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Michael C. Hall, Sarah Silverman and Ben Schwartz do Purim and “Peep World”

[additional-authors]
March 17, 2011

Michael C. Hall, the Emmy-winning star of Showtime’s “Dexter,” plays his first cinematic Jewish character in “Peep World,” Barry Blaustein’s dark comedy about four siblings who come to terms with their monstrous father (Ron Rifkin) on the eve of his 70th birthday.

Hall (“Six Feet Under”) portrays the dutiful son, Jack Meyerwitz, who is hiding an excruciatingly embarrassing secret; Sarah Silverman (“The Sarah Silverman Program”) is his needy, not-so-nice sister, Cheri; Rainn Wilson (“The Office”) is the family sad-sack; and Ben Schwartz (“Everybody’s Fine,” “Parks and Recreation”) is the favored son, Nathan, whose thinly-disguised autobiographical novel mortifies the family.

“To have yourself characterized in a negative way in something you didn’t agree to —that must be a real betrayal,” Hall said of the idea of becoming fodder for someone else’s tell-all.

While serial killer Dexter would have known exactly how to handle “Peep World’s” smug novelist, the fictional Jack isn’t the blood-splattering type.  “It was interesting playing a part where an option to kill them all wasn’t there, so I had to do something different,” Hall quipped.

Here are excerpts from my conversation with Hall, Schwartz and Silverman, who last spoke to the Journal about her own autobiographical best-seller, “The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee.” “I don’t think there is anyone who can say they don’t come from a dysfunctional family,” Silverman said of “Peep World.”  “I think that’s what makes a family normal.”  A pause.  “But this family is f——d up.” 

“Peep World” opens March 25 in Los Angeles.

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