Cody Fern Wrote His Directing Debut ‘Closing Night’ for Sarah Paulson: ‘She’s Like a Bugatti’

When Cody Fern met Sarah Paulson on the set of “American Horror Story: Apocalypse,” where she played a witch and he played the Antichrist, he instantly recognized a supernatural connection. “Sarah is one of the great loves of my life,” Fern said. “From the very first moment, it was the zenith. It was clear I had to do everything in my power to work with this woman again.” When he began writing the script for “Closing Night,” a sharp drama about an acclaimed actress reuniting with her family after years of estrangement, he crafted the lead role with Paulson in mind. “Sandra was written for her,” Fern told IndieWire a week before the film’s premiere at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. “When I presented her with the script, it was very much, ‘I have something I would like you to look at and like you to do. I think we can go places together.’” And go places they certainly did. “Closing Night,” which Fern co-wrote with his longtime friend Devon Bostick, is also Fern’s feature-length directorial debut, and the Ryan Murphy alum delivers a complex family portrait boasting a quintet of meaty roles. After years without contact, Sandra mysteriously invites her outspoken, alcoholic mother, Diane (Dianne Weist), and her mousy sister, April (Naomi Watts), to the premiere of her upcoming Broadway show. Upon arriving in New York, April learns that her affable son Thoe (Toby Wallace) and his girlfriend Lucy (Odessa A’zion) have already met Sandra without her knowing. The fraught family dynamics are then ratcheted up further when Sandra receives an ominous health diagnosis that threatens to reveal long-buried secrets. Part of the film’s richness comes from its deeply personal nature, which Fern pointed out several times during our interview as “emotionally biographical, but narratively fictional.” It’s clear that Fern is still learning how to talk about the film and deciding which details from his personal history he’s willing to share with the public. He described the writing process as fast, as if he was “giving birth to something,” and said that the final film is very close to the first draft he wrote with Bostick. “It just came upon me,” he said, “I didn’t really have much control over it. I needed to figure out my life, my family, and my place in the world.” ‘Closing Night’TIFF The film examines motherhood across three generations, and when I initially ask Fern about the genesis of this story, he gives a more theoretical answer. “It’s about how the choices we make, or the ones we’re denied, form the myths of who we are in a family,” he said. “I needed to figure out how the myths I’d inherited were colliding with the myths I’d formed about my own life. It was time to bring all the bodies up.” Later in the interview, he shares more concrete details about his upbringing, explaining that “Closing Night” is his way of grappling with the two mothers in his life: his biological mother and his stepmother. Growing up, he’d learned that while pregnant with him, his biological mother had been denied an abortion. “That’s a piece of information that has really influenced how I feel about my life, because I’m such a staunch feminist,” he said. “But there was this whole life [my mom] could have led. What would it have been like? What sacrifices did she make to give me the life I had, even as a system denied her the right to choose?” This emotional paradox is juxtaposed with his stepmom, “who was very much fighting to be my mom through love, will, and perseverance.” Despite not having spoken for seven years, Fern reconnected with his biological mother while writing the script after she’d received a difficult medical diagnosis. “Mortality was really hitting hard,” he said. “I realized I had to wrestle with these things now. What relationship was I going to have with my mom? What is it to be a mother? By understanding [my mothers], I came to understand the context of my life.” That “emotionally biographical” personal excavation, however, extended beyond the screenwriting, according to Fern, and informed the actors’ deep dive into the thorny emotions of their “narratively fictional” characters. “Many topics don’t have clean answers, and we wanted [the audience] to look at each character individually,” he said. “None of them are wholly right or wholly wrong. The truth shifts with perspective.” As a seasoned actor himself, Fern prioritized his cast, preferring to be in the trenches with his actors rather than directing from a video village. He aimed to build a safe environment so his actors could take huge risks and build these lived-in characters together. “You’re the best friend, the kid brother, the scolding father, and the coaxing therapist,” Fern said of his role as director. “I’m right there. I can’t help myself. I laugh in takes. I cry all the time. We’re having an experience together. Let’s savor this moment of risk, because it’s really about trust and intimacy.” ‘Closing Night’TIFF That actor-first mindset, paired with a coterie of rich characters, was clearly appetizing to actors. After Paulson signed on, Fern tapped his longtime friend/occasional roommate/fellow Aussie Toby Wallace to play the son. Paulson, fresh off working with Naomi Watts on another Ryan Murphy project, “All’s Fair,” requested Fern cast her as her sister. Perhaps the most impressive feat of casting, however, was that of two-time Oscar winner Dianne Wiest, as the family’s matriarch. Fern said he cried over Zoom when he first met her and that she was a “shining light on the hill” during filming. Interestingly enough, Odessa A’zion, the breakout star of “I Love LA” and “Marty Supreme,” proved the hardest person to cast. After meeting her at a party, Fern called up Bostick and suggested they rewrite the part of Lucy specifically for her even though she hadn’t blown up yet. “Initially, people were like, ‘No, it needs to be somebody bigger,’” Fern remembered. “The whole time, I was like, ‘No, you don’t understand. This Odessa girl has something really special.’” With the actors on set, Fern let them run with it. He said the worst thing a director can do is arrive on set with immovable plans. Instead, he’d rehearse with the actors, looking for something more interesting than what he’d prepared, especially in the actors’ body language. “When I work in TV, there’s a loss of muscularity,” he said. “You lose your body because nobody wants to use it. Everything is emotional close-up, emotional close-up, shot, counter shot. It’s predictable. For this film, I encouraged everybody to be in their body and communicate a story through physicality.” Having worked so often with Paulson, he knew what she was capable of if given the opportunity. “She’s like a Bugatti,” he said, “You tap the accelerator, and it’s 300 miles per hour.” “It’s strange,” he said. “Looking at Sarah’s career, she’s had the opportunity to play some extraordinary roles [on television], but in the film world, it was really like, ‘Somebody give her something she can really sink her teeth into.’” “Closing Night” certainly does just that. “Closing Night” premieres at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival on September 12.