TORONTO – Over the past two years Sarah Paulson has arguably become the hardest working woman in the entertainment business. She’s shot four feature films, two season of “American Horror Story,” a new Netflix series, “Ratched” (inspired by “One Flew Over The Cukoo’s Nest”) for old buddy Ryan Murphy and is currently in the process of filming an FX limited series, “Mrs. America” alongside her “Carol” co-star Cate Blanchett as well as Rose Byrne and Elizabeth Banks, among others. In January she’ll tackle the role of Linda Tripp in “American Crime Story: Impeachment,” but on Friday, she’ll appear in one of her most transformative roles to date as Xandra in John Crowley’s adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Goldfinch.”
To be frank, the reviews for “The Goldfinch” haven’t been great, but Paulson, along with many other of the adult actors in the picture, has made it through unscathed and have even been praised for her performance. That’s got to be reassuring for Paulson as the trashy Xandra is the most surprising role she’s played to date. In fact, during a conversation after the film’s premiere at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival, she admitted not only was it one of the hardest things she’s ever done but the first role she’d actually auditioned for in over five years. Why did she want it so badly? An how is she keeping up this hectic schedule? Let’s just let Sarah speak for herself on those matters, shall we?
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The Playlist: I feel like you’ve done so many different roles, but nothing like this before.
Sarah Paulson: That’s why I wanted to do it. I was like, “I want to do that!”
I don’t know if I would have imagined you being at the top of the list to play Xandra.
I was not.
Oh, so how did it come about?
I won’t name names, but I was not on the list at all. Let’s just put it that way in terms of ideas, because the idea of the girl would be the idea that you saw. But that’s not what I’ve ever done before, nor have I ever presented [that way]. I don’t wear a bikini in my [real] life much less expect to be photographed by Roger Deakins in a one on a big screen. I don’t wear jean shorts, a crop top, like who is this woman? What happened was I loved the book in a way that I was truly possessed about. I read it before it won the Pulitzer. I was obsessed by this book. I read it all of Donna Tartt’s books. I was sort of obsessed with it. I was so moved by it. It was one of those times in my life where I was single and sitting in my apartment and I was reading that book and I said out loud, “Oh my God, if they ever make a movie of this, I want to play Xandra so badly.” But I never thought of it again. Then [it turned out] two of the producers were the producers of “People vs. O.J. Simpson.” I remember being in an event early on with OJ stuff and I said to Nina Jacobson, “Do you really own ‘Goldfinch’?” She was like, “Yes.” And I was like, “Is it happening?” She’s like, “Well, it’s in the process.” And I was like, “Can I please play Xandra?” And she was like, “That’s an interesting idea.” Which is, of course, the thing you saying when you’re like “not on your life”. Basically, no. To be fair to Nina, I had only worked with her as Marcia Clark. I had weird wigs on my head. Obviously nothing could be more opposite. I guess when the movie was finally happening, the script was done and whatever, my agent said, “I know you told me that you’re obsessed with this. I want you to know that although John Crowley says he thinks you’re a wonderful actress, he just doesn’t see it.” And it was like, “Well, what has he seen?” And she’s like, “I think he really knows you from ‘People vs. O.J. Simpson.'” And I was like, “Okay, I totally get it.” She said, “Listen, what they said was, they are more than happy to have you come in and make a tape.” I think the last thing I had auditioned for was “Carol.” Which was a long time ago.
Yeah, yeah.
I was like, “O.K..” And they were like, “Now, John won’t be there because John’s in New York” or he was in Ireland or he was wherever the hell he was, “But they’ll set it up with casting and you’ll go in.” Which I almost liked better because what it meant was I could do a thousand tapes if I wanted to. I don’t know that I ended up doing it. I did do it a couple of times, but basically what I did is I hired someone to put a wig on my head. I got a spray tan, I brought my cigarettes into the audition. I spent about an hour in my car prior to my audition screaming so I could get my voice a little bit rougher, because her voice, she has a little bit of a deeper voice than my voice, as per Donna Tartt’s description of her in the book. Then I went in and I just auditioned with the casting director, and I made the tape, and I didn’t really think about it again. I thought, “Look, if nothing ever happens, at least I really went balls out.”
And at least you know what the effects of the spray tan are.
