will she live?
Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to talk to Chloë Sevigny about her role on American Horror Story: Asylum. Chloë is certainly no stranger to television; having starred in HBO’s Big Love for its entire run as Nicolette Grant, one of Bill Paxton’s beleaguered wives. She has also been a huge part of many motion pictures: including “American Psycho” with Christian Bale, “Boys Don’t Cry” with Hilary Swank, “Zodiac” with Robert Downey, Jr., and “Party Monster” with Macauley Culkin. But this call was about Shelley. Her nymphomaniac psych patient who had just the previous night had her legs amputated by the evil Dr. Arden (James Cromwell). Chloë had a lot to say about Shelley. Please read on for more!
TheTwoCents: You’ve done a lot of themes and topics that have been explored in the season of American Horror Story before in other projects, but what was it that was specifically unique about AHS that drew you to the project?
Chloë Sevigny: I guess it was having watched the first season and just being a fan of the show. I just thought it was so rich, the production design and costumes and how much detail went into it and I just thought it was wildly entertaining. I was hoping the second season would be as much so. I didn’t get to read any scripts prior to signing on, so I was kind of going in on blind faith hoping that it would be what I wanted it to be and it’s proven so.
TTC: I’m curious what is Shelley’s attitude going to be now in the wake of losing both of her legs at the operating table there.
CS: I think she’s pretty pissed off. I think she feels pretty helpless and I think in the beginning you kind of like not so much rooting for her. You think she’s this bad girl and then see her helping Evan’s character and Lizzie’s character trying to escape and you realize that she’s pretty selfless in that regard. I think after she gets in the clutches of the evil doctor, I think you’re then kind of more rooting for her and hoping that she can escape or find a way out. So I think the character goes through a lot. The audience goes through a lot with the character.
TTC: You’re playing a very specific character here, an inmate in a sanitarium and then for your next role you’re playing a driven detective, and that seems like a more grounded part. I’m wondering how you shift as an actor from one role to another? Do you have to shake off “Shelley” before you play “Catherine” in Those Who Kill, or you find moving between roles to be an easy transition?
CS: I find it pretty easy. I’ve already wrapped American Horror Story a couple of months ago. I think they might have me come back for something else. I’m not sure, so I’ll have plenty of time and then of course delving into the scripts and research and … with playing “Catherine” they’ll probably be some training involved also, so just trying to immerse yourself in whatever you’re doing at the time. While we were shooting American Horror Story, I was also shooting Portlandia, so I was going from one set to the next, and I’d never really done that before. And Portlandia was so new for me because it’s all improvisation and trying to be funny and all that, so it was quite difficult when you’re shooting two at the same time.
TTC: I was just wondering if you could sort of give your take on “Shelley’s” character. She’s obviously billed as a nympho, but then there’s that question of whether she truly is addicted to it, or she just likes it more than other people. What’s your take on that?
CS: I don’t know if people truly are addicted to that. There’s so much talk about it as of late. I think that she was a little wild and her husband had it within his power to commit her and I think kind of once she’s in there, she kind of goes with it to come to who she is and how she identifies herself. So I think that she probably yes really likes sex. All the reaction, I don’t know if she’s quite a real nymphomaniac.
TTC: As of the first installment the asylum itself is sort of a character on the series. Can you talk about how the environment helps you get into character?
CS: Yes, and the smokiness and all of that, well, in the last episode when I kind of knock out the orderly, Carl I think he’s named, we’re supposed to be in the stairwell, but they haven’t built the stairwell yet or maybe they have run out of budget for the cast, I’m not sure. But so the scene was written as like I’m on the stairs and I pull him down, so I felt like it wouldn’t have sold, like that stunt would have been much more convincing that she would have been able to knock him out, that she pulled him down and he hit the side of the tub so conveniently. For me it was difficult. I kept arguing with them saying I don’t see how she could be such a shot to have that happen so conveniently. So the set can help working for you in that way. I was just being in there and all of the icons and everything. I don’t know, but the smoke is really irritating.
*Bonus Question*
TTC: If you could just share with us when you sat down and watched Season 1, I think you said straight through in like two or three days. What was the scariest part of last season do you think?
CS: C. Sevigny For me the scariest moment was when you realized that the daughter had died. I was really taken aback … when she sees herself in the crawl space and she’s kind of rotted away, that was the most disturbing moment for me; not only because she was a young girl, but I don’t know, just because it was such a surprise.
American Horror Story: Asylum airs tonight and every Wednesday at 10PM ET on FX! And from what Chloë shared, we ain’t seen nothing yet!!
Anne – Assistant TO the Editor-in-Chief
anne@thetwocentscorp.com
TheTwoCents 
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