American Horror Story: Apocalypse was an exciting one for fans of the horror anthology series for a variety of reasons. Not only did it see the return of the Coven witches, but it also saw the return of Jessica Lange to the series and saw the series revisit Murder House in what proved to be an epic crossover, pulling together various narrative threads across the entire series to tell a story about the Antichrist himself, Michael Langdon. But the season also was exciting for a “behind the scenes” reason as well as it saw the directorial debut of series star Sarah Paulson and if Paulson has her way, it won’t be her last time behind the lens on the Ryan Murphy-created series.
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In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Paulson opened up about her experience directing the Apocalypse episode “Return to Murder House” and revealed that she’d like to direct another episode of American Horror Story — preferably one without all of the visual references she had in “Return to Murder House” to draw from.
“I’d like to do another episode of American Horror Story,” Paulson said. “I love to be in that safe space. But because the episode I did was so much a throwback to the first season, I had a lot of visual references from season one to pull from. So I’d love to direct in a season where they are creating a new world. I would love to try my hand at that and then venture out of the pond, fly away from the next and see what’s out there — if anyone is willing to have me.”
“Return to Murder House” was, perhaps, the most eagerly anticipated episodes of the entire season, taking viewers back to the characters from the original series including Lange’s Constance. For Paulson, directing the episode had the unique challenge in that she was directing actors who were her friends and co-stars, but it turns out that it was Lange’s support in particular that made the experience a positive one for Paulson.
“It was nerve-racking,” Paulson said. “When we work together as actors, we do it in a particular way. When you change hats and this person who you’re used to as a peer comes in with a suggestion of how to play something, that changes the dynamic automatically, and I wouldn’t have been surprised and would have understood if they bristled against that. You try walking up to Jessica Lange and tapping one of your acting idols on the shoulder to give her an idea about how to play a scene. That’s not an easy task to walk up to someone who comes to the party with that much gravitas. However, she was so lovely. She turned to me and said, ‘You should do this. You’re good at this.’ All I needed was her seal of approval to think maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea.”
American Horror Story will return this fall with American Horror Story: 1984.