Acting is all the same to Annaleigh Ashford.
Some of her fellow craftspeople don’t share this perspective, but it’s what she believes.
“It has to be so organic and so real.
Annaleigh Ashford as Paula Jones in ‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’.Tina Thorpe/FX
It’s sort of like the ultimate test.
That’s why some of my favorite dramatic actors are great comedians, too.”
“What do I want in the scene?
Annaleigh Ashford as Paula Jones in ‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’.Kurt Iswarienko/FX
How am I going to get it?
What’s her obstacle?
I approached it the same way I do all my girls.”
“All my girls,” she repeats.
“It’s so crazy that I just called the characters I play ‘all my girls.’
Am I doing my one-woman show of follies?
What’s happening here?”
She had a lot of time to sit and think about this.
It was like her accent and her looks made her a target.”
“I find her to be much more heartbreaking than I would have imagined.”
Ashford, however, did not speak with Jones before filming began.
(Lewinsky wasthe only figureinvolved in the scandal who consulted on the show.)
Ina 2000 interview withPenthousemagazine, Jones revealed how the right “used” her.
That, at its heart, is whatImpeachment, written by executive producer Sarah Burgess, is all about.
Even Tripp, to some extent, couldn’t escape this.
She recorded Lewinsky and turned her over to Starr after being warped by the dog-eat-dog political arena.
And a lot of the key players in the [Clinton] impeachment are still playing the game."
In that sense, Ashford feels the series will hit differently.
“Now we can really focus on the story and how it connects to today,” she says.
I always think there’s a sort of kismet when it comes to art."
Impeachment: American Crime Storypremieres Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX.
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated thatImpeachmentwas originally planned to air before the 2016 U.S. election.
It was actually planned to air before the 2020 election.
