American Horror Story 5: Hotel

[KarmaContestant]

I am just now watching season 3 (Coven), and not really liking it very much. The characters aren't as well developed, and *don't shoot me* but I find the Stevie Nicks thing a bit silly. I'm only four episodes in, so I hope it gets better.

Asylum was so incredibly well-written.

[SisterNightroad]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

I am just now watching season 3 (Coven), and not really liking it very much. The characters aren't as well developed, and *don't shoot me* but I find the Stevie Nicks thing a bit silly. I'm only four episodes in, so I hope it gets better.

Asylum was so incredibly well-written.

I agree, but I found that season awesome at the beginning and progressively a bit disappointing.
My favourite seasons are still the first two, but Murder House is top for me and Freakshow third.
As you have said, Coven characters aren't very well-developed and that for me was the very sin of that season but, to make up for it a little, the photography and acting were stunning.
The silliness is deliberate though, because that season is intended to be a glamourous horror-comedy with lots of black-humour.

[SisterNightroad]

Kathy Bates Is Back To Run 'American Horror Story: Hotel'
The Huffington Post | By Erin Whitney

Kathy Bates is officially back for her third season of "American Horror Story." Ryan Murphy announced the news of Bates' return for "AHS: Hotel" on Twitter Wednesday, revealing that Bates' character will be running the titular hotel.

Ryan Murphy ✔ @MrRPMurphy
Follow
Kathy Bates is running the Hotel. #AHSSeason5
9:16 PM - 8 Apr 2015

Bates, who was previously in "Coven" and "Freak Show," joins Lady Gaga, Wes Bentley, Matt Bomer, Chloe Sevigny and Cheyenne Jackson for Season 5. Nothing more is known about "Hotel" yet, but based on "Freak Show" clues, we've speculated what it could be about.

"American Horror Story" returns in October on FX.




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/0...n-horror-story

[SisterNightroad]

DENIS O'HARE: A HOMER RUN

After his riveting performance at D-CAF of An Iliad, a theatre adaptation of Homer's original tragic tale, Kurt Galalah sits down with Denis O'Hare of True Blood fame to talk war, foul, and Lady Gaga...

War came to Downtown Cairo last Sunday, but not with soldiers in the streets. It came theatrically, in the form of An Iliad, brought to the stage of Falaki Theatre by a single actor and the words of one of history's most celebrated poet. Emmy-nominated actor and Tony Award winner Denis O'Hare (American Horror Story, The Good Wife, The Normal Heart, and the gay king of Mississippi on True Blood) stole the show as he retold the story of the Trojan War, conjuring his own, flesh-and-blood version of the tale that Ancient Greek bard Homer spun the 10-year-struggle at Troy into a tale for the ages.

O’Hare appears on an unadorned stage and shares the tragic narrative he is fated to tell for eternity. He is passionate, present, extraordinary. The epic text he’s co-authored with his director, Lisa Peterson, brings humour, pathos, and excitement to the ancient tale of the Trojan War, colliding it with the contemporary world and creating a wholly captivating theatrical experience. In one mesmerising scene, O’Hare numbly but relentlessly recites the names of war after war after war, scores of them, underscoring how violent humans are and how our history has been defined by our attempts to kill one another. It makes you sad, but also think whether we have really evolved as human beings. As the play ended, everyone got up from their seats and gave O'Hare a 4-minute standing ovation. An Iliad doesn't demand to just be seen, but experienced.

The next morning, it's not Achilles, Hector, Agamemnon or Priam I meet, but Denis O'Hare himself and director Lisa Peterson.


What's the difference between Homer's Iliad and your adaptation of it?

Peterson: When most people study Homer's version, they study it as classic literature. It’s an epic. It’s very long and it has hundreds of characters in it. With ours, we decided we wanted to create the experience of hearing an ancient story teller. Homer might not have been one person. Homer was probably many people who told the story to each other over and over again.

O'Hare: We wanted to have the audience get the experience of 3000 years ago. Like, you’re sitting at some local coffee shop or pub and a guy just comes in and he goes, “Who wants to hear the story of the Trojan War?”


I've noticed that you've made it very easy to understand and relate to…

Peterson: And that was exactly the point and why we made Denis speak in a very contemporary American vernacular and use a lot of contemporary similes and metaphors.

