Sarah Paulson is going bad for American Horror Story: Hotel, and she likes it. The Emmy nominee (sadly not a winner yet—what gives, Television Academy?!) is playing Hypodermic Sally—not Sally Hypodermic, it's not her last name—a junkie with more than her fair share of problems. Sally's a far cry from the heroic Lana Winters of AHS: Asylum and witchy Cordelia of AHS: Coven.
"Sally is a very dark girl, but also a very broken girl. I think of her sort of as a broken ragdoll," Paulson told Kristin Dos Santos in the video above shot on set of AHS: Hotel. "She has a lot of emotion, she's got a lot of fire in her belly."
Sally once hoped of becoming a singer, but that dream was dashed. Now she's kicking it around Hotel Cortez with a bevy of other color characters including Lady Gaga's The Countess, a hemophiliac (not a vampire!), Kathy Bates' Iris, Matt Bomer's Donovan and Angela Bassett's Ramona. But American Horror Story: Hotel isn't Paulson's only TV gig this time around. Like last year, she's playing two roles, but it's on two different shows this year. Paulson is filming both AHS: Hotel and Ryan Murphy's American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson at the same time, going from Sally to Marcia Clark. Why's she doing it?
"It is a lot of work, but I'm just a glutton for punishment I think, which is very evident by the things I have to do on the show," Paulson joked. "No, I'm an actress for hire. I want to work. I'd much rather work than sit on my bum waiting for someone to call me. I'm quite worried for what's going to happen when I'm at this juncture when I'm done with this season of Horror Story, Crime Story we're going to be done shooting that within a month…then I'm just going to have nothing to do. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. "
The two characters she's playing on the two different shows are wildly different, but there is one thing they both share. "An incredible animal instinct, " she said. "They both have that."
American Crime Story is based on real happens, the O.J. Simpson murder trial, but AHS is set in its own little universe whose chapters—Murder House, Asylum, Coven, Freak Show—are starting to bleed together. Murphy has said characters from other seasons will check into the hotel, perhaps we'll see a fan-favorite witch return at get her crimping iron?
"Same crimping iron that was used for Myrtle Snow, which for me is a great homage to Frannie [Conroy]. I feel a kinship to her," Paulson said of her hairdo. Yes, that's her hair, the wigs are on Crime Story for Marcia Clark. "There's so much crossover with the show, maybe Myrtle and Sally are actually related."
Click play on the video up top for more from Paulson on her new character, pulling double duty, Emmys and her quest to become Lady Gaga's best friend. She's made headway: Gaga has her phone number!
American Horror Story: Hotel premieres Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 10 p.m. on FX.