Current:Home > FinanceSarah Paulson on the rigors of 'Hold Your Breath' and being Holland Taylor's Emmy date -Thrive Financial Network
Sarah Paulson on the rigors of 'Hold Your Breath' and being Holland Taylor's Emmy date
View
Date:2025-04-27 14:18:09
Sarah Paulson is in familiar territory: screaming in fear on a Hulu screen near you.
The “American Horror Story” actress, 49, stars in the psychological thriller “Hold Your Breath” (streaming Thursday). Set in 1930s Dust Bowl-era Oklahoma, Paulson plays Margaret, a mother who feels that something or someone is threatening her children. As her paranoia sets in, Margaret resorts to extreme measures to protect her two daughters.
And then of course, there’s the scream. Just a question about it elicits a laugh before Paulson breaks down what goes into the performance.
“If I'm screaming onstage, there is a big vocal warm-up that's happening, and a vocal comedown (after),” she says. For film or TV, “I am a little more loosey-goosey about it because I know I'll have a little bit more recovery time.”
That’s not to say onscreen screams aren’t physically taxing. Paulson recalls a moment during “AHS” where she “had to have a steroid shot in the old derrière to get me through the day.”
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Don’t try and pitch her on any type of healing beverage, either.
Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox.
“Water is good to keep your vocal cords moist but the teas don't really do anything,” Paulson explains. “It's like a hair product: It's just creating a barrier to make it look less frizzy but it's not actually making it less frizzy.
“Cut to like 400 doctors writing to me on Instagram being like, ‘This is not so.’ ”
The cost of 'rigorous honesty' for Sarah Paulson: dirt in her eye
“Hold Your Breath” was filmed in New Mexico, and stagehands built the character's home in Santa Fe. Other scenes took place on a soundstage. While some special effects were used, Paulson reveals that many scenes took place in the midst of real dust blowing via fans going 75 mph.
“We had a specific hand signal that we would do if the dust was too much or I couldn't actually see or if I got something in my eye,” she recalls. “We got into a little bit of a back-and-forth about how dangerous vs. how hyper-real that they wanted to make (the scenes). And I was always like, ‘I just want you to push it, just put a little bit more wind on me, just a little bit more dirt in the air’ because the more real it could be for me, I thought the more truthful my performance would be.
“I'm just interested in authenticity. I'm interested in a kind of rigorous honesty in my work and in my life. And so sometimes with that comes some things you don't always want, like a big ol' piece of dirt in your eye.”
Sarah Paulson is savoring her awards-season firsts
Paulson, who won an Emmy for her portrayal of prosecutor Marcia Clark in FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” returned to the Emmys in September. She did so as both a past winner and a plus one for her partner, Holland Taylor, who was nominated for best supporting actress in “The Morning Show.”
“It was my first time getting to go as Holland's plus one and that was a really fun, sweet thing,” Paulson says. The couple began dating in 2015 and were at home during the virtual Emmy broadcast for Taylor’s 2020 nomination. “This was the first time I was like, ‘Let me hold your purse’ and you know, ‘Are you eating enough snacks?’ and all those things that one does for someone.”
Paulson experienced a much-different first in June, winning a Tony Award for her role in “Appropriate.” Will she return to Broadway? Yes, she says, without elaborating, only joking that it might happen “sooner than anyone would like.”
“It's like I took a 10-year break from the theater and then all of a sudden it's like every year there's going to be a new Sarah Paulson thing,” she says. “People are going to be like, ‘Go home! Sit down. Nobody wants to see it anymore.’ ”
veryGood! (61)
Related
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- People evacuated in southeastern Wisconsin community after floodwaters breach dam
- Beryl livestreams: Watch webcams as storm approaches Texas coast
- Feeling strange about celebrating July 4th amid Biden-Trump chaos? You’re not alone.
- Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
- Who’s who in Britain’s new Labour government led by Keir Starmer
- Olivia Culpo Reacts to Critic’s Comments on Wedding Makeup
- Messi, Argentina to face Canada again: What to know about Copa America semifinal
- North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
- Ryan Garcia expelled from World Boxing Council after latest online rant
Ranking
- Grammy nominee Teddy Swims on love, growth and embracing change
- The Freedman's Savings Bank's fall is still taking a toll a century and a half later
- Messi, Argentina to face Canada again: What to know about Copa America semifinal
- Next up for Eddie Murphy? Possibly another 'Beverly Hills Cop' movie or perhaps Broadway
- Backstage at New York's Jingle Ball with Jimmy Fallon, 'Queer Eye' and Meghan Trainor
- Justin Timberlake exudes sincerity at Baltimore show a week after apparent joke about DWI
- Ranger wounded, suspect dead in rare shooting at Yellowstone National Park, NPS says
- The Minnesota Dam That Partially Failed Is One of Nearly 200 Across the Upper Midwest in Similarly ‘Poor’ Condition
Recommendation
A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
Horoscopes Today, July 4, 2024
Critically endangered gorilla with beautiful big brown eyes born at Ohio zoo
President Biden scrambles to save his reelection with a trip to Wisconsin and a network TV interview
2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
Alex Morgan responds to accusations involving San Diego Wave, Jill Ellis
Delaware judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit in battle over estate of the late pop icon Prince
2 dead, 3 injured after stabbing at July 4th celebration in Huntington Beach, California