O'Hare: Like there’s this scene where I list the towns where every soldier comes from. It’s a famous part of the classic Iliad, which is like listing and listing all these islands, these Greek islands, but it’s very hard to read now. If I did it with the Greek Islands anyone would go, "Oh yeah, this doesn’t mean anything to me." So in the States we talk about boys from Ohio, Brooklyn, the Bronx, so when we tour, wherever we are, we create a new scene. I've memorised a list of Egyptian towns, and we've done that in Australia and New Zealand as well. We want people to feel the same way or at least understand and relate to these characters.

Peterson: It's really fun for us because it’s so much about being present, and Denis is so present on stage. It’s just so special to have him tell a story in front of you. To be honest, it’s different every night. He just won’t repeat himself. And I'm not saying this because Denis is here, but in addition to being a wonderful character actor on television and in films, he’s one of the best American theatre actors.

I'm pretty sure you get asked this question a lot, but how? How do you survive up there for 100 minutes by yourself?

O'Hare: Well, we usually have a musician with us, so in that respect it’s actually not just me but two people, but we didn't have him in the flesh in Cairo. He’s doing another gig in New York.


No, but seriously, how do you prepare yourself? Because I'd just cry and faint…

O'Hare: There are a lot of technical stresses, so I’m always worried about my voice, there’s a lot of anxiety about that. Like, I worry if I haven’t been sleeping that good. Then the basic stuff which is learning the lines. I would say 98% of them are still in my head but that 2% could still kill you, where you reach for a verb. So I always review during the time I have. Then you have to think about why we’re doing it and why the character is doing it and where the character is on this night. It could change, depending on where we are. It was a bit odd to be here in Egypt as I had to think what he was thinking and what his experience was, but it was still wonderful.

Peterson: Me and Denis haven't really talked about this before, but out of all the places we’ve performed An Iliad, this is the place that has the most recent political unrest that’s world known, and we are like a block away from Tahrir Square, where it all happened. Our character beams up from ancient Greece to each place, but just imagine for him to beam up and feel the presence of Tahrir Square and all of the barbed wire in the streets. I don’t think that our poet has been in a place like this before, has he?

O'Hare: No, because America, everything is somewhere else. We export our war. There was Occupy Wall Street, which I think was contained…

Peterson: Except for the presence of 9/11 in New York. When we first did this, we were thinking about it. There are a few places towards the end of this where we don’t have it articulated.

O'Hare: I’m still thinking about that.

You said when you first started An Iliad, you were thinking about 9/11. When exactly did it start and for how long have you guys been doing it?

Peterson: We’ve been writing it for over ten years and we’ve been talking about performing it since 2005, but the first time I started staging it was five years ago with two different actors. Denis has been performing it since 2012.


Do people's reactions change from state to state, country to country? What were you expecting of Egypt?

O'Hare: It changes in many ways, it changes with political climate. When we first did the play we have a line called nine years, and it was exactly nine years from 2003, when America first invaded Iraq. Nine years had a very strong meaning for us. We’re beyond that now and we’re out of Iraq officially, but we’re still in Afghanistan. We also have ISIS now, and ISIS is a very confusing thing for anybody because you kind of think “Well, do you not fight them? Do you not resist them?” Because they're really evil. They’re the bad guys. Isn’t that the proper use of the military? To go up against someone like that? So it confuses the simple anti-war stance when you’re faced with a… Hitler - that’s the example everyone always uses.

The play, also is not talking simply about one side. ISIS should also see this play. They should understand that what they’re doing can have no practical effect. What they can do will not last. All they’re doing is killing themselves and other people. They're nihilists, they’re wasting their own lives. They’re destroying things. That’s just as bad as anything else. They need this play more than anybody. They’re seducing young men into the idea that killing other people is a solution. That’s wrong. And our play speaks of that. So An Iliad is still very relevant when it comes to thinking about their existence. People always say "well you’re saying we shouldn’t fight people like Hitler?" You kind of go no, but Hitler also shouldn’t fight. It’s both sides.


What brought you guys to Egypt though? Why Egypt of all places?

Peterson: We particularly wanted to come to the Middle East but we want to go everywhere. We want to go particularly interesting parts of the world where the culture is different. But Egypt happened because there was a program at Sundance Festival that focuses on engaging with and meeting theatre artists in the Middle East and North Africa, so they met DCAF's Ahmed El-Attar, and convinced him to bring us to Cairo, and here we are.

O'Hare: We also want to go to Beirut, Tunisia, Hong Kong, Singapore, but particularly the Middle East, a place so many Americans are afraid of right now without any form of evidence. It's the most baseless sort of fear.


