ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did executive producers Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan describe Nurse Ratched to you?
Is she straight-up evil?
That never would have appealed to me at all.
Credit: SAEED ADYANI/NETFLIX
At the start of the series, she watches a lobotomy with rapt attention while others are obviously vomiting.
It’s behind every choice she makes.
Mildred tries to seduce Corey Stoll’s character, but she crashes and burns.
Is she a virgin, or just someone who’s very inexperienced with intimacy?
I believe she is a person who is very inexperienced with intimacy.
What did you think of the production design when you first saw it?
Between the costumes and the set, just seeing all that color?
That color was really important to Ryan.
I mean, the number of swatches we through to determine the exact color green for my nurse uniform.
But I had to do very little here because I was transported instantly.
I mean, they did such magical things inside that hospital.
I felt like I was walking inside the building that was built many, many years ago.
you’re free to’t tell.
Like, where is Mildred going with this?
Why does she need that peach back?
It was really fun to play.
I sent it to her.
And I said to Ryan, “Do me a favor?
I’m going to be so panicked and overjoyed at the prospect of working with her.”
And then he called me a couple of weeks later to say she’s in.
I could barely contain myself.
Did you do this after filmingMrs.
It was a very schizophrenic, I have to say.
It was right from the ’40s to the mid-’70s.
So isRatcheda horror show?
I would describe it more as a psychological thriller with horror elements.
People may feel differently.
It’s always complicated to talk about to some degree.
I just don’t fully see it that way.
There’s too much of a character study going on to be a pure horror.
He’s given me a trip.
I don’t know where we go from here.
But I sure hope there’s more to come.
