Ryan Murphy’s new horror series Grotesquerie debuts tonight on FX. For months on end, since we learned about the series, we have wondered what the 10-episode series would be about. Fangirlish got the opportunity to attend the press conference hosted by FX, and we were excited because we figured it would give us the information we needed. But even after that, we still don’t fully understand what Grotesquerie is about.
Ryan Murphy, along with stars Niecy Nash-Betts, who plays the lead Detective Lois Tryon, Courtney B. Vance, who plays her husband Marshall, Lesley Manville, who plays Nurse Redd, Micaela Diamond, who plays Sister Megan, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, who plays Father Charlie, and Raven Goodwin, who plays Lois and Marshall’s daughter Merritt, attended the press conference.
During the press conference, Murphy was asked what the audience could expect from watching Grotesquerie. We think that’s probably the question everyone has because the title of this series is so interesting.
Murphy had this to say: “I wanted to write something for myself, which is what this became. So, I wrote this, all episodes of it with Robbie [Jon Robin Baitz] and Joe Baken. For me, it was a very personal piece. It was a meditation on what I think is going on in the world and what we’re all going through. And how we’re feeling like this existential question, are these end times? And if so, what can we do to fight and keep our humanity? And those were the things that I was writing about, and I also wanted to write something very specifically that had a procedural element, which I had not done for a while, specifically a crime procedural, I was really interested in that.”
It was obvious from Murphy’s answer to this question that he really did not want to give too much away. That was clear when he continued by saying this:
“I feel so often in the landscape of television now and entertainment, you are told everything about what you’re watching for three, four months, so by the time you’re watching it, you’re like, you know everything. So I really kept this under lock and key. We didn’t share the scripts. There are twists galore every week. And that was important to me, to let people experience the story as it unfolds. I’ve not done that a lot in my career, but this is something I wanted to do.”
Okay, we can understand this because some shows tend to give far too much away, especially in trailers. Interestingly, the scripts were not even shared, either. When Murphy says he kept this series under lock and key, he isn’t kidding.
Nash-Betts, who plays the lead in Grotesquerie, was asked how horror allows her to tap into her artistry in a way that comedy doesn’t.
“It is said that people who can make you laugh, can make you cry, but the reverse is not always true. So, I’m grateful that I have a duality in my art. I didn’t know, because I wasn’t welcomed into the drama side for a long time. I didn’t know how cathartic it was, I did not know how healing it could be sometimes to be able to revisit emotions and be able to share them onscreen. I’m so, so grateful for Ryan because this opportunity, especially in this genre, is not typically led by Black women.”
Because we’ve followed Nash-Bett’s career for a while, we understand everything she said because she did start out doing a lot of comedy. That’s what she was known for. As she stated, the drama and horror genre is not one that Black women typically lead, so we’re happy to see how her career has grown and that she’s been able to show people she can do more than make them laugh.
During the press conference, Murphy also spoke about how the experience of working on Grotesquerie differed from that of his previous horror shows:
“It was a very cool experience because I feel like I wrote all of it at once. It was a very personal experience. I didn’t really have a big writer’s room. There were three of us, and I was writing something very personal to me about what I thought was happening in the world. I also love the process of the casting of it which was very different for me. When I cast Niecy, Courtney, Raven, Nick, Lesley, and Micaela, I would do two, three drafts of all of the scripts to really pinpoint it, not just to the actors I was working with, what their talents were, but what I wanted as a fan to see them do. That was very different…And I rewrote all of those parts for these specific actors with their input and advice and what they liked and what they didn’t. Also, it was much more free because at this point in my career, I’m really not interested in the outcome, I’m interested in the process.”
Nicholas Alexander Chavez, who plays Father Charlie, has previously worked with Murphy in his Netflix debut as Lyle Menendez in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. He was asked about how he found time to decompress in between going from one intense character to another.:
“There was no time in between and there was no decompression. The benefit, or one of the nicer parts about playing Father Charlie is that I could really just follow my impulses. And I just trusted my instincts and everyone around me enabled me to make really bold choices. With Lyle, there was intensive, intensive preparation. This one was more so just raw, unbridled impulse.”
It sounds pretty grueling to us. It’s a lot to go from one dark role to the next before the first project is even finished. The upside is definitely that Father Charlie isn’t a real person, so there is much less pressure attached than there would be if he were playing a real person.
One of our favorite questions during the press conference for Grotesquerie focused on the Tryon family and how Nash-Betts, Vance, and Goodwin found a way to add familial grounding to a show with such unhuman elements.
Vance kicked it off:
“I really felt that the horror was in our family…I mean, she’s dealing with demons and nuns and priests and fathers, and oh my. And then she comes home, and she’s dealing with worse….People, I really think they’re going to be able to identify with all the drama in families and how difficult it is to deal with the family unit. There’s a lot of discussion points to be had.”
Goodwin added:
“You know Mom is infected in every aspect of her life: emotionally, spiritually, mentally. And to come home and try to nurture the un-nurturable, and trying to help people who clearly need to help themselves is all the battle.”
Nash-Bett’s response to this question was so good:
“I feel like at some point, Lois was a public success but a private failure.”
That is such a great way to describe her character. We agree and we haven’t even seen the show yet.
Nash-Betts ended her answer by saying: “And then, some of that started to seep over into her work. So, it’s a mess all around but a delicious mess.
Well, we can’t wait to see the delicious mess unfold.
Grotesquerie airs Wednesday nights on FX.