That is sadly true, because I have so many American friends and before they came to Cairo they thought the same thing, but once they came they realised it's not as bad as the media makes it look like...

O'Hare: Exactly. I was just saying we came from Chicago, working on our other play The Good Book that's about the Bible and we were in a place called High Park in Chicago, where there were security guards on many blocks all day and night and signs that say "No Guns" which means that people are carrying guns. In America, we have millions and millions of people carrying guns all the time. So talk about what’s dangerous? You could get shot in a movie theatre in Colorado… There are shootings all the time.


On a lighter note, have you had time to experience Egypt? Did you do any tourist-y things?

Peterson: I've been to Coptic Cairo; it's unbelievable, so much history.

O'Hare: I tried foul, and I love it. I also went to the Pyramids with my family, which was fantastic, and I’m really glad I went. A little incident happened there though. I was there with my husband and son and someone asked me, "Do you have a son?" I answered yes and pointed at mine. The guy asked my husband the same question and he could only answer with "Well, I have, a, son."

As you know - or you should know - American Horror Story has a large following in Egypt, are you going to be in the new season?

O'Hare: Yes I will, but how do you know about it? Are people here caught up? How do you watch it?

*whispers "We pirate them"*

O'Hare: Haha, I'm glad people are watching it.

There's rumours that Lady Gaga is going to be in the new season of American Horror Story, is that true?

O'Hare: The rumours are true, but to be fair, if she's going to be in a TV show, it'd be American Horror Story. It's crazy though, who knows what she'll be doing in it.





http://www.cairoscene.com/ViewArticl...mer-Run&M=True

[SisterNightroad]

Sarah Paulson Returns For 'AHS: Hotel' As 'The Baddest Bad Girl'

We all expected it, but now it's official: Sarah Paulson is returning for "American Horror Story: Hotel."

Ryan Murphy announced on Monday that the "AHS" veteran, who's appeared in all four installments of the anthology series, is officially checking in to Season 5's "Hotel."

Ryan Murphy ✔ @MrRPMurphy
Sarah Paulson is checking into "Hotel." And this season, she's the baddest bad girl of them all. #AHSSeason5
9:35 PM - 13 Apr 2015

Who is "the baddest bad girl of them all?" No clue, but if anyone's a perfect fit for that role, it's the Supreme herself. Paulson also joins former "AHS" co-stars Kathy Bates, Chloe Sevigny and Wes Bentley, as well as newcomers Lady Gaga, Matt Bomer (he guest-starred in one episode of "Freak Show") and Cheyenne Jackson. We don't know what "Hotel" will be about beyond the fact that it's related to the top hat clue from "Freak Show," and that Paulson is equally as excited as we are.

Sarah Paulson ✔ @MsSarahPaulson
I so ****eeeen HAPPY to be able to finally tell you: IM BAAAAAACCK!! #AHSHotel
10:21 PM - 13 Apr 2015

Paulson's previous "AHS" characters include conjoined twins Bette and Dot, witch Cordelia Foxx, reporter Lana Winters and psychic medium Billie Dean Howard. The actress is also starring in Murphy's upcoming crime anthology series "The People v. O.J. Simpson" as prosecutor Marcia Clarke.

"American Horror Story: Hotel" returns in October on FX.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/0...n-horror-story

[SisterNightroad]

10 things we want from American Horror Story: Hotel

The details are coming out thick and fast for American Horror Story: Hotel, which is set to debut this autumn.

If you haven’t seen American Horror Story: Freak Show and don’t want any spoilers then stop reading now. If you have and you want to know our thoughts on the next season of American Horror Story then keep reading.

Overall American Horror Story: Freak Show, the fourth season of the anthology series, was better than Coven. The show returned to its horror roots but there were still issues with the season overall meaning it didn’t reach the highs of Murder House or Asylum.

It has been announced that Jessica Lange will not be returning for Hotel, marking the first season without the show’s leading lady. Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, Chloe Sevigny and Wes Bentley will all be returning alongside new cast members Lady Gaga and Cheyenne Jackson. It has also been confirmed that Matt Bomer will be back, presumably in a recurring capacity, after his one-off appearance in Freak Show.

As we approach the new season of the show, we’ve gathered our thoughts on the 10 things we want from Hotel.


1. Cohesive storylines. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, the show needs to return to cohesive story telling. Every season has had multiple storylines going on at once but Coven and Freak Show were a hot mess. Ryan Murphy’s shows are now famous for their frenetic pace and tendency to jump from storyline to storyline without ever really doing any of them justice.

