After eight years of playing the roguish, addicted, self-destructive patriarch Frank Gallagher on Shameless, William H. Macy is always delighted when the show’s writers find surprising new ways for him to screw up. In the past, this has led to Frank using his young son as collateral in a bar bet, depriving someone of a heart transplant, and amputating a daughter’s toes. Frank tried to make a clean start at the start of Season 8, for which Macy was nominated for best actor in a comedy series at the upcoming Emmys. It’s his fifth consecutive nomination for the Showtime series, which will return for another season September 9.

While shooting photos for the “Above the Law” portfolio as part of V.F.’s special Emmy-awards issue, Macy talked about the effect of poverty on his TV family, and spending an afternoon inside a porta-potty—for a scene, of course.

Vanity Fair: This season, there was the threat of Frank actually changing, right? He was making amends, and he was going to get clean.

William H. Macy: Worrying about his future, and worrying about retirement and all of that stuff. . . . He’s stuck. But life can change around him, and that changes him.

Was it fun to play that attempt at straightening himself out?

Interestingly, there’s been twice when Frank couldn’t drink, this season being one of them. And as Bill, I missed it. I mean, it was such a part of his character that he was either a little hungover or a little loopy. He was just always lit up, and when he got sober, I was sad. It made me sad. It was different.

Because he was subdued?

Yes, and he was clear-eyed. The thing that came out, that I found remarkable, is that he became a much better liar. He was a vicious liar. You couldn’t see a crack in him. He’s a consummate con artist, if he wants to be. . . .

The Gallaghers live right on the edge of the law, and they have to skirt the law a lot to make it. They’re one paycheck away from homelessness. And it’s a really interesting family to follow, to see what that’s really like. And we make light of it, and it’s sanitized a little bit, but the writers have been really good at, every once in a while, reminding you—this is serious shit.

It doesn’t get talked about a lot, but class and poverty play a lot into these decisions.

All of the characters, when life kicks them down, they’ve always had these speeches of, “Well, who was I kidding myself? I’m poor and I’m supposed to stay poor. It’s rigged against me. I can never break out of this.” And I think that kind of despair’s very real. And I think that kind of despair is so poisonous for our society.

What was the most fun or startling moment for you this past season?

The writers surprise me and the audience on a regular basis on a lot of levels. They’ll suddenly announce that Frank has some ability I didn’t know that he had. Like one season, Frank played the piano. I can play the piano a little bit, but you know, I started taking lessons because they wrote an episode where I sat down, [and] started playing the piano. About three seasons ago, Frank breaks into Spanish—news to me! Two seasons ago, Frank started talking, at Monica’s funeral, about his sophomore year of college. I never knew he went to college. So they surprise us that way.

And then they surprised me on the depravities that he’s willing to endure in these scams. Last season, I cut off Debbie’s [Emma Kenney] toes! I, like the audience, read that script with my mouth open. I’m a Lutheran from western Maryland, I’m not used to this.

At the end of last season, he’s running from the cops, and he hides in a full porta-potty. It’s just so disgusting. It was easy for me, because it was just blue water. You’ll love this, the special-effects guys kept coming up to me saying, “It’s food-safe.” . . . Actually about the fifth time [they told me], I said, “Guys, I’m not going to eat from the porta-potty.” [Someone on set] said, “I’m just telling you. Those are Hershey bars floating in there, and Baby Ruths.”

In case you got hungry?

But the crew was grossed out. Their eyes overwhelmed their senses. They swore it smelled bad, and they were just . . . they couldn’t believe I was in that thing.

When you get a scene where you’ve got to cut off someone’s toes, do you ever question it? Like, “I don’t think Frank would really do that?”

I take pride in acting whatever they give me. In nine years now, there was one gag that I talked them into dropping. I said, “It’s not working.” There have [been] other things that I’ve gone to them saying, “Is this funny? Can we amend this a little bit?” But as a point of pride, if they write it, I try to do it.

They could be putting dares in there for you.

I do feel some of the writers don’t like me personally. When I read these scripts, I think, “Is this retribution for some note I gave or something?” . . . The first five seasons, every other show, something was shoved up Frank’s ass. We could do a gag reel that would last an hour of things that have been up Frank Gallagher’s butt.

Does it give you a different sense [of the show] when you’re directing it? Do you have a whole new view from the outside?

On many, many levels. . . . I’ve used Shameless as a platform to try my hand at directing, so I’ve done three features and two Shameless [episodes] in the last couple of years. And the first thing I realized is how nuts we are as actors. I had no idea. . . . But the perspective you talk of, is quite true. It might seem mundane, but just the size of it. When you’re the director, you have a view of this magnificent, giant machine we built to pump out these episodes. It’s hundreds of people. And they’re the best, brightest people working in Hollywood, which is the center of the filmmaking universe. I’m in awe of them. . . .

It’s really easy to be pessimistic about the world, but when you see a hundred people from completely different backgrounds, completely different cultures, who’ve all come together for a project, and it’s to make a piece of art for Christ’s sake, and they’re all working at their maximum, and pulling in the same direction, it makes you want to weep. It’s so beautiful.