Jessica Lange Thinks She Might Have Made Her Last Film: ‘It All Was a Great Adventure’ — SkimNews
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- Jessica Lange said she might be saying goodbye to Hollywood in a Rolling Stone interview ahead of the American Horror Story Season 13 finale, describing the four-season run as 'a wonderful adventure.'
- American Horror Story Season 13 returned Lange as all four of her characters — Constance Langdon, Sister Jude, Fiona Goode and Elsa Mars — alongside Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Emma Roberts, Angela Basset, Kathy Bates and Billie Lourd.
- Ryan Murphy sold Lange on the season in a single meeting, when 'immediately it felt like this is something I want to explore,' and directed the first episode; she called him 'an amazing force' and said she adores him.
- Jessica Lange named Elsa Mars her favorite of the four roles, drawn to the circus setting and the chance to sing, and prepared by listening to old episodes without watching them, saying 'the voice is what always brought me back.'
- King Kong (1976), her first film and first audition, nearly ended her career before it started: she flew to L.A. from a Village walk-up and was ready to be sent home until a modeling agent insisted they roll film, with shooting starting within weeks.
- Pauline Kael was the only critic to defend Lange after King Kong's reviews dismissed her as an 'old dumb blonde thing'; the commercial hit and critical flop left her crying on a flight to Minnesota after spotting herself on a Time cover.
- Jessica Lange has won two Academy Awards, one Tony and two Primetime Emmys for AHS, and says characters including Frances, Blanche Dubois and Mary Tyrone lingered after the curtain, 'almost like a haunting.'
Why it matters: Season 13 consolidated all four of Lange's AHS characters into one just-concluded crossover, so her exit talk lands on a finished ensemble story rather than an open-ended one. Her own origin — mime student, unpaid model, nearly sent home from the King Kong audition — undercuts the 'model turned actress' label she rejects.
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