Kathy Bates is one Oscar winner who shows no sign of stopping. She won many awards for her horrifying portrayal in Stephen King's Misery then tackled him again in Dolores Claiborne. She followed her success with films like Fried Green Tomatoes, Titanic, Primary Colors, and About Schmidt.
Most recently Bates took on Tammy, Melissa McCarthy's starring cinematic vehicle, playing a lesbian partnered with Sandra Oh.
She has received 12 Emmy nominations for her television work, two of them from her starring role on Harry's Law. She won another for the FX network television show American Horror Story: Coven as the unsinkable Delphine LaLaurie.
This season with American Horror Story: Freak Show, Bates is portraying Ethel, a bearded lady in the circus.
While filming in New Orleans, Windy City Times took part in a conference call to hear more from this freakishly talented actress.
Windy City Times: Hi, Kathy. I'm calling you from Chicago!
Kathy Bates: Hi, how are you?
WCT: Excellent. How scratchy was that beard to wear?
Kathy Bates: It wasn't. It felt like a little hummingbird's nest. I have a wonderful wig lady, Victoria Wood. She works with a lot of people. I first got to see her work with Melissa McCarthy on our movie Tammy. It took me a while to realize it was a wig, and I said, "That's a wig?" and she said, "Oh, yes." She gave me Victoria's name.
We hooked up for this and she made the red performance wig. She also made the beards that you see. We went through some getting used to it at the beginning in terms of application and what different pieces we would use on the face in order to keep the faces as mobile as possible and also so that the makeup people wouldn't have to mess with me too much during the day.
WCT: Did the beard make you want to play with gender roles with this character?
Kathy Bates: Oh, Godone of my fantasies would have been that, in order to break out and see the world that Ethel would've gone out as a man and been in a suit, a fedora and everything else just to see what it was like out there. Especially since I don't have breasts anymore, there's always an upside to thatyou can do character tits. I think it would've been a lot of fun to do that.
WCT: How did you identify most with Ethel?
Kathy Bates: Her authenticity and her strength, her struggle and also since I'm a cancer survivor, although she certainly had the liver cancer. I really identified with that scene in the doctor's office.
WCT: How did it feel going between the two characters you have played in American Horror Story?
Kathy Bates: They're very different. I had to go easy with Ethel when I first got here whereas, with Delphine, she just explodes. Of course, Delphine was a real person. I had a lot of research for her that I was able to rely on, so I was very confident taking off like a bullet.
With Ethel I had to ease into it and find her as we were moving on. I think there was a point where I thought, "Okay, now I know who this woman is."
WCT: Did you see a bit of Dolores Claiborne in Ethel?
Kathy Bates: Well, I didn't think about it to tell you the truth. I don't know why. I guess because I start from scratch each time. That's my favorite film role.
I did say to Jesse when we were both looking at the scripts. I said, "Dammit, I'm playing your maid again this year." Yes, now that you bring it up it's absolutely true.
WCT: So talk a bit about that accent.
Kathy Bates: Gosh, that accent has become so controversial. I didn't really have a dialect coach to help methat's first of all. I knew she was from Baltimore. When I got into it, I studied [Polish theater actor Stanislaw] Mikulski a lot. I actually had a dialect coach friend of mine spell it out phonetically, what it was supposed to be. Then online, I foundif you can believe thishow to speak Baltimorese, and from that you had a link that could go to the "Star Spangled Banner" which really helped me prepare every day. It just got to be sort of ridiculous how perplexing and how people got turned off by it and there were things online, they got two scholars, which I just couldn't believe.
At times I thought, "Oh my God, am I not doing this right?" A close friend of Ryan's was on set for a while, from that area, and he really helped me with it. You can't do it lightly, it's a heavy accent and I also wanted it to sound like old-fashioned working class, so that's even more different than what people are used to hearing.
The funny thing was is that a guy asked two of his friends who were from Baltimore what they thought of my accent. They said, "What accent?" I feel like, "Okay, case closed. I'm moving on!"
WCT: Was there something this American Horror season that freaked you out?
Kathy Bates: I thought what was shocking at the beginning of the first episode was when the freaks went and chopped the policeman up, and I thought, "Oh dear God. You've just shown these wonderful, quirky people and already fallen in love with them, and then they go out and do this." Twisty was just unbearable. It is set in the real world. My sister said this: "I'm not scared of goblins and all that stuff, but the real world is what scares me."
WCT: What was the audition process for Ryan on season three?
Kathy Bates: Well, I haven't had to audition for many years, but what I did do is I went in and had a meeting with Ryan Murphy in January, before that season.
My show Harry's Law got cancelled and then literally right after that, I was told I had breast cancer and I had a double mastectomy. I was in a very low mood and my friend Jessica Lange spoke to Ryan. I had a great meeting with Ryan, and my inner child just woke up during that meeting and got so excited about the character of Delphine LaLaurie. I credit Ryan for not only rejuvenating my career, but rejuvenating my spirit.
WCT: What do you think about Jessica Lange retiring next year?
Kathy Bates: I won't think about it. I don't want to think about Jessica not being here next year. We've gotten to be such close friends now over the last couple of years, and I love her dearly. Working with her is a mystery I never want to solve.
WCT: How about working with Angela Bassett?
Kathy Bates: Angela, she rocks it. I just saw the trailer on BuzzFeed for Whitney. I'm getting chills now talking about it because I just watched the trailer last nighttwiceand it looks amazing. I love working with her as an actress; she's a powerhouse. I love the friendship that we had this year with Ethel and Desiree. I think that would've been a really interesting arc to explore more.
WCT: How do you wind down after all of these intense roles you have played over the years?
Kathy Bates: When we're working, unfortunately, it takes me a couple hours to come down at the end of the day because we're all jacked up. Sometimes it's 14 hours a day, and you have to just pace yourself. When you lose a character, sometimes when you've gotten really close with the character, like a friend, you have to move on, you miss that character.
I know Sarah Paulson has often mourned Lana Wintersnot being able to play her again because that was such a favorite role of hers. Yes, they stay with yousome roles for 25 years.
WCT: Have you had a role that affected you that much?
Kathy Bates: I did a play on Broadway that won the Pulitzer Prize called 'Night, Mother in 1983. That role of Jessie Cates has stayed with me, and probably will until I die. It just gets in your marrow. Also, Dolores Claiborneit's like anything that you take time to create, and we don't take time. You work so fast and those things that you have made and taken time to make are the ones that stay with you.
WCT: Do you think you will be on the next season of American Horror Story?
Kathy Bates: I really hope so. It's just such a unique situation to be in as an actor for television that you've got a whole new character to create for the next year. I think Ryan really appreciates older actresses and he's put us in front of the public at our best. We have a younger fan base now, and that's all the reasons why I would come back. It's a wonderful opportunity, and I can't wait to hear what the next part he might propose would be.
WCT: What parts do you have coming up?
Kathy Bates: I just met Xavier Dolan, who has a wonderful screenplay that's coming my way. There is also a other screenplay from Jeff Blitz called Table 19 that I am hoping to do later this spring about a group of people that nobody wanted to invite to a wedding but had to. It's very funny. I'm excited that I have a lot of things on my dance card now.
American Horror Story: Freak Show reels them in every Wednesday on FX at 9 p.m.