At least I know what it’s like. [Laughs] Then I got a text message from Nina saying something really sweet like, “Jesus Paulson, you really have now put yourself right in the middle of this conversation.” And I was like, “What?” She’s like, “Your tape was fantastic.” And Then it was that horrible thing that I was shooting this M. Night Shyamalan movie, “Glass,” at the time and then I didn’t hear anything else from Nina. And I was like, “Listen, I want to know. I want you to promise me that if I become not part of the conversation, you’ll let me know so I don’t have it dancing in the back of my head that it could potentially be a thing.” She said, “I promise you, I will tell you if anything changes.” She wasn’t saying you’re getting it, but she was like, “You are smack in the middle of the conversation.” She didn’t say the top, but she said in the middle of the conversation. Then whatever happened, then I guess my agent called me and said, “John wants to sit down with you.” And I was like, “Well, I’m in Philadelphia shooting this movie.” And she said, “Can you get on the train?” And it was M. Night Shyamalan’s Halloween party, and I’m not kidding, he’s very, very, very particular about his Shyamaleen party that he does, and he raises a lot of money for charity.
O.K.
I was like, “I can’t. I’ve been told I have to go to this party.” So we did a Skype session, because apparently what I learned later was he had been leaning towards casting me but he felt he has never cast anybody without being in a room with them. He feels part of the experience of working with someone is what is our vibe like. What if I walked on set and he liked my tape but just thought I was a loathsome person? We had a Skype session that was about a half an hour long, and it was lovely and he was wonderful. Then I think I even wrote him a letter. Then I got the part. He then later told me very lovely things about “why”, that I couldn’t possibly repeat because that’s just too weird and complimentary, it feels. I did basically win it in the sense that I was not the girl they thought was going to be playing that part.
It’s one thing to quickly put yourself in a look, even do a quick spray tan, just for an audition. It’s another thing to actually do it for the movie.
Correct. That was not a spray tan. I was visiting a tanning bed several times a week. My own choice. I was not asked to do that.
Have you ever done that in your life?
I had not ever done that in my life and it was actually very dangerous for me because I had a melanoma when I was 26 years old.
Whoa.
It was very, very stupid. My Dermatologist almost cried. She’s like, “I don’t understand. There are such extraordinarily sophisticated self tanners now.” And I was like, “But it didn’t feel real” and I wanted to feel that way.
Did it feel like the spray tan version was coming off or something?
It’s just like your hands are orange. This is a woman who would have been by the swimming pool all day, which is what she was doing. And I just was like, “It feels weird.” I did something that was very, very stupid of me to do, but call me crazy, I’m just one of those goonie nerdy actresses who was like, “I just want to do it for real.” So I did. I’ve not worn a pair of jeans or shorts since I was 16 years old
You’ve worked with some amazing directors and cinematographers over your career but this was your first film with Roger Deakins behind the camera.
It was my first film with Roger Deakins, and if I had anything to say about it, it would be first of about 32 of them, but who knows.
I feel like I get that response from a lot of actors. What about him on set as a cinematographer makes it easy?
I can tell you very, very, very easily. I’ve never in my life worked with anyone who was quieter. To me it was like being in church, the way they discussed how they were going to just adjust the shot, where to lift a light. Sets are chaotic places generally. This was the quietest. Luke Wilson and I, we kept being like, “I’ve never in my life have been on a set that was this quiet.” It was all because of Roger. I was sort of told that this is how it was going to be and that he really liked it. He was very focused.
Even the first day he was quiet?
Everybody was quiet. Quiet.
Did that make you more nervous? Did it feel like being on stage?
No, well that would only be helpful. What was magical about it was that there’s a lot of chaos in one’s brain full stop, but then you add into it the part of your being that’s trying to imagine different circumstances and live and breathe this other life that you’re trying to portray. You’ve got your own thoughts and like, “What am I eating for dinner, and who do I have to call, and what do I have to email, and what’s happening.” Then you’ve got the other weight of like, “Oh I don’t want Donna Tartt to hate my Xandra, and what’s going to happen, and oh my God.” Then I want to be good and I don’t want to suck. All the things that one contends with. Somehow the quiet made it possible to have fewer thoughts that weren’t pertaining to the work. I’m telling you, it felt like we were all in church. We were doing something very important, and not in a self-important way. Not in an overly serious, self-serious way, but in a respectful way. I worked with some wonderful DPs, but this was really unique.
I’m also guessing from the television work you’ve done, it’s also usually much quicker.
I can’t even talk to you about… That part of it’s really hard for me.
The time aspect?
The slow part of making a movie.
That’s hard for you?
Oh, I hate it.
Why?
I’m used to working. I think the most I ever did on one day of “American Horror Story” might’ve been 10-page day, nine-page day. You do a page and three eights on a film.
Yeah.
Think about it for a second, just think about it. I’ve said this before, but anybody who gives a good performance on television, they have to be a good actor because you don’t have time. For me, I don’t have the kind of brain. You leave me alone for too much time to think about something, I will paint myself right into a corner. If I don’t have time to think about it, it’s going on gut instinct. I think sometimes it serves you better than when you involve your brain.
