Has Jessica Lange ever eaten at her character’s favorite restaurant, Olive Garden?
We had to ask.
Warning: This story contains spoilers about the first season ofThe Politician.
Credit: Netflix
Youve never seenJessica Langequite like she is in NetflixsThe Politician.
And, by that, we mean in an Olive Garden.
EW sat down with the actress to discuss her first comedy since 1982sTootsie(!
All these years, I havent played that many comedies.
I thought this will be good.
Itll be good to shift gears and try something completely different.
The character was so outrageous and so monstrous.
So I thought, Okay, Ill do it.
Dusty has quite the lewk.
Did you have input on her appearance and that hairdo?It was a wig, yeah.
So, the story with that is, Ryan had an idea in his mind.
Probably very unhappy childhood or whatever.
She seesFive Easy Piecesand Karen Black becomes the epitome of glamor and sexuality and, you know.
So, I thought, Okay, were kind of going to for the Karen Black look.
It was perfectly in sync with what Ryan wanted.
I should probably, from time to time, say no.
But I let them put me in those leopard skin stretch pants and high heeled shoes.
At a certain point, you just think, the more outrageous the better.
Were not doing Chekov here.
Much like your other roles, you get some grandiose speeches inThe Politician.
Do you like doing those?
Or are they challenging?Yeah, I love doing them.
It was like, Here, chew on this for a while.
But theyre great fun to do.
With everything that Ive done with Ryan, the writing is always good.
So thats the bonus in this all.
I really like Dustys monologues.
The common link in all of your roles in these series seems to be faded dreams.
Is that a theme youre interested in?I certainly am interested in it.
But yes, I love that thing of dreams deferred, to quote Mr. Hughes.
What do you do then?
Is it just sorrow?
With this character, of course, I mean, she does the inexcusable, the unforgivable.
Most of your scenes are with Zoey Deutch.
How did you like working with her?I loved working with her.
We had had a great time.
We had an immediate, easy rapport with one another.
I think shes a wonderful actress.
There was no kind of discord of, hows she approaching this or whys she doing that that way.
It had a natural rhythm and flow and vitality to it.
You and Zoey have multiple scenes set at an Olive Garden.
One, because its a supporting part.
So Im not the protagonist, I dont have to carry the whole piece.
I have a little sidebar and I could explore that fully.
Also, again, I keep hearkening back to, its a comedy.
So, I didnt have to approach this character as this tragic monster.
It was much more finding the absurdity.
Do you think well see Dusty again onThe Politician?I dont think so.
I mean, Dustys not one of those that has a second act.
As Fitzgerald says, Theres no second act in America.
Do you know what youre going to collaborate on with Ryan next?Yeah.
Were trying to develop this piece on Dietrich, from those kind of Las Vegas years to the end.
Weve got a really good script that Michael Cristofer wrote.
I dont particularly want to wait.
So, if we can get this going next year itll be great.
Ryan will produce and I can sing like Dietrich because she had a very limited range.
Youre releasing a book of photography on Oct. 1.
Have you ever considered directing?I would love to.
Do you think youll ever go back toAmerican Horror Story?I dont think so.
I feel like I got the best of it in those first four seasons.
It was exciting to do.
