reason, I think he certainly is. He’s never had to stop and think about it. He is a biologically heterosexual human man.

iF: The audience knows what Dexter is thinking primarily through voiceovers. When voiceovers are part of a scene, do you do the voiceovers first, or do you just have in mind what’s in the script?

HALL: Well, we record a scratch track for the voiceovers, for the editors, and then when we do our final ADR [automated dialogue replacement] session, I re-record it to picture, just because sometimes there are certain transitions, certain changes in focus or looks or cut points that coincide with changes in thought that you can’t really capture if you do it blind. Sometimes the voiceover is exposition and you don’t really need to think of it. Sometimes it’s more living thought, so you try to [think about it while playing the scene]. It varies.

iF: And do you ever get grossed out by anything on the show?

HALL: No [laughs].

iF: Did you think you got anaesthetized to gore from all those years of the funeral home in SIX FEET UNDER?

HALL: Maybe. While I didn’t realize it, I was perhaps preparing for it.

iF: How long can Dexter keep outsmarting everyone?

HALL: I don’t know. We’ll see. He’s a remarkably capable guy.

Source: IF

Neil Patrick Harris, star of the CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother, will host the 61st Primetime Emmy® Awards, broadcast live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles Sunday, Sept. 20 (8:00-11:00 PM, live ET/delayed PT) on CBS.

Dexter is about as good as evil can get. The Showtime series’ titular character is a sociopath who is driven to kill. His adoptive father, Harry, a cop, taught him to channel his blood lust so that he only murders other murderers. In following his father’s honor code, Michael C. Hall’s Dexter fashions a type of life for himself while hiding slides of each victim’s blood in his apartment’s air-conditioning unit as trophies. Unsurprisingly, he’s great at his day job as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department, where his adoptive sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) follows in their father’s footsteps, just a little less bloodily. (Carpenter and Hall were married in December.) Hall, previously known to audiences as David on HBO’s Six Feet Under, is indelible as a man possessed by darkness who tries very hard to resemble a normal human being. The Season 3 finale found him murdering his new best friend, escaping from, framing and killing another serial killer, and getting married to Rita (Julie Benz), his pregnant girlfriend. To viewers, it was all pretty reasonable behavior. Compelling as well: In three seasons he’s been nominated for three Golden Globes and an Emmy. Two days into shooting Season 4, which will begin Sept. 27, Hall sat down to talk about his character’s dark path. As he joked, “I feel like I’m Dexter’s press secretary sometimes,” he added a caveat: “I don’t think Dexter’s the most reliable narrator from time to — time, and I may not be the most reliable press secretary.”

Each season has had a strong overarching theme concerning Dexter’s connection with the world and with his darkness. Can you run them down?

I think the preoccupation in the first season is “What happened to me”; the second is “Am I good or am I bad,” and in the context of that he plays with the idea of rehabilitation. In the third, he comes to recognize a desire for human connection remains in him and is, in a way, fed by the connections that he’s had to do away with.

Dexter’s own evolution has been huge; do you think he might be developing a soul?

He’s undoubtedly developed the ability to simulate human behavior in increasingly convincing ways. As far as questions of does he have a soul or not, I’m reluctant to come down either way because I think that’s the fun of the show. I don’t think it’s for me to say.

Dexter has a surprising amount of humor, and Dexter’s often the straight man, observing everyone else’s bizarre behavior.

It is helpful for Dexter’s case that he seems to be surrounded by people who are themselves a little bit off. Especially the scenes with Masuka [C.S. Lee] are a lot of fun, just being perplexed by his oddity.

Now that he’s married Rita, does he give up the apartment? Can he? Can he give up that AC unit?

In the first episode we discover that, without revealing it to Rita, he’s committed to keeping his apartment. I’m not sure how he pays for it, but we never get into that.

We’ve had lots of fantastical things on the show. Like being able to get his brother Rudy back to the site of the crime scene where they discovered the Ice Truck Killer, in that room, and slash his throat and get out of there. He obviously has some sort of shape-shifting ability, but we don’t see those scenes.

He is extremely strong.

Extremely strong, extremely intelligent, yet almost autistic, and, I don’t know. I looked at the pilot script and thought, “Is this a person who could ever be?” But somehow we give over to suspending our disbelief.

The audience roots for him, which can get extremely creepy.

Considering what we know about him and what we’ve come to accept in terms of his undeniable affliction, he’s taken really remarkable responsibility for it, if we can give over to the fact that he has no choice but to kill, which people seem to give over to him.

Can you tell us anything else about Season 4?

We’ve flash-forwarded a little bit. Dexter and Rita have a new home that they’re sharing together, with Astor and Cody and Dexter’s new baby son, Harrison. And Dexter hasn’t been alleviated. His compulsion remains. I don’t know if we’d be able to keep our audience if Dexter woke up one day and said, “I don’t really feel like killing anybody anymore.”

