Lady Gaga plays a bloodsucker in American Horror Story: Hotel
In just a few weeks, Lady Gaga begins what could be multiple-season run on American Horror Story as a glamorous hotelier known as The Countess. Her youthful visage is maintained by a steady diet of blood, but Ryan Murphy says it wouldn’t be correct to call The Countess a vampire. “I prefer the term ‘ancient blood virus,'” he says. “It’s really a form of hemophilia, in a way. There are no capes and fangs.”
Gaga set up the job by simply calling show co-creator Ryan Murphy one day. “I’ve just been weeping while I’m here because I have returned to something I’ve believed in so much, which is the art of darkness,” she told Entertainment Weekly, when asked about her enthusiasm for the horror show. “It’s not something that everyone understands, but for the people that do–Horror Story fans, my fans–there is a true connection between us and, it’s a language within itself.”
Ryan Murphy explained that Gaga’s been approaching some of the more disturbing or difficult stuff with a relish he hasn’t seen before. “She’s the only actress I think I’ve word with who wanted to do more explicit stuff than was written,” he said. “You write a foursome for her and you expect a lot of questions. She never did that. She showed up and she was wearing diamond pasties, a Band-Aid on her hoo-ha, heels, and a black veil that Alexander McQueen made for her on the day before his death.”
The Countess’ storyline involves a jealous boyfriend named Donovan who wants her to settle down, but her blood virus keeps her ageless and always hungry for more. While Gaga’s got a blood addiction, series regular Sarah Paulson stars as Hypodermic Sally, who’s strung out on heroin. The hotel even features something called The Addiction Monster.
Other frights include a group of blonde children The Countess adopts; a serial killer who murders based on the ten commandments; and your basic demons and ghosts. One episode will even go back to the Murder House that started the whole fun and ghastly TV adventure.