2. Less stunt casting. Whilst it’s impressive to have so many familiar faces in every season, having a big cast of big names generally means they are all vying for storylines and to be honest it’s a bit distracting. We miss the earlier seasons when relative unknowns such as Taissa Farmiga and Evan Peters got the most screentime.

3. No introducing characters in the final few episodes. We love Neil Patrick Harris but his character in Freak Show screamed of a room full of writers trying to fill their episode order. Harris was great in the show but he should have either been in it from the start or not in it at all.

4. Don’t kill off the best character early in the season. Twisty’s (John Carroll Lynch) was too soon and he was missed throughout the rest of the season. Granted we got a glimpse of him in the season finale but he brought real horror back to the show.

5. Real resolution for the characters. In part this links in to the cohesive story-telling point we made earlier but we can’t be the only ones who got to the end of Freak Show and let out an ‘oh was that it?’ Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange) definitely did not get what was coming to her and that left us very disappointed.

6. Finn Wittrock. Dandy was the best character in Freak Show, aside from Twisty, and we hope that Wittrock is back for the new season. He’s a very talented actor and he was watchable even when the writers made Dandy ridiculous. We want him back and we want him to get a part worthy of his talents.

7. Another season crossover. We LOVED that Pepper (Naomi Grossman) was in Freak Show and we saw how she ended up in Briarcliff. The crossover felt natural and was one of the big plus points of Freak Show. There are rumours that Hotel may crossover with Murder House and we think that would be epic. If it means Dylan McDermott comes back too then all the better.

8. Genuine scares. At times Freak Show veered onto the shock factor. Murder House was much better with its creepy haunted house theme and jump out of your seat moments. Grossing us out does nothing but make us feel a little sick. The best horror is when things are left unseen or not used gratuitously.

9. Returning actors to play completely different roles. Sarah Paulson has played pretty much the same kind of character for all four seasons of the show and Kathy Bates has had limited variety. Both actresses are incredible and we want to see them play the polar opposites of their previous characters; after all that was the original intention when American Horror Story began.

10. Fewer minor character subplots. Did anyone really care about Penny (Grace Gummer) and her father (Lee Tergesen) or Regina (Gabourey Sidibe) in Freak Show? We certainly didn’t. Flesh out the main plots more for Hotel and stop wasting screen time on characters that come and go quicker than we can blink.

American Horror Story: Hotel is set to debut this autumn on FOX in the UK and FX in the US.



http://www.entertainment-focus.com/t...r-story-hotel/

[SisterNightroad]

'American Horror Story': Evan Peters Returning for 'Hotel'
Becoming the latest castmember to re-up for the new season of the FX anthology.

FX's American Horror Story won't be without Evan Peters for Hotel. Showrunner Ryan Murphy announced Friday that the fan favorite would be returning for season five of the FX anthology.

Ryan Murphy✔@MrRPMurphy
This season, Evan Peters will be waiting for you in Room 64. #AHSHOTEL
10:01 - 24 apr 2015

Peters becomes the latest castmember to re-up for Hotel. The actor has had a central role in all four of the previous seasons and was expected to return following his optimistic comments at PaleyFest in March.

Season five of AHS will star Lady Gaga and Matt Bomer and take place in a haunted Hotel. It will mark the show's first season without leading lady Jessica Lange.

Peters joins a cast that also includes Sarah Paulson as "the baddest girl of them all," plus Kathy Bates, Chloe Sevigny, Wes Bentley and Cheyenne Jackson.

AHS: Hotel will debut in October.




http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...-peters-791250

[SisterNightroad]

'American Horror Story: Hotel' Plot Rumors: Evan Peters To Play Character Inspired By Howard Hughes, Season 5 Story Set In Hollywood?

Ryan Murphy has offered a few hints about the characters of "American Horror Story: Hotel."

When he announced Evan Peters' involvement in the project, Murphy said the actor "will be waiting for you in Room 64."

Considering how Murphy drops "arcane" hints about his shows, the room number might have a significant bearing on the upcoming season of the horror anthology series. It also might mean the installment would be set in Hollywood.

Describing the famed room located in Los Angeles' Chateau Marmont, The Guardian said in an article: "If you really want to go Hollywood A-List, stay in room 64, the two-bedroom penthouse (used by Howard Hughes so he could spy on starlets down at the pool). It has a marble hallway and an enormous wrap-around terrace overlooking the Strip."

