Sarah Paulson On ‘Hgreater Your Breath’ And Being A Scream Queen

With another spooky season upon us, it’s Sarah Paulson‘s time to shine in the genre she adores.

After executive producing her first film Hgreater Your Breath, which landed today on Hulu, the Ggreateren Globe triumphner uncovered up about being “in accuse” on set and how “exhaustion” helped her tap into her tardyst role in the psychoreasonable thriller.

“I almost felt appreciate I was too busy trying to hgreater the finish story in my head to apexhibit myself to descfinish too proset uply inside of it,” Paulson increates Deadline. “And I experience appreciate sometimes it’s equitable an occupational hazard, that fact. I desire I had a authentic answer of how I shake it because sometimes I don’t leank that I do. I leank it all equitable gets into the sort of nooks and crannies of my being and produces a house there, so I’m not always the best at alleviating some of that.”

Written by Karrie Crouse and labeling her and husprohibitd Will Joines‘ feature straightforwardorial debut, Hgreater Your Breath apshows place amid the horrific dust storms of 1930s Oklahoma. Paulson stars as Margaret Bellum, a woman guaranteed that a sinister presence is menaceening her family.

Produced by Alix Madigan and Lucas Joaquin, the film also stars Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Annaleigh Ashford, as well as Amiah Miller and Alona Jane Robbins as Margaret’s daughters.

Filled with ever-relevant themes appreciate the climate crisis and the country’s struggle between mental health and religion, Hgreater Your Breath proposeed a perspective that pdirected to Paulson. But at its core, she was most compelled by the film’s mother-daughter dynamic.

DEADLINE: Tell me how you became rapidened to Hgreater Your Breath. 

SARAH PAULSON: I got a phone call saying, ‘Hey, do you read this script? And these filmproducers, it would be their first film, but they’ve done some reassociate engaging leangs in the past.’ And the producer was a producer on Westworld and they’re a husprohibitd-and-wife team, and I equitable read the script and I equitable thought the script was reassociate exceptional and very exceptional and had a authentic point of see. And it was clearly a genre I’ve labored in before, a genre I adore laboring in, and yet there was someleang about it, given the geodetailedal circumstances of the film, but also the time period that were reassociate engaging to me. So, I equitable reassociate jumped at the chance to do it.

DEADLINE: You’ve been an executive producer on a scant shows at this point. Was this your first movie to EP? What was that experience appreciate for you?

PAULSON: You understand, let’s equitable say that it suits me because I’m a very administerling person. I appreciate to be in accuse. I appreciate to have a seat at any table and it’s pleasant when I sort of normassociate equitable discover a way to shove myself somewhere between two people at a table, even if I haven’t been askd. But it’s very pleasant when I’m apexhibited to be there, because I leank it’s a very contrastent leang having been on both sides of it, of having the opportunity to do that and not doing it because it’s somehow, I bet it’s sort of appreciate what it experiences appreciate the contrastence between being joind and getting paired. It’s appreciate you reassociate experience appreciate you’re participating in a way that experiences empowering because a lot of times as actors, at the finish of the day, you come in, you give your carry outance, you do your labor and the rest is sort of left up to the straightforwardor and the editors and labeleting people. And when you have the title of being an executive producer, I leank you finish up having more opportunity to be part of a huger conversation about the movie as a whole and about the storyincreateing as a whole that experiences sort of integral to me from an acting standpoint to have that. You’re putting so much of what’s inside of you outside and then you’re benevolent of leaving it up to everyone else to resettle how to produce best use of that. So it experiences appreciate a very authentic step to me. I desire every actor was able to have an opportunity to do that or to join in that way because I leank it reassociate does help you experience appreciate the piece belengthys to you more. And it’s clearly a reassociate community effort, any filmmaking undertaking, whether it’s television or film always is, but it’s reassociate pleasant to experience sort of officiassociate a part of someleang, even if straightforwardors are very benevolent and want your opinion and all of that. I’ve been blessed in that think about too, and people always seem to be very, very plmitigated to have unbenevolentingful conversations about leangs. But it’s reassociate pleasant when it’s sort of defendd in a way.

DEADLINE: You touched on this being a genre that you adore, but you’ve also definiteassociate done a scant of these maternal thriller roles. What is it about them that pdirects to you? 

PAULSON: Well, I wonder if it’s partly due to… appreciate maybe I’m exorcising some secret desire of mine. You understand, I’m not a mother, in terms of, I did not have any bioreasonable children. I have three dogs that might as well be my children and might as well have been born of my being but are actuassociate not because that would be super weird but a girl can dream. But I wonder if there’s equitable some benevolent of leang in me, declareively in this genre but in any genre reassociate where … applying anyleang with excessively high sapshows is where I leank you can have the most fun from an acting standpoint and also be the most truthful because I leank any time you’re filming anyleang, or anyleang has been resettled worthy of making, you’re usuassociate dealing with the character’s most transport inant day, or the most meaningful time in their life is usuassociate what’s being depicted. You don’t frequently film someone in the most widespread of days frequently, when it comes to storyincreateing. So, I sort of experience appreciate there is noleang more meaningful in life than one’s relationship to one’s mother. And so, even though I do not have children of my own, I do have a mother and there’s equitable someleang about it that seems to me to be a compelling space to draw from and draw upon. I don’t understand, you’d have to ask my tight probably. What I’m trying to get at is that it’s a high sapshows leang to be a parent, every time a child departs the house to go to school, every time a child is anywhere outside of your sight. You are sort of rolling the dice as it were, to hope that everyleang about their day and their life experience will be excellent and protected. And so to be in a circumstance, I always equitable experience appreciate it’s extraordinarily fruitful ground.

