PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA, THE: PALEYFEST 2015: AMERICAN HORROR STORY: FREAK SHOW {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in a series of seminars presented as part of The Paley Center for Media’s 2015 William S. Paley Television Festival in Los Angeles. The festival celebrates the excellence and diversity of American television and is dedicated to television’s creative community. This PALEYFEST 2015 seminar honors “American Horror Story,” a dramatic suspense series with revolving storylines. Host Rene Reyes (director of programs, The Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles) offers opening comments before introducing the evening’s moderator Tim Stack (senior writer, Entertainment Weekly). Stack makes his own comments before introducing the episode “Edward Mordrake, Part 1,” screened in its entirety. (For synopsis and credits of episode, see ACCNUM 121645).
Stack moderates the following panelists: executive producer Tim Minear; and cast members Finn Wittrock (Dandy Mott), Denis O’Hare (Stanley), Sarah Paulson (Dot Tattler, Bette Tattler), Michael Chiklis (Dell Toledo), Kathy Bates (Ethel Darling), Evan Peters (Jimmy Darling), and Jessica Lange (Elsa Mars). Later they are joined by Matt Bomer and Cheyenne Jackson, who will be cast members in the upcoming season of the show, entitled “American Horror Story: Hotel.”
The panelists touch on such topics as: an incident during the shooting of “Edward Mordrake, Part 1” where the cast had an encounter with a large alligator wandering onto the set; the anachronistic music featured on the show and the cast’s experiences singing it; the conceptual origins behind the “Freak Show” story and milieu; the channels by which the show cast the various “freaks”; a particularly difficult scene between Chiklis and Jyoti Amge (Ma Petite), portraying a miniature character; the technical challenges involved in portraying characters with unusual physical characteristics and the extensive makeup and prosthetic procedures involved; interactions with fellow cast member John Carroll Lynch (Twisty the Clown) and the inspiration for his character; a bizarre sex scene involving Paulson’s conjoined twin characters and a character portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris (Chester Creb); the question of whether Lange will come back for another season of “American Horror Story”; the upcoming fifth season of “American Horror Story,” subtitled “Hotel,” and the introduction of Bomer and Jackson.
Questions from the audience then lead to a discussion of the following topics among others: interconnections between different seasons of “American Horror Story”; the thematic significance of the show’s musical selections; whether the music featured on the show will ever be released separately; Lange’s use of accents in many of her characters, including her character on “American Horror Story: Freak Show”; the level of medical accuracy in the show’s portrayal of people with birth defects; the cast’s thoughts about filming the show in New Orleans; sources of inspiration for Paulson’s portrayal of conjoined twins, including observing actual conjoined twins; and the casts’ favorite characters from all seasons of the show.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:55:52
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 121633
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Drama
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Rene Reyes … Host
- Tim Stack … Moderator
- Finn Wittrock … Panelist
- Denis O'Hare … Panelist
- Sarah Paulson … Panelist
- Michael Chiklis … Panelist
- Kathy Bates … Panelist
- Evan Peters … Panelist
- Jessica Lange … Panelist
- Matt Bomer … Panelist
- Cheyenne Jackson … Panelist
- Jyoti Amge
- Neil Patrick Harris
- John Carroll Lynch