Do you feel like if a filmmaker came to you and said, “Hey, we’re really low budget, we’re shooting this in 31 days” you’d…
Great.
You get excited.
So excited. “12 Years a Slave” was 28 days I think.
Oh, that’s right. It was. It doesn’t look like it at all.
I like it, because, “We got to go, we got to go, we got to go.” Then I feel like everybody’s sort of firing in a certain way where you’re losing the light. I like it. I like the chaos of it. It makes me feel more calm.
It’s funny, because I was looking over your resue before I came to this interview and realizing that you’re arguably the hardest working actress in showbiz now in a way, because you are so prolific and I was realizing you must actually like that.
I do, but I’m coming to a new place. I’m coming to a new place called, “Momma’s really tired.” [Laughs.] I’m not 30-years-old anymore. I went to have my annual checkup and my doctor was like, this was last year, and she was like, “Are you taking a vacation?” I was like, “Well, I’m going to go to New York for 10 days over Christmas.” She’s like, “No, no.”
That’s not a vacation.
“I’m talking about like a month.” She was like, “Minimally, a month. I was like, “A month? A month!” Now it’s just I’m at that point where I have to tell you, when I finish “Mrs. America,” which I’m shooting here right now, I have three months before I start the Linda Tripp thing, The “Impeachment” thing, “Amerian Crime Story.” I have three months to gain the weight.
Are you really going to gain the weight?
I’m going to gain some of it. Yeah. I have to.
Does that scare you?
It does. Yeah, of course. Of course. I’m a woman in the 21st century.
Was that part of the challenge of agreeing to take that role?
No. The challenge with that is just anytime you play a real person, it’s like a real harrowing notion, especially a person that’s living, especially a person that may have opinions about what you’re doing. It’s a huge responsibility, but I have to say that this script was maybe one of the best things I have ever read in my life. There was no world in which I could read it and not to do it. It was truly one of the best things I have ever read in my life.It’s extraordinarily great writing and it’s an incredibly interesting… It really is more from the point of view of the women.
Right. That’s the whole point.
That’s sort of the very interesting thing about it.
Do you think it will make people upset?
I hope so.
Well, that’s true. Exactly. It should make some people upset.
Like anything you do, you don’t want to just be right down the middle with everybody going, “I liked it!” I love that thing of not with something so polarizing, but I do think it’s kind of great even if it’s something I’m not part of.
Sure, sure.
You see something and people are like, “I fucking hated that play!” Then people would be like, “It was my favorite play of the year!” Then I get really excited because then I think, “Oh, this is a totally artistic endeavor. This is an artistic endeavor that does not speak to everyone.” I always feel like that’s a really amazing thing to witness and really extraordinary to be a part of.
Gregory Ellwood: You just said you were making “Mrs. America”, right?
It’s an FX limited series with Cate Blanchett about Phyllis Schlafly and the feminist and anti feminist movement in the 1970s.
Do you feel like that will also be controversial or do you feel like it will get people more engaged politically?
I don’t know what people will do. Sometimes think it’s none of our business as actors to think about what people will do with the finished product, because then it just gets me in the mindset of like, “Will they like me?” I feel like it serves me not one job to worry about my likeability, or my characters inability, or my characters morality. I feel like removing any judgment from a work environment in terms of a character you’re playing or something is only helpful. I don’t know. I think “Mrs America” is written really beautifully and there’s such incredible actors in it. I was like, “How did I not know this about the Equal Rights Amendment? How did I not know this?” Embarrassingly didn’t know certain things that were so [historically defined]. I feel like a creeper.
I’ve got one last quick question for you. what’s the one thing that people should expect from “Ratched” that they’re not expecting? Or that you think people are expecting?
Well, that’s complicated. I can’t answer it quickly.
It’s O.K.
I think some people are misinformed and that they think I’m playing Nurse Ratched from the time period of the movie. The show takes place 20 years prior, it’s 1947. It’s way before Mildred Ratched became the Mildred Ratched of that movie. We have to remember that what you seeing is essentially how Mildred Ratched became Mildred Ratched, and why she became the Mildred Ratched of that movie. It’s more of an origin story than anything else.
There’s an arc to it.
Well, yeah. I mean we’ll see. I’ve seen the first six of eight of them.
Are you happy with it?
Yeah. I’ve watched myself for the first time in five years and that’s a scary proposition for me.
“The Goldfinch” opens nationwide on Friday. “Mrs. America” should debut on FX in 2020.