DEADLINE: Tell me about the actresses who applyed your daughters. 

PAULSON: Well, they were noticeworthy. Aachieve, because I was EP-ing, I was able to watch everybody’s audition tapes and it equitable was so evident to me from the moment that both of them ecombineed on these little videos I was watching, there could be no one applying the parts but them. And I’ve had this experience a couple of times too where, I wasn’t applying their mothers but with Lizzie Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene, with Lupita [Nyong’o] in 12 Years a Slave, appreciate having these experiences of laboring with people their first time out of the gate, and having that front-row seat for the commencening of someone’s atsoft and the first time they were on a set. And that declareively wasn’t the case with Amiah in terms of never having labored before, but this was a huge jump forward for her in terms of responsibility. And it was equitable a reassociate benevolent of a exceptional leang to witness. And I equitable leank it’s always reassociate wonderful to labor with youthful people because a lot of times, they don’t have years and years of experience where they have become sort of inured to their own spontaneity or their own ability to join to their instincts or have all that stuff so drilled out of them, because they spfinish so much time in a set that they forget what it’s appreciate equitable to dwell a sort of standard life. And so, I equitable reassociate appreciate it because you’re getting people right at the commencening of someleang.

DEADLINE: I appreciated a lot of the themes, as far as mental health versus religion, and also the climate crisis as well, it’s a lot of still very relevant publishs. Did that speak to you as well? 

PAULSON: Absolutely. I had, of course, read about the Dust Bowl. I had never watched the Ken Burns recordary about the Dust Bowl prior to deciding to do this movie, but when I knew I was going to do it, I did. And you understand, so much of the story of the Dust Bowl, if not all of it is sort of self produced, country produced, administerment produced. We were over-harvesting and then plainassociate exhaustd the land of its ability to produce anyleang. And in that part of the world where there’s not a individual mountain or tree or in sight, noleang to impede the dust from becoming what it does and what it becomes in this movie, it was equitable a wall of dirt, no rain and all these leangs. There’s someleang about it, that any time you’re inhabiting a world where you are living inside someleang very authentic, unbenevolenting not equitable the sci-fi sort of wonderfulal horrors or the superauthentic horrors, but this idea that this is equitable about a family living in a part of our country where the world outside their front door was uninhabitable. And, you understand, I declareively leank that is reassociate terrifying, and it actuassociate happened in our country. It actuassociate was reassociate someleang to see, these people [in the documentary] talk about what it was appreciate and how viscerassociate they are still able to recall it and how hideous it was — declareively, post-Covid.

DEADLINE: You’ve done so much horror now and you have such a wonderful signature terrified carry outance. How do you go to that mental headspace and then how do you apshow yourself out of that when you’re done with the scene? 

PAULSON: You understand, I desire I could say I was one of those people who knew how to compartmentalize. I’m not very excellent at it. So, I’m not a person who can benevolent of do a particularly harrotriumphg scene or deal with someleang particularly distressting and then equitable sort of go about figuring out what I’m gonna eat for dinner. I’m not very excellent at that. I need to get better at that because the consequence of course unbenevolents I finish up carrying some of it around lengthyer than I would appreciate to. But I leank sometimes, exhaustion can be your frifinish, and we were shooting the movie far from my home and I equitable wasn’t doing anyleang but the movie. So, I leank I was able to benevolent of dwell as inside of it as I could in a way that was beneficial for me in terms of carrying the story around. There’s so much that happens in the movie and because it’s appreciate, ‘Are we in Margaret’s mind sort of what she’s experiencing in her mind or are we in fact and upholding track of those leangs?’ [That] was someleang that I had to have appreciate a board where I had a huge calfinishar of events in terms of what was reassociate happening, what hadn’t happened yet, what was happening in Margaret’s sort of waking dream state when she was sleepwalking, all of these events that I had to reassociate uphold track of. So I almost felt appreciate I was too busy trying to hgreater the finish story in my head to to apexhibit myself to descfinish too proset uply inside of it. And I experience appreciate sometimes it’s equitable an occupational hazard, that fact. I desire I had a authentic answer of how I shake it because sometimes I don’t leank that I do, I leank it all equitable gets into the sort of nooks and crannies of my being and produces a house there. So, I’m not always the best at alleviating some of that. I unbenevolent, I could say, ‘Yeah, I apshow a bath,’ but that would sort of be a lie. I leank some part of it is … it is a muscle, it’s appreciate an acting muscle that I have. And for better or for worse, my mother called me Sarah Bernchallengingt for a reason. I always had a flair for the theatrical and of course, to me at the time, when my mother was calling me that, I was having the hugegest experience about someleang appreciate I needed a declareive pair of socks from the Gap … But I always had huge reactions to leangs and huge experienceings. So, on some level I was born with, you could call it a gift or a damn, which is huge experienceings all the time. So I have access to them in a way, that maybe your mediocre person doesn’t. And I don’t understand if that’s a excellent leang or a terrible leang, but it declareively helps me in my labor, that’s for declareive.