On a cool, early fall day in Los Angeles, the actor Sarah Paulson, a person of palpable charm and sincerity, pauses over lunch to consider how she came to embody a series of unlikable, and occasionally truly awful, women. (Her CV includes roles like 12 Years a Slave's harrowing Mistress Epps, Linda Tripp, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest's Nurse Ratched.) "I try not to judge them," she says finally. "I try not to think about how they're going to be perceived, because I don't think many people are thinking about how they're coming across in any given moment. People are, myself included, reactive and reacting to the environment around them."
If this sounds pretty elementary, you are probably not a Hollywood star, with all of the correlating concerns about likability and marketability that particular occupation entails. “There are a lot of incredible actresses out there who are stars because they play themselves,” the Obie Award– winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins tells me on a phone call a few days later. “Sarah’s not like that. She’s a legit actress.” He calls himself a Paulson “early adopter,” admiring her in New York stage productions like The Gingerbread House and Crimes of the Heart in the aughts. “And then of course she became the queen of Ryan Murphy land.” (In the Murphy-verse, Paulson is a central figure and fan favorite, having starred in nine out of 11 seasons of American Horror Story in roles as varied as Hypodermic Sally, Tuberculosis Karen, a villainous Mamie Eisenhower, and a pair of conjoined twins.)
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Denne historien er fra December 2023-utgaven av Vogue US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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FINAL CUT
\"WE WANT YOU TO GO FOR IT!\" ANNA TOLD ME
SCREEN TIME
Three films we can't wait to see.
Impossible Beauty
Sometimes, more is more: Surreal lashes and extreme nails put the fierce back in play
Blossoms Dearie
Dynamic, whimsical florals and the humble backdrops of upstate New York make for a charming study in contrasts.
HOME
Six years ago, Marc Jacobs got a call about a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Making it his own, he writes, would be about love, commitment, anxiety, patience, struggle, and, finally, a kind of hard-fought, hard-won peace.
GIRL, INTERRUPTED
Anna Weyant found extraordinary fame as an artist before she had reached her mid-20s. Then came another kind of attention. Dodie Kazanjian meets the painter at the start of a fresh chapter
ROLE PLAY
Kaia Gerber is someone who likes to listen, learn, read books, go to the theater, ask questions, have difficult conversations, act, perform, transform, and stretch herself in everything she does. That she's an object of beauty is almost beside the point.
CALLAS SHEET
Maria Callas's singular voice made her a legend on the stage. In a new film starring Angelina Jolieand on the runwaysthe romance continues.
BOOK IT
A preview of the best fiction coming
GLOBAL VISTAS
Three new exhibitions offer an expansive view.