Gone are the days when being a leading man on television meant being the most likable guy onscreen. TV actors now get to show their skills with dark, complex characters — even on broadcast network shows. The Hollywood Reporter‘s Ray Richmond and Matthew Belloni gathered six fine examples of TV’s new actor elite — Simon Baker (CBS’ The Mentalist), Bryan Cranston (AMC’s Breaking Bad), Laurence Fishburne (CBS’ CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), Michael C. Hall (Showtime’s Dexter), Denis Leary (FX’s Rescue Me) and Bill Paxton (HBO’s Big Love) — to discus the grind of series work and the good fun in playing bad guys.

The Hollywood Reporter: You are all the leads on hourlong shows. What is the toll on your lives?

Bill Paxton: I drive from my house to make the call on Monday morning and I’m lucky to see my house before 2 o’clock in the morning on Friday night. It’s a monastic kind of existence. I just stay in a hotel out there (in Santa Clarita, Calif.). I feel like a weird monk. The hardest thing is to go from such an intense work situation to just all of a sudden, that’s it.

Bryan Cranston: What you’ll find (on) all of these shows, we’re all working 12 to 13 to 14 hours a day. If you can do a 12-hour day, you can go home and be with your family.

Simon Baker: Twelve hours, you can have an existence.

Denis Leary: On “Rescue Me,” we do four-, six-, eight-, 10-hour days. When (showrunner) Peter (Tolan) is directing, we do six-hour days sometimes.

Laurence Fishburne: How is that possible?

Leary: Because these actors have been there from the beginning. They are all really good at their characters and they’re fantastic with each other.

Baker: You just did five (seasons). We’re a first-year show, so part of the struggle is constantly trying to find the tone within the writers’ room (and with directors). Director A may be a fantastic director but doesn’t necessarily get the tone. We like to try to do a little bit of mucking around.

THR: Do you guys have a lot of freedom to shape the dialogue of your characters?

Fishburne: We’ve got a collaborative thing going on at “CSI.” There is always a writer on set. You can always say, “I think we need to tweak this.”

Michael C. Hall: When new people come in, if they only know me from the show they’re like, “I’m afraid you might kill me.” So they are a lot more open to my suggestions. (Laughter) And I don’t sway them from thinking that. But I try to honor what the writers write. And my job, first and foremost, is to try to make work what I see there. With the voiceover element, I probably have more to say.

THR: Do you ever worry about the moral lessons your characters are teaching people?

Paxton: I don’t think you can play a character with judgment. I don’t think that’s our place. We’re not the writers. Plus, we’re dealing with a sensitive religion in our show.

THR: Is there an ongoing tension on that front?

Paxton: Not really. We had a little bit of an episode recently where there was a temple rite that was dramatized for the first time in film or television. This stuff is all over YouTube, if you care to look. But this thing started before anyone had seen the episode. Enough people were upset (by that) that the Mormon church had to make a statement and HBO had to counter with an apology — and that was the week I was going to do my victory lap on all the talk shows.

Fishburne: It’s kind of polarizing for people?

Paxton: People look at the show and go, “OK, what is this?” Women, when I first told them I was doing the show, would literally step back away from me because they just aren’t going there. They think, “Wait a minute, this guy’s got how many wives?”

THR: Denis, you are sort of a hero to the firefighter community, even though your character is an insane person. What’s that about?

Leary: There are plenty of firefighters who don’t like what we portray. My character is based on two guys — one of them is a technical adviser on the show — and the crew is based on a particular crew. They all know almost every single fire, event, is taken from stuff from those guys. We wanted to do a school bus fire and I called Terry Quinn, our technical adviser, and he said: “I’m at one now, I’ll call you back.” So that’s where we get the fires. Even this year, we have a thing where one of the younger firefighters opens a bar with another firefighter, which actually comes from this crew. Their goal was to meet chicks. (Laughing) So there are chiefs that wouldn’t want us to tell this stuff, but that’s where the best stuff is. And I agree with Bill: I like the flawed people. And even as an audience member, you can’t really judge them.

Baker: They’re a very different world (on cable). We’re a network program. But there’s no way in the world I was going to sign on to a deal where the character was just one-dimension. Doing five seasons in a row, you’ve got to play a character that’s got a wrongness about him. There has to be some sort of issue and struggle for the character.

THR: Do you think it’s possible to really go to those dark places and flesh things out in the network context?

Cranston: They have to. They have to do what they’re doing now, because cable — with HBO leading the way years ago — changed the whole frontier. Look at Thomas Magnum (of “Magnum, P.I.”). Always did the right thing, always got the girl — the nice guy, never drank too much. Higgins was the role! (Laughter)

THR: Do you get a lot of feedback from people who cook drugs, saying “No, no, you’re doing it wrong”?

