The star of the first two American Horror Stories episodes welcomes us back to Murder House.
Warning: Spoilers fromAmerican Horror Storiesseason 1, episodes 1 and 2 are discussed in this interview.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How does it feel that is now out in the world?
Sierra McCormick as Scarlett in ‘American Horror Stories’.FX
SIERRA MCCORMICK:A little relief, actually.
I was definitely succumbing to that anticipation anxiety a couple of days before it was due to come out.
When did you actually film this?
This came out really, really quickly.
It was really surprising to me how quickly they were able to turn this into something awesome.
I’m trying to think back.
We did this in April.
I hadn’t watched a show in quite a bit just because I can’t watch TV much anymore.
I just feel like I don’t have the time to dedicate to an entire season of something.
I just watch movies ‘cause I can bang it out.
Someone dug through my Instagram and found this old photo that I posted like seven, eight years ago.
How did the casting process work for you?
Was it just as secretive as everything else about this project?
I auditioned under a completely different character name…
I think for some reason I feel like it was Penelope.
I could be wrong…
I had no script, I didn’t know the actual nature of the episodes.
I just had two audition scenes.
I taped with them and I sent them off and then I kind of forgot about it.
I just didn’t think that they would ever cast me for this.
I was very surprised, like delightfully surprised, when I found out.
I literally auditioned I think in March or so, and I went and shot in April.
It was like a whirlwind.
I went right into preproduction fittings and getting fitted for that suit a couple of different times.
Has everybody been asking you about that rubber suit since?
I mean, it’s a pretty iconic and striking, if you will, look.
I totally understand why a lot of the questions are about the suit.
American Horror Storyin general is known for doing some pretty wild things.
What were your expectations going into this?
Did the reality of your experience match those expectations?
I had no idea what to expect.
I knew that these [episodes] could take pretty much any kind of turn.
I just tried to keep my expectations pretty open.
I start every project by looking at the script and being like, ‘Oh my God!
How the hell am I going to do this?
I can’t pull this off."
I haven’t really done a lot of roles that have much of a sexual nature to them.
I think just the fact that that was uncharted territory for me before this was a little bit daunting.
I was like, “Oh!
OK. Well, this has a pretty much exclusively sexual nature to it.
Was there anything that like made you confident in tackling those scenes when the time came?
I never worked with one really much before, only in a very limited capacity.
The actual shooting of them, when it came time to do it, I didn’t feel surprised.
I felt like everybody had my back.
I can get to that place.
What were your first impressions of Scarlett as a character?
She feels very unique in that she’s really the only non-magical person to survive Murder House.
She maybe isn’t quite confident in herself as a person or her sexuality.
We’ve only seen two episodes so far.
I’ve only seen my two episodes, as well, so I can only speak on those.
It’s the added binge-worthiness.
To my knowledge, yes.
Unless there’s something I don’t I know.
Fans like to dissect the mythology ofAmerican Horror Storyto death.
I do know there are a couple of fun Easter eggs that they threw into our episodes.
They threw in a couple of details like that were supposed to be call backs to the originalMurder Houseseason.
