Being Marcia Clark

Renowned actress Sarah Paulson known for shows like Jack & Jill and American Horror Story, went on to grab numerous awards for her performance as Marcia Clark in the critically-acclaimed show The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story. The talented actress opens about her role and her work with the director Ryan Murphy. 

Q. As an actress, would it be fair to say that even though you were not even imagining ever playing Marcia Clark, did you watch people in the way that you study people as an actress instinctively? 
I absolutely do. I mean, particularly if I’m playing a person that is largely recognizable to most of the world — she has quite an iconic and such a very particular hairdo. (laughter) So, everybody really, I mean, you could put that on and take away the face away and most people would say, “That’s Marcia Clark.” And I did, I watched as much footage-there was no dearth of material to watch. I could watch hours and hours, six hours at a time. 

There was a person on set whose job it was to be mindful of all the archival footage, and so any time we needed anything or to see anything, we could always go and do it. 

Q. What’s your take on the decision for the show to not come down on whether he’s guilty or innocent? Which is not what the book does.
Well, because that book is Jeffrey weighs in on his opinion, because it’s written by him and he is saying all that, which is his right. I think from this particular story point, it’s much more about the lawyers and about what was happening behind the scenes and the verdict, and I think also you’re going into the show knowing we all know what the verdict is. We actually know what happens. 

How do you keep this as something that we’re interested in watching and investing in our time and energy and mental focus on something that we actually already know? 

There’s no suspense — but it certainly read like a complete thriller in a way, even though I always knew the outcome. But I think- it didn’t seem to me that I don’t know that it’s very interesting to make a statement as to what we feel about the verdict. I don’t really think that’s what it’s about.

Q. There is a great collaboration plainly there between director Ryan Murphy and you, but there also seems to be a bunch of other voices in this creatively. Is that fair to say? Is Ryan’s 
presence still…
Ryan — I mean, Ryan directed the first two episodes, he directed my big episode, which is Episode 6, Marcia, Marcia, Marcia, and as well he directed the final episode too. He was very present, he was certainly there the day he was directing, and every script we had and every idea that was presented absolutely had his stamp. It’s sort of how he does — it doesn’t really happen unless you know that it’s something he feels is right. 

He was very much, I feel, the grandfather, as it were, to the whole production, so that I think Nina and Brad would tell you if they were sitting here — I don’t know if they’ve already been here, but-that the whole thing sort of had been simmering for a while, and then they got the green light when Ryan said, “I want to do it,” and so he was very, very, very, very involved.

(American Crime Story airs in India on Star World every Monday-Friday at 10 pm)