By Rick Bentley / The Fresno Bee
LOS ANGELES—Ryan Murphy has become the master of the macabre through his American Horror Story anthology series. Each transformation of the show has tapped into a different fear.
True horror fans loved the first season because the tale of a family in a house of murder took a psychological approach to terror. Fans with more of a taste for drama found that in the second season’s “Asylum”. The third season attracted a young audience with its creepy blend of witches and New Orleans.
“The fourth season, I think, was sort of the most artistically arty season, so then you get those fans,” Murphy says. “I think that the season we’re doing this year harkens back to the first season, which is much more rooted in, I think, primal fears as the first season was.” This season’s American Horror Story: Hotel focuses on the residents of a creepy facility so encased in evil and weirdness that it takes someone as avant-garde as Lady Gaga to run the place. Other tenants include Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Wes Bentley, Matt Bomer, Chloe Sevigny, Denis O’Hare, Cheyenne Jackson, Evan Peters and Finn Wittrock.
Fans of previous version of American Horror Story will spot a few more familiar faces as characters from other versions could end up checking in for a creepy stay. Many of the core group of actors have appeared in past incarnations of the horror stories. The chief absence this year is Jessica Lange, who has been a central figure in each of the other configurations. All the actors have one-year contracts and she opted to take a year away from the horror to be in a play.
In putting the show together, Murphy and his team aren’t just looking for the best transformation to scare viewers. They look for stories that will test the talent who have come back for more.
“One thing that I always do with the cast every year is I always say, ‘What have you always wanted to do or what have you always wanted to play?’ So this is a cast that’s very involved in a lot of those decisions,” Murphy says. “It sort of rises and falls. Some seasons, an actor will be specifically the lead. The next year, they’re supporting.” Inspiration for new American Horror Story scripts from cocreator Brad Falchuk come from the actors. Because the team has worked with so many of the actors in so many ways, they know exactly what they can and cannot do.
It’s difficult to come up with different worlds each year, especially when they are as diverse as the New Orleans French Quarter and an insane asylum. But the writers know that the core group of actors will be able to handle whatever world is presented.
In American Horror Story: Freak Show, Paulson played a character with two heads. She’s back to a solo noggin for this year.
It’s a special kind of acting commitment as the players are not only working on a one-year deal, but they must blindly accept that depending on the direction Murphy and his team go, they could be reduced from the status of starring roles they’ve had on other shows.
Part of the reason Murphy can get the actors to accept such a fluid situation is the fact that most of his repertory cast has either been a friend for years or he’s worked with them in the past.
Matt Bomer is a good example. The actor has just completed a long run on the cable series White Collar, where he was one of the show’s two leads. Now, he’s part of the Horror ensemble.
But Murphy and Bomer had such a positive time working together on The Normal Heart that this series was the logical next step.
“I want my friends to be near me. I love them. Also, I’ve directed all of these actors in different incarnations, and from that comes this great shorthand. And I think they know that they are safe because we work together,” Murphy says. “They feel protected, and they are able to go to a certain place.”
Image credits: Lionel Hahn/Abaca Press/TNS