Dec 13 2012

A Talk with American Horror Story: Asylum’s Jessica Lange

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  • December 13, 2012

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A Talk with American Horror Story: Asylum's Jessica Lange 1

As acclaimed as she is, Jessica Lange didn’t start out as an actress. Hailing from Cloquet, Minnesota, she got her start in modeling and waiting tables in New York City. She didn’t become serious about the craft of acting until she was cast in King Kong in 1976. The younger generation may not be familiar with Lange’s earlier work, but in a recent telephone interview on December 7, she says she’s grateful for the wider viewing audience for American Horror Story: Asylum, in which she portrays the tortured Sister Jude.

“I understand that there’s a demographic that otherwise wouldn’t know my work. I’m always surprised when young people don’t know certain actors or are not familiar with certain films, even people who are working in Hollywood, which is really alarming… are not aware of certain filmmakers if it’s more than 20 years ago or 25 years ago, or maybe even 15 years ago.

I’ve mostly done small, independent movies, and that has a very limited audience. So this is a greater audience probably than I’ve had for a long, long time, and it’s also the demographic is much younger, so that’s all good, I guess. I don’t know ultimately what that means but yes, I’m glad people are looking at the work. I’m very grateful for that.”

When asked about the arc of her character, and how she approaches the role of Sister Jude, Lange was generous in her response:

“I don’t know where it’s going. It’s kind of like life; you don’t know what’s going to happen next. And it’s been an interesting way to work. It’s made me work in a much more fluid, I think in a braver way, in a way, of just taking every chance that comes along. I don’t plan things ahead of time. I don’t map out the character. I don’t do anything. It’s been, for me, a great, powerful exercise in working just in the moment, from this moment to the next moment. And I actually think that it’s made me a better actor, in a way, because of not being able to go into something pre-determined.”

Lange says she gains strength from creator Ryan Murphy, who serves as her guide while traversing the many conflicts of Sister Jude:

“I think as an actor you have to have trust; you have to believe that somebody is taking care of you or watching your back, because with a part like this especially and where we’re going with it, I can’t pull any punches, I can’t do it halfway, especially when you’re dealing with madness and this descent into madness, and I really felt like, OK, I’m going to embrace this 100 percent and hopefully somebody will look out for me and not let me completely humiliate myself.”

The show affords Lange the opportunity to work with a cast of excellent actors, especially Frances Conroy, who plays the Angel of Death. She offers high praise for Conroy:

“There’s just something in her, I don’t know there’s something, when we’re on screen together something happens. I think one of my favorite scenes that I’ve played this year is the scene from, I guess it was Episode 7 in the diner when she’s come for me as the Angel of Death, and I don’t know, there’s almost a connection that you can’t really describe. But certain actors I think just find something when they’re working together, and that’s how I felt in these scenes with Frannie.”

Viewers might be surprised to learn that Lange is a talented photographer. She has published a book of photos titled “50 Photographs.” Her photographic sensibilities have allowed her to appreciate the cinematic flair of the show.

“I always watch cinematographers on the set because in some way I think having spent 30 years making movies, maybe it’s 35 now, I think I’ve been informed in my photography by filmmakers, by the cinematographer, so that I’m drawn always, when I take a photograph what prompts me to lift my camera and click the shutter usually has a great deal to do with setting, with lighting, with the choreography, the grouping … I understand, and I’m very curious, about how you light specifically for dramatic emphasis. And I think Michael Goy in this series that we’re doing is a master at that. He really does an amazing job lighting this show… and through the ambience, through the lighting, right away you have an instantaneous emotional reaction before the scene even plays out.”

These days, at this stage in her acting life, Lange says she believes she has always been a “character actor,” even in the early days of her acting career.

“I’m trying to think of the last leading lady I played, it might have been what, Blue Sky or something. And then I was, how old was I then, I must have been early 40s, so yes, where you played the romantic lead, that comes to an end at a certain point. And yes, I suppose then you could define the parts that come your way as characters, you become a character actor. But I always felt that way from the beginning, because I was never doing, except for Tootsie, which was actually so well written that it didn’t fall into that category, I mean, I was never playing just the girlfriend or the wife. So they were all, to my mind, I was always a character actress, even though I suppose combined with that was the element of being a leading lady, whatever that means now, that feels like a throwback to another era of filmmaking.”

Lange elaborates on what’s different now in her career as opposed to her early days as an actress.

“The difference is now I feel like I have nothing to lose so I don’t mind putting myself out there in the most raw, naked, exposed ways. I also am able to do that because I really feel that Ryan would protect me somehow. But yes, I feel at this point now I can take any chance I want, I can go as far as I want, because judgment doesn’t matter to me anymore.”

Now that American Horror Story has been renewed for a third season, Lange says she is not aware if she will be involved, as it would depend on the storyline and the character. Either way, it is apparent that Ms. Lange will continue to have a strong career after this show runs its course.

 

For more information on American Horror Story: Asylum, visit http://www.fxnetworks.com/ahs/

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Juana

My favorite forms of escapism are books and telly/film. I require plenty of solitude.

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