Sarah Paulson And Ryan Murphy Talk About Lange’s Future On AHS
As most of us have already heard, Jessica Lange has decided to bid her goodbyes to the American Horror Show franchise once she is done with playing Elsa Mars on Freak Show. Murphy, in an interview with BuzzFeed, stated, “I try not to think about it. I’m so close to her and I love her and I would be bereft if she left. I’m not even going to pretend that’s an option. I’m just going to keep pushing until the door completely slams, and it opened a sliver this week. I know what next season is and I pitched her the world and she leaned in a little bit and said, ‘Really?’ So, never say never.”” Murphy is hopeful that Lange will keep her consistency with his show as Murphy mentions, “Even if she did one episode, that would be great. The fans love her and she was one of the big reasons why the show has done very well, so I want to keep her in the world. I’ll never give up that battle and told her I will not take no for an answer. So my seduction continues.” Murphy further explains, “Jessica and Sarah and Evan have been a part of this since the beginning. I’m talking to them early on and asking, ‘What have you always wanted to do as an actor that would challenge you, that you would be excited by?’ It’s exciting to work with an actor who says, ‘I’ve always wanted to do X.’”
However, Ryan Murphy is not the only one hopeful about Lange’s continuation with the show. Long term co-star, Sarah Paulson said, ““I can’t imagine doing American Horror Story without her [Jessica Lange].” The good news, however, is that we don’t have to worry about Paulson leaving any time soon as she mentions, “I would be so ill to not be a part of this. I would be over the toilet vomiting if this show was happening and I wasn’t a part of it. I don’t know what I would do. I would feel like I was missing a limb.”
Sarah Paulson’s character is unique in its own way and about her first reaction to playing the Siamese twins, Paulson says, “My first thought was, ‘Oh shit. And that’s all I knew about her for a long time. I didn’t find anything else out until I read the first couple of scripts. But that’s par for the AHS course. You have to have a lot of faith in [Ryan], and sometimes that’s frustrating because you don’t know what’s going on. But the group itself draws you in.”
About Ryan Murphy the actress stated, “Ryan likes to work with people he knows and trusts because he asks everybody, on every level, in every department, to give their absolute best and go above and beyond what they think they can do. It’s an inherent request; if you’re signing up for this, he wants the best, so either you’re going to bring it or don’t show up.”
Paulson explains further about her characters, saying, “I have one brain that controls both sides of my body. These girls have two brains and one controls one side and one controls the other. So, physically speaking, sometimes one is doing one thing and one’s doing something else, and I don’t know how to do that. Sometimes it short-circuits my brain.” It is no surprise that even such an unusual role is no less than treat to the beautiful actress as she explains, “Ryan told me that, during Season 2, he was surprised I never called and said, ‘I don’t want to do that. It’s too hard.’ But, it never occurred to me to do that. I mean, why wouldn’t I want to stick a coat hanger in my business? I was just excited to have something to sink my teeth into. Ryan knows that the harder it is, the happier I am as an actor.”