The Emmy-winning actress is already a standout as the infamous civil servant who betrayed Monica Lewinsky.
MEREDITH MARKWORTH-POLLACK:Linda Tripp had a very specific build.
Sarah wore 4-inch heels in every single scene.
Sarah Paulson as Linda Tripp in ‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’.Tina Thorpe/FX
Even the slippers that she wore at home had platforms because she wanted the height of Linda.
Sarah just completely embodied her.
Even her posture was identical to Linda’s.
Sarah Paulson as Linda Tripp and Beanie Feldstein as Monica Lewinsky in ‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’.Tina Thorpe/FX
Sarah gained 30 pounds, too.
She was so involved in this.
Sarah had such a great eye for it and really wanted it to be as accurate as possible.
It all had to be proportioned.
Do we do contacts or no contacts?
And she had [false] teeth.
And then there was makeup on top of the prosthetics.
It’s beauty makeup, but it’s character makeup too.
We didn’t want to make her too pretty.
We needed to confirm we weren’t revealing any parts of it.
If you really pay attention, she’s wearing a lot of high-neck blouses and everything is long-sleeve.
That was done intentionally to not reveal any padding or anything that she’s wearing underneath.
The other big thing for us was building up her shoulders.
All of her suits had shoulder pads, which was something that was happening at the time anyway.
But we really wanted to ensure Sarah had these broad shoulders like Linda Tripp did.
So it wasn’t only about adding weight.
It’s creating this complete person.
I called it the Linda Tripp palette.
[To be specific: She used Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick Frost in Apricot Fantasy and Kissable Pink No.
Sarah also bleached her eyebrows so we could get the exact shape and contour that we needed.
BEAUCHESNE:To see that all come together and when Sarah walked on the set?
I was like, “Oh my gosh, it’s Linda Tripp.”