Cranston: No. We get it saying, “You’re doing it right.”

THR: Michael, your character doesn’t have any flaws. That’s got to be a problem for you.

Hall: His capacity for stress management is the most remarkable thing. (Laughs)

Baker: The challenge I often find is, I’m on a procedural show, but how do you balance the notion of character? You guys live in the world of character; that’s it. And you’ve got license and room to go with your character and find certain depths. (Whereas), networks are running scared. We want to do that, but we don’t want to offend the Christian right; we don’t want to offend these people. The biggest struggle I find (is) my show is 22 (episodes) a year. It’s personal, physical, emotional torture. There’s a reason why it’s 22, because the body won’t take 23.

THR: Do you venture a lot into cyberspace to see what people are saying about you?

Leary: I have all their names and all their e-mail addresses! (Laughter) I’m working on their home addresses.

Paxton: For some reason, I just couldn’t click over to the digital world. I just didn’t want to. I don’t read reviews either, because if you read the good ones you’ve got to believe them and then you’ve got to believe the bad ones, too. And I had an experience a few years ago when I directed a film and was really proud of it and the reviews just peeled me. I did a Terry Gross interview a couple months ago (on NPR’s “Fresh Air”). I wanted to hear the interview and I had to go on the Internet to hear it, and all of a sudden there were all these responses, and the first one was that I was an apologist for the polygamist movement in this country and I was just taking a big paycheck. It really upset me. It’s hard to separate the message from the messenger. We’re the front line, we’re the face of the thing.

Fishburne: For a lot of people, we really have become these characters that we play and it’s very difficult for people to kind of separate that. That’s really quite wonderful but it’s kind of hard.

THR: We’re assuming none of you Twitter.

Baker: I don’t even know what Twitter is. And I hear it all the time.

Leary: I can’t get the Twitter thing. Do you really need to know what the fuck Ashton Kutcher is doing with Demi Moore? I don’t like Shaq (O’Neal). I don’t need to know whatever the fuck he’s playing. (Laughter)

Cranston: I don’t pay attention to it. I don’t even look at the ratings. Just focus on what you do and go home. I work in Albuquerque, N.M., so I fly home every weekend and just spend time with the family and fly back on Sunday nights.

THR: What’s the craziest thing you’ve read about yourselves?

Leary: I’ve got a million. I got accused of having an aging lesbian eye surgery. Aging lesbian eye surgery — what does that mean? Unbelievable. Needless to say, I’ve never had the surgery. But actually I will at some point, if it makes me look like an aging lesbian and I need that part. There’s no guarantee. Maybe I’ll play Ellen DeGeneres. (Laughter)

Cranston: I don’t read anything, I don’t go online. I don’t read tabloids. No one says anything about me. No one knows anything about me.

THR: How did you pull that off?

Cranston: Because it’s not why I love to act. So I got what I wanted. I’m able to be this other guy and look completely different and just be in the woodwork. And nobody follows me. I don’t have any paparazzi, there’s nothing like that.

Paxton: You need a drug habit.

Cranston: I’ve been married for 20 years.

Paxton: That’s the problem right there.

THR: What is the best thing about fame? Or the worst?

Fishburne: One of the best things is getting good tables at restaurants. And when people are really genuinely complimentary about your work.

THR: Instead of being mistaken for someone else?

Fishburne: Even when they mistake you for somebody else, it’s cool.

Paxton: Dude, you were awesome in “Pulp Fiction”!

Fishburne: We all have that guy.

Leary: My guy is Willem Dafoe. I get mistaken for Willem Dafoe all the time.

Hall: Matt Damon.

Cranston: I don’t get anybody. I don’t look like anybody.

Baker: Fame. It’s weird. I’ve been an actor for 16 years. You’re not qualified to do anything. I didn’t go to school, I sold time-shares, I’ve worked in pubs. But you know what? I can pay the bills. My stepfather was a butcher, my old man was a mechanic, my mom worked at Kmart. I probably earn in a week more than what my family has ever earned in a year.

THR: Does it worry you to see actors being replaced by reality shows and NBC destroying the 10 o’clock –

Fishburne: I’ve got to stop you. I’ve really got to stop you. I’ve been an actor for, damn, 40 years, and it’s really hard to hear you say that we’ve been replaced by a reality TV show. It’s really hard to hear you say that. So you might want to rephrase that for me, man, please.

Hall: There’s also a proliferation of shows and networks. As television goes, there’s a lot more than was there back before reality programs existed.

Leary: I have nothing against Jay Leno, but that’s five hours of shows. If Jay’s thing works, they’re all going to want to do it. It kind of makes you think, “Shit, man.”

Cranston: I was reading something the other day about the girl who does this thing called “The Hills,” which I’ve never seen. And she was like, “I don’t want to do it anymore. They’ve followed me around for the last five years.” That would be my personal hell.