WSJ: Liev Schreiber on 'Ray Donovan' and Going to Dark Places

"Even before I was acting, I was always that kid in English class who wanted to read out loud," the actor said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where he films the Showtime drama " Ray Donovan."

But as the title character in "Ray Donovan," which returns for its second season on Sunday, Mr. Schreiber is a man of few words.

Ray Donovan, a Hollywood "fixer" for scandal-prone celebrities and elite athletes, relies on intimidation and the occasional baseball bat to keep his clients out of trouble.

"He averages about 10 lines an episode," the actor said of the character, with a laugh.

Initially, Mr. Schreiber underestimated the role but has since discovered the complexities of channeling the character's "level of conflict and existential nausea," he said.

"It's tricky to go to that place every week in a new and interesting way. You don't have the lines. You don't have the language to hide behind. You only have a state of being and reactive behavior."

"There are only so many hours in the day, and Ray owns them," he said. "The most difficult aspect of the show is how dark it is and then the places you go. It's one thing to go to those places for a week or two, but to stay there for six months is brutal."

Liev Schreiber played Orson Wells in the movie RKO 281 (1999). A movie about the making of Citizen Kane, long listed as the best movie of all time by the American Film Institute. My memorable performance by Liev Schreiber in the movie RKO 281 after the jump.