When asked what drew them to “Grotesquerie,” actors Niecy Nash-Betts, Courtney B. Vance, Raven Goodwin, Nicholas Chavez and Micaela Diamond all had the same answer: Ryan Murphy.
“He called and said, ‘Courtney, I don’t have the character down yet, but I know where I want to go. I need you to sign on.’ I said, ‘OK, let me call some people,’ because I was supposed to do something else,” Vance, who previously worked with the super producer on “The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story,” told TheWrap. “It’s really not hard to [say yes] when he calls because you know where you’re going to go.”
In many ways, “Grotesquerie” shares some of its DNA with “American Horror Story.” A complete work of fiction unlike other recently released Murphy-produced projects like “American Sports Story” and “Monsters,” the horror drama takes place in a small town that’s being terrorized by a serial killer. The only chance of catching this criminal mastermind is Lois Tryon (Nash-Betts), a brilliant detective who’s battling alcoholism and her complicated family life. Lois partners with the constantly unexpected Sister Megan (Micaela Diamond), a journalist nun who specializes in true crime. However, the more the two collaborate on the case, the more they come to suspect this killer may be taunting Lois.
“I had just started a new deal, and I wanted to write something for myself, which is what this became,” Murphy said during a press conference for the show on Monday. He ended up writing all the episodes with Jon Robin Baitz (“Feud: Capote vs the Swans”) and Joe Baken (“Doctor Odyssey”).
“It was, for me, 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 this existential question, are these the end times? And if so, what can we do to fight and keep our humanity?” Murphy continued. “I also wanted to write something very specifically that had a procedural element, which I had not done for a while.”
Nash-Betts, who headlines the project, was especially excited for her role. “I’ve never played a character with this many layers,” Nash-Betts told TheWrap. But before production even began, she understood that Det. Lois Tryon — a woman on the brink of breaking down who has to balance her comatose husband and food-obsessed daughter with a serial killer — would require work.
“I was actually in Lowe’s, and [Niecy Nash-Betts] called me like, ‘Hey, do you really want to do this?’ I was like, ‘Of course. I wouldn’t have sent in a tape. I don’t waste my time,’” Goodwin told TheWrap.
Goodwin, known for “Being Mary Jane,” previously appeared in “Glee.” When she auditioned for Murphy this time as “an evolved, grown woman,” she knew she could elevate Lois’ daughter Merritt. “I knew what I can bring to her, and I knew that nobody else could do what I had in mind,” Goodwin said. “So I knew it was for me.”
Goodwin explained that all three members of this series’ family — Lois, Merritt and Marshall (Vance) — are “sick” and captivated by their own vices. But though both Vance and Goodwin emphasized that the set of “Grotesquerie” was “collaborative,” the richness of these characters already existed on the page. That left the actors to breathe life into them.
“To do anything that’s going to become something, you have to get underneath it,” Vance said. “All the elements have to be there in order for it to become a thing. And they were there.”
“I think it’s going to be alarming seeing how normalized addiction can be and even how enabling family can be, without even meaning to be,” Goodwin said.
For her part, Nash-Betts called working with Goodwin and Vance “the perfect trifecta.” “Then when you add Lesley Manville to the mix in a way that I won’t disclose, it becomes even more delicious,” Nash-Betts added.
Aside from the toxic family at its core, the real horror of “Grotesquerie” lies in its many bloody sequences. The series involves Nash-Betts and Diamond exploring several gruesome crime scenes that toe the line between gag worthy and safe for basic cable. Though Nash-Betts knew what was coming after reading about these scenes in her scripts, “it’s not the same thing as seeing it visually,” she said.
“You have that moment where the entire cast and crew is standing there looking at the scene like, ‘Huh,’” Nash-Betts continued. “Then once you can actually wrap your mind around what you’re seeing, we get to work. But some of it is jarring at first glance.”
For Diamond, the camaraderie between her character and Nash-Betts’ in the midst of these gruesome surroundings drew her to the role.
“Lois is at her bottom in the first episode and is searching for some kind of morality. This nun walks in while she’s in the middle of this horrendous, horrific murder case she’s trying to solve and, because of the religious references in all of the murders, I have some useful knowledge that I can help with,” Diamond said. “These two women give each other a chance. They see something in the other that creates a real unlikely pair.”
As for Chavez, the actor saw his role on “Grotesquerie” as a bit of a reprieve from his previous work. Chavez came to the FX series after starring as Lyle Menendez in Netflix’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” The unpredictable and sexually confusing Father Charlie is a far cry from his portrayal of the real-life killer.
“In [‘Monsters’], we’re trying to honor events that have happened in the past,” Chavez said. “This new show is a brainchild of Ryan Murphy’s, right? So this was an opportunity to play in a world where Ryan is creating from a place of original thought and unbridled imagination, intellect and creativity. I got to experience the full scope of what he’s able to create when there is no pre-existing context … That process with him was a really special one, because we got to find this world and this character together.”
“Grotesquerie” premieres with the first two episodes Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX. New episodes air Wednesdays and will be available to stream the next day on Hulu.
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