Jessica Lange puts Elsa Mars, the performer who runs the carnival in American Horror Story: Freak Show, at the top of her character ranking. The chance to sing helped make that season her favorite.
“Nobody ever lets me sing. I can’t sing,” Lange said.
She also loved the world built around Elsa and the other performers: “I always felt that set was like, you know, a long poem.”
That affection puts her at odds with the audience scores for her 4 seasons. On Rotten Tomatoes’ Popcornmeter, Freak Show has 69%, behind Coven at 76%, Murder House at 84% and Asylum at 90%. Critics gave Freak Show 77%.
Lange’s ranking leaves the middle shared between Constance from Murder House and Sister Jude, the domineering nun from Asylum. “I’d put them both in the middle,” she said.
Fiona Goode, Coven’s former Supreme, finishes last for her. “I mean, the whole witch thing was less interesting to me,” Lange explained.
Even so, she singled out Fiona’s final scene with Danny Huston as a favorite. After dying of cancer, Fiona wakes in a personal hell with his character, the Axeman, where she’s stuck drinking cheap wine.
At 77, Lange’s returned for American Horror Story’s 13th season to play all 4 characters again. Ryan Murphy initially approached her about returning as Constance, but she had a condition.
“First, he talked to me about playing Constance, which I think was his favourite character that I did. But I said I’ll come back if I can do all four characters.”
