Celebs admit their serial killer ambitions

Michael C Hall is no longer surprised when an A-list Hollywood star sidles up to him at a party and whispers in his ear a desire to be a serial killer.

It happens all the time.

"They have had two or three drinks and I wonder about their sincerity," Hall, the 40-year-old who plays a serial killer in the hit TV series Dexter, laughs.

The big time actors want to go head-to-head with Hall's character Dexter Morgan, a blood splatter analyst working for the Miami-Metro Police Department who secretly hunts and kills other murderers.

"I've been amazed by some of the people who have said it,'' Hall adds.

"It is flattering to have people of note lobby, at least casually, to be on the show.''

Hall will not say who the A-Listers are, or who he would like to see on the show in future episodes, but some Dexter guest stars include Jimmy Smits, Edward James Olmos, Jonny Lee Miller, Mos Def, Colin Hanks and the most chilling of all, John Lithgow, as the ultra-creepy Trinity Killer in season four.

"I would hesitate to say because, if I said, it may make it less of a possibility," Hall says of his guest star wish list.

North Carolina-born Hall has had a charmed TV career, beginning with being cast in 2001 as closeted homosexual David Fisher in Six Feet Under, an award-winning TV series following a dysfunctional family that runs a California funeral parlour. The show ran until 2005.

In 2006 Hall was cast as the lead in Dexter, won best actor Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for the role, and recently the US TV network that airs Dexter in America, Showtime, renewed Dexter for seasons seven and eight.

Hall laughs when it is pointed out death is a central theme in Six Feet Under and Dexter and the sets of both series are filled with dead bodies.

"Yeah, I'd love to do a comedy where nobody died,'' he giggles.

"It is not in my mission statement as an actor that I must always be surrounded by dead bodies.

"Look, the issue of life and death are fundamental.

"I'm thankful I have been spending time with material that is close to one of the fundamental roots to be a person.''

Hall says the season eight finale will be the last we see of Dexter, with the actor not willing to continue the show.

As for his prediction for how Dexter will bow out, he is keeping his cards close to his chest, although it appears Dexter may come to a grisly end just like his many victims.

"I do have an idea about how this story may end, but those decision are yet to be set in stone,'' Hall says.

"To be honest, it is difficult for me to foresee a happy ending for this character.''

- AAP