Sarah Paulson on ‘Simpson’ series, Clark, and sexism

QUOTES FROM THIS 'LARRY KING NOW' INTERVIEW WITH SARAH PAULSON:

*Posted Online on Ora.TV on April 4th 2016:

arcia and be sort of blinded by some of that. So I was rightfully discouraged from meeting her. But when I did, it was the one of the great experiences— it’s always a little nerve-wracking to meet someone that you admire.” — Sarah Paulson on meeting Marcia Clark and how she was initially, but ‘rightfully,’ discouraged from reaching out to her.

“I feel it’s sort of uncharted territory for me, you know? I’m on a show called ‘American Horror Story’ which is—it’s got a wonderful audience of very rabid fans but it’s a sort of unique program. It’s not for everyone. It’s cultish and so though I have been nominated for Emmys for my work on that show and I do feel appreciated on it, this feels like such a broader, wider, acceptance or celebration of the show and of my work on it, which is, let me tell you. It sure beats any other experience which would be in the negatives.” — Sarah Paulson reacting to the public’s appreciation of the show.

“Flying. Metal tube, bunch of strangers, wings— It’s not my thing. Some engines strapped to some giant heavy thing that’s hurdling at stop speed across the — it just doesn’t make sense to me…Every time, I talk to the pilots before I go. I like as much information as possible.” — Sarah Paulson on what she fears most.

“Probably the night the curtain went up the first time I was on Broadway…The first time I did it I was understudying Amy Ryan in ‘The Sisters Rosensweig,’ which is a Wendy Wasserstein play. I was nineteen years old and I was newly out of high school. It was the first time I had done a play where— on Broadway at all but—where the curtain actually rose and I’ll never forget the temperature change between the stage and the audience. The minute the curtain went up this real waft of cold air and all the sort of rustling and the playbills moving…” — Sarah Paulson on her most cherished memory.

“I feel good. I’m deciding to feel good. I think what happened a few weeks ago, when she had a great, great sweep of victories, it made me feel a little bit more confident…I am concerned about Mr. Trump. More just the fact that he sort of gotten this far as he had. It started out as a kind of funny element to the campaign season and then all of a sudden it became very all too real. It’s a little scary.” — Sarah Paulson on her support for Hillary Clinton and concern about Donald Trump.

“In my opinion, it’s season two, ‘Asylum.’ It was a season that was really about something. Took place in 1964 in an insane asylum. My character was incarcerated in a way that was completely unjust and she had no recourse to extricate herself from the situation. It was also just the character I felt very connected to and passionate about so I’m probably bias. I’m sure there have been other seasons that have been great and I just can’t really tell.” — Sarah Paulson on what she thinks is the strongest season of ‘American Horror Story’

“That started I’m not quite sure how, but she likes to answer the phone by saying, ‘Ghostbusters, what do you want?’ like Annie Pots from ‘Ghostbusters.’ And if I decide that it’s not fully committed, I just hang up on her and then I call back and she does it again. But she’s usually laughing so hard that she can’t even get it out and then I just keep hanging up. And then sometimes I let enough time go by where she’s calmed down.” — Sarah Paulson on her phone call tradition with her best friend Amanda Peet.

“Everything makes him special. I think he has a real aptitude for seeing something in people-both actors, writers- that they don’t even see in themselves. And his confidence in me, his belief in me, his commitment, his loyalty to me, has made me have a sort of deeper sense of all that for myself which is I think an incredible thing to have in a person who is your boss, your hero, your mentor.” — Sarah Paulson on what makes Ryan Murphy special.

“There’s definitely a weird moment of vanity where you do— you know, this is a business that sort of prides itself or often you’re celebrated for your beauty sometimes more than even your acting talent and that can be a very discouraging environment to be working in. So there’s definitely a moment when I put that wig on where I thought ‘Wow, this is something I’m not doing for my own personal amusement. This is something that’s going to be on national television that the people are going to see.’ And as they’re painting on under eye circles, I just thought, ‘This is, this is, this is rough.’ And then on the other side you think this is an opportunity to let vanity not be part of my consciousness at all and I can dive into this and really think about what this character, what this person is living with, breathing, what she’s wanting, and my own thoughts and feelings and worries about me—Being a woman in this business is rough. You’re constantly thinking about what you look like and how it’s shifting and changing and to have that not even be part of the conversation is a very liberating thing as an actor to not think about it. But it was definitely— I’m not gonna lie. I had a moment of vanity where I thought, ‘This is really rough. I look like I’ve got a chia pet on my head.’ It was scary.” — Sarah Paulson on the moments of vanity she experienced while playing Marcia Clark and how Hollywood can be a discouraging environment.

“I’m going to ask you a question. If you could have a dinner party with six people…six people living or dead, half of whom you cannot have interviewed, who would be there?” — Sarah Paulson’s question for Larry.