Would Peters play a role based on Hughes? Murphy has not confirmed anything, but it would be a good character to explore.

Speaking of Hughes' eccentricity, the Time wrote, "Hughes locked himself in a darkened screening room for four months, doing little more than eating chocolate bars, drinking milk and relieving himself into empty bottles. Later he moved from hotel penthouse to hotel penthouse."

Apart from Peters, Murphy also hinted at what kind of characters returning "AHS" stars Sarah Paulson and Kathy Bates will play.

Paulson will be the season's "baddest bad girl of them all" and Bates will run the hotel where the season is set.

It is still unclear how the three characters connect, but more speculations are expected to arise until the show airs in October on FX.

RELATED: 'American Horror Story: Hotel' Spoilers: Matt Bomer Hints At His Role's Connection To Lady Gaga's Character In Season 5



http://www.fashionnstyle.com/article...-hollywood.htm

[SisterNightroad]

FX's 'American Horror Story' to film in L.A.
One horror story L.A. won't dread: Ryan Murphy's series to return to filming in the city: 'American Horror Story' expected to begin filming in L.A. in early July

Here's one horror story Los Angeles won't dread.

The FX television series "American Horror Story" is moving its production back to Los Angeles from Louisiana, a welcome boost to a city that has seen a sharp falloff in the number of TV dramas filming locally.

Ryan Murphy's hit horror anthology series is expected to begin filming its fifth season, "Hotel," in early July, according to FilmL.A. Inc., the nonprofit group that handles film permits for the city and the county.

"American Horror Story" filmed the first two seasons of its series in L.A. but moved to Louisiana after it was unsuccessful in securing a film tax credit through the state's controversial film lottery program.

A spokesperson for FX would not comment on why the series is moving back to L.A.

But a person close to "American Horror Story" said creative, not economic factors, drove the decision to move the series to Louisiana and back to L.A.

"Coven" was set in New Orleans while "Freak Show" was set in Florida but also filmed in Louisiana, where it was easier to replicate the Florida locations than in Southern California. "Hotel" also has a story connection to L.A.

The relocation also could be timed to benefit from California's newly-expanded film tax credit program, which eliminates the lottery system.

To keep more shows in Southern California, the state legislature last year agreed to triple annual funding and allow more projects to qualify for incentives.

The program also establishes a separate pool of incentive money -- $27.6 million -- that is available for returning series like "American Horror Story," which is expected to be among the applicants.

The new program kicks off next week when the California Film Commission will accept applications for non-independent TV productions.

"Hotel," which stars Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett and Sarah Paulson, will air on FX in October. The franchise is produced by Twentieth Century Fox Television.

FX also produces the new drama "American Crime Story" in L.A.




http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...508-story.html

[SisterNightroad]

Naomi Grossman Teases "American Horror Story: Hotel" Return, Shows Off New 'Do

Pepper the Pinhead no more!

"American Horror Story" star Naomi Grossman was spotted out in Los Angeles looking very different from her small-screen counterpart.

The actress, who was required to shave her head for two season of the hit series and sport a ton of prosthetics, was nearly unrecognizable on the red carpet at the 3rd Annual Reality TV Awards.

Sporting a red, off the shoulder evening dress and gold accessories, Grossman looked great -- while also rocking a noticeably longer 'do.

“I keep texting my stylist, like ‘What do you think, should we do streaks? Highlights next? Do you like the color? What do you think, Robin Wright Penn or shaggy rocker?’ and he’s like ‘Just hold off a minute, just get hair first,'" Grossman told toofab's Candice Brock on the red carpet. "I’m so excited; I actually have like hair to do something with!”

While we saw her play Pepper for two seasons on the show, Naomi has expressed interest in returning as a new character in a future season. So, will she pop up on "Hotel," alongside Lady Gaga?

"Of course there’s a chance. Anything’s possible in 'American Horror Story,'" she teases. "Anything could happen. The Beatles could be resurrected and reunited on that show, anything could happen!"

We also put her on the spot, asking what she'd like to see next in a show that's already covered everything from demon babies to minotaurs.

“I’m sure there have been mass murders in hotels, that’s probably where I would look first," she says of possible ideas for next season. "They always draw upon the past and history, so I imagine it’ll be something like that."

We'll see if she's right when "American Horror Story: Hotel" premieres this fall.



- See more at: http://www.toofab.com/2015/05/14/nao....PwvawH9K.dpuf