Connie Britton has spent the last five years playing an extremely strong woman-- a wife, a mother, and an educator in many ways-- on a show that revolved around football. But the thespian claims she didn't know much about football when taking the project the first time (for the film version) and didn't necessarily learn a whole lot of specifics while shooting for so many years on the television show, either. But that doesn't really matter. After all, a truly talented actor can act off of anything-- or nothing at all. In other words, words on a page only go so far; it is the emotions an actor wears on his or her face and carries around that can add the richest layers. And that Britton knows.
So the fact that she doesn't like horror movies (she says The Exorcist scarred her for live and she only did the Nightmare on Elm Street remake "to try to face [her] fears") and admitted to being unable to sit through her new executive producer Ryan Murphy's old FX project Nip/Tuck because it was too gory doesn't really matter much, either. For Britton, choosing the next project is all about what is going to be new and different not only from what she's done before but from what she's seen on other shows, as well. And character is king.
"What's interesting for me is to find..different ways to have her fall apart. And I think we are going to see [that]," Britton said.
When we first meet Britton in American Horror Story, her character is having a gynecological check-up (there's not something you see open shows often!) because of a recent miscarriage. As if things aren't rough enough on her, she catches her husband in an act of infidelity in their own bed.
"He's no Kyle Chandler!" Britton laughed.
Yet the two stay together despite all of that and make the move out to Los Angeles in the story to give their family a fresh start. Though nothing about the role is salacious, inevitably there are some big shoes to fill with Britton's stint as Tami Taylor, one of the strongest female role models on television since Murphy Brown.
"I have to say, I've really struggled with that because I do have people who come up to me all of the time and they do-- they say 'You're a role model' and 'You're my feminist role model'," Britton opened up to LA TV Insider Examiner.
"I've made a decision as an actress for every role I play there's going to be a foundation of strength in the woman, and there's going to be a woman there that is someone that I hope people can admire, so I do think for this role there's going to be familiar elements. So what's going to be interesting for me is establishing those familiar elements and then watching that person go through extreme conflict and extreme lack of control."
Britton, therefore, draws a lot of metaphors from the overt horror we see unfold in American Horror Story to the psychological issues the characters are going through in the moment.
"You know, I'm playing her-- my sense of this character is that she's a woman who has lived her life through will and has become very successful and has come to a point in her life where it's all falling apart and there's nothing she can do about it," she explained. "And I think that's something that's something that's very relatable, and I'm committed to playing that in a way that remains relatable even in this crazy world."
American Horror Story will premiere on FX on October 5th. Sound off in the comments below with how you think this character will stack up next to Tami Taylor!
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