Paulson shows new side of iconic villain ‘Ratched’
“Ratched,” Sarah Paulson’s latest collaboration with Ryan Murphy, marks a big change in many ways.
It began with the resurrection of a monster for the ages in a newly invented origins story that Netflix premieres Friday.
“It’s safe to say that many people are at least familiar with (if not well versed in) ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.’ the (1975) movie and Louise Fletcher’s performance as (Nurse) Ratched in that movie,” Paulson, 45, said during a Zoom press conference.
“I think Mildred Ratched is in the Top Five Villains of All Time by the American Film Institute. But this would be impossible to undertake without thinking we’ve got to show something here that has yet to be seen.
“It’s entirely up to us. We can invent it because there is no backstory. That’s an enormous freedom. We can give context and depth to things that maybe weren’t there.”
Set in a northern California asylum in 1947, “Ratched” fronts an ensemble that includes Judy Davis, Sharon Stone, Cynthia Nixon, Finn Whitrock and Sophie Okonedo.
“It was interesting,” Paulson observed, “I remember when I first saw the movie years ago, Ratched was absolutely a villain and evil. She is so calcified. There’s a hardness. Nothing ekes out.
“When I re-watched it before we started I thought, ‘This is a woman who is a victim of a patriarchal infrastructure in this hospital.’ Could it be that she didn’t have any choice whether she could bring her womanhood and her femininity to the job?
“What about considering that idea that she’s not a villain? Who knows what her life was like?!
“So I was interested in this idea of: Who was Mildred
“I think Mildred Ratched is in the Top Five Villains of All Time by the American Film Institute. But this would be impossible to undertake without thinking we’ve got to show something here that has yet to be seen. It’s entirely up to us. We can invent it because there is no backstory. That’s an enormous freedom. We can give context and depth to things that maybe weren’t there.” — Sarah Paulson
Ratched when she goes into her house?”
The other reason “Ratched” was pioneering for Paulson: Murphy’s insistence she do more than play the scary nurse.
“Ryan was very, very invested in empowering me in this way I never had experienced before,” Paulson said. “I had never played a titular character before. I had never owned a piece of a show before. I had never been an executive producer before. This is all because of him. It was very important to him.
“Part of the reason I was terrified to do it because I don’t have a ton of experience. He would say to me, ‘Step into your power.’
“That literally makes me want to take a hot shower and run screaming into the street. Because ‘stepping into my power’ — I don’t really know what that means. He does. And he would like me to do more of it.”