FXBathing in blood. Dismemberment. It's all in day's work for one Emmy nominee.
No one can ever accuse Finn Wittrock, American Horror Story: Freak Show's breakout star, of playing it safe when it came to the role of Dandy Mott, the murderous man-child with a penchant for tighty whities. And his boldness paid off when he was nominated for an Emmy on Thrusday for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Series Or A Movie.
And when Wittrock hopped on the phone after receiving the good news, he admitted it was hard to choose his craziest moment on the FX series.
"It's hard to compare between bathing in blood to drowning in a Houdini tank to [killing] Patti LaBelle to dismembering Matt Bomer," he said with a laugh. "It's like how do you give the award for craziest thing? I guess the bathing in my own mother's blood probably takes the cake."
While he was never concerned that Dandy's insane antics would turn off Emmy voters, he often wondered about viewers' limits. "Is this going to be the thing that's like one crazy thing too many?" he said. "But I guess the audience is just as crazy as me, so they stuck with me!"
Wittrock admitted it's "fun to play people who are outside of the box in whatever way... it's definitely fun not to have to obey the social norms you'd have to obey in real life."
Speaking of real-life, the way in which Wittrock found out about his nomination is pretty sweet.
"My wife had the website up and was looking at it. I was like, 'Don't show me, I don't want to know. Just tell me if I got it or not. I can't deal with this!'" he recalled. "So I made scrambled eggs and some coffee. And she watched and looked over the website, and then there was a scream from the living room, a joyful scream, and then I knew."
Wittrock, who is set to star in American Horror Story: Hotel alongside Lady Gaga, Bomer, Sarah Paulson, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates and Evan Peters, was quick to gush about his AHS co-star Denis O'Hare, who now also happens to be his "competition."
"I think Denis O'Hare is really incredibly deserving for a real piece of certified acting genius," he said, adding that he was "really happy that the show itself is nominated and Ryan [Murphy] because I owe him so much."
And because he was just so darn good at playing the diabolical Dandy, it's a little bizarre to hear just how nice Wittrock is when it comes to his fellow competitors.
"I'm very humbled to be in that category, to be with Damian Lewis and Bill Murray is just very heady and overwhelming," he said. "Whatever happens, I'm just going to be over the moon on September 20."