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Off Camera with Sam Jones

Ep 149. Sarah Paulson

Off Camera with Sam Jones

offcamera

Arts, Education, Off Camera, Tv & Film

4.81.6K Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2020

⏱️ 70 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From the outside, it would appear that Sarah Paulson, after her Emmy award-winning performance as prosecutor Marcia Clark in The People v. O.J. Simpson, has "made it." She's got a role in Ocean's 8, her first "big sh**-kicker, popcorn movie,” and has the luxury of sifting through multiple film and television offers to choose a part that “sparks something inside of her.” What more could an actor want? But that's exactly the problem for Sarah. She wants the want. Without it, she finds herself in a bit of an identity crisis. She wants to fight for roles and be challenged by an acting part that requires total commitment. As she explains, “Before Marcia Clark, I was full of all that want. I don’t have that anymore.” The road to this point was not an easy one for Sarah. She never had her Cannes or Sundance moment like peers Carey Mulligan or Maggie Gyllenhaal. She fought hard for many pilots that never saw the light of day. When she did get her big break, on Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, it was cancelled after one season. Luckily, Ryan Murphy eventually came into her life. The prolific producer, writer, and director saw Sarah’s unique talent of being able to completely disappear into characters, and immediately started casting her in projects like The People v. O.J. Simpson and American Horror Story. She's finally being seen, and she gives full credit to Murphy for continuing to throw her "the juiciest, meatiest bones on the planet." And lucky for us, she’s still hungry. Sarah joins Off Camera to discuss why being an actor (or a person, for that matter) is not for the faint of heart, what's behind her decision not to watch her own performances, and why you’d better not fall asleep on a plane!

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey folks Sam Jones here.

0:01.0

Welcome to another edition of Off-camera.

0:04.0

Coming to you once again from the closet

0:16.3

How's everyone doing with the quarantine? I'm calling this day 49 of our shelter and place order here in California.

0:24.0

And before we get started with the episode, I thought I would share some

0:27.6

quarantine stats with you and see if you relate to any of these things.

0:31.1

You know, I realized I may have experienced my last

0:33.8

handshake on March 12th in Nashville right before all of this started. I was working

0:39.3

with Jason Isbill and as we said goodbye and good luck to each other, we unthinkingly shook hands.

0:45.0

Odd to think that I might not be doing that again for a while, or ever for that matter.

0:50.0

I never was a fist bump, elbow touch, or high-five guy, but if it means staying healthy, I can adapt.

0:57.0

Here's another step. I've cooked every meal my kids that I have eaten for the last 49 days.

1:02.0

This includes a birthday cake from

1:04.6

scratch, my first attempt at Steakup Wav, a bland potato-leak soup attempt,

1:09.4

and some really tasty pesto. So far my kids haven't rebelled, so I think I'm doing okay.

1:16.3

I also have not been to the gas station in over a month, so I can't even take advantage of these

1:20.7

amazing gas prices. I've had a lot more time to read and write and

1:25.0

catch up with old friends and those moments have been some of the right moments of the

1:28.4

quarantine. What I try not to do is think too much about the future because I seem to be more calm and

1:33.9

content when I can stay in the moment but it's hard not to wonder about how we

1:38.1

will all adapt to our world and our work on the other side of this. You know I got a letter from an actor that I wanted to share with you all,

1:45.0

because I think it sums up about how many of us creative folks are feeling.

...

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