Sarah Paulson speaks of “regret” for wearing fat dress in “American Crime Story” after reaction

At this point, if Sarah Paulson is not wearing any kind of prosthetic and iconic hairstyle (reminder: she was wearing four separate wigs to play Marcia Clark in “American Crime Story”), hi really a Sarah Paulson performance?

For her role in the upcoming installment of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series “Impeachment: American Crime Story,” the Emmy-winning star has once again been transformed to play Linda Tripp, the complainant who exposed the story of former President Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky.

But this time, Paulson struggled to portray Tripp, gaining 30 pounds and carrying nearly 5 pounds of padding to accentuate the character’s shape along with a nose and prosthetic teeth.

While her performance seems guaranteed for Emmys ’attention, Paulson’s first photos on set that carried what she later described as“ body transformation accessories ”sparked some online reactions. Critics saw Paulson’s latest transformation as one more example of Hollywood’s unfortunate history of fat phobia and alienating larger actors from getting plays.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in an interview published last week, Paulson reflexively addressed the dialogue surrounding his casting and said, “There’s a lot of controversy surrounding actors and big costumes, and I think that controversy is legitimate “.

“I think the fat phobia is real. I think pretending the opposite causes more damage. And it is that a very important conversation is maintained “, he continued. “But all that responsibility I don’t think falls on the actor to choose to do something that is certainly – and I’m talking from within – the challenge of a lifetime.”

He added that making another actor to play Tripp just by a physical resemblance to the real-life figure would be a “real reduction in the offer the actor has to make.”

“I would like to believe that there is something in my being that gives me the reason to do this role,” Paulson continued. “And the magic of the makeup and hair departments and of clients and filmmakers that has been part of filmmaking and the suspension of belief since the invention of cinema.”

“I am supposed to say no [to the part]? That is the question, “he added.

While Paulson addressed the varied nuances of the subject, an exceptional “lament” that has persisted is “not thinking about it further,” given the trajectory of the entertainment industry to hold certain bodies above others. .

“This is important for me to think and reflect on,” he said. “I also know it’s a privileged place to sit and think and reflect on it. I’ve already got it and had a chance that someone didn’t have.”

She continued: “You can only learn what you learn when you learn. Should I have known? Abso-f – king-lutely. But I do it now. And I wouldn’t make the same choice in the future. “

In 2019, Paulson suggested she wouldn’t wear a big dress for the role, as the series, which was produced by real-life Monica Lewinsky, attempts to rewrite long-standing narratives about women in public view.

“I’m going to take about three months off to eat some food, because I’m going to gain some weight to perform it,” Paulson said at the New Yorker Festival. “I don’t want to wear a dress because I think it’s going to feel really weird.”

But apparently things changed with the extended production process of the project, which was greatly delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Impeachment: American Crime Story” will premiere on FX on September 7th.