Jessica Lange Thinks She Might Have Made Her Last Film: ‘It All Was a Great Adventure’

T here are long, successful careers and then there’s the load-bearing portfolio of Jessica Lange. From her very first screen appearance in King Kong (1976) to unforgettable turns in films like All That Jazz (1979), Tootsie (1982), Cape Fear (1991), Blue Sky (1994), and Big Fish (2003), Lange has become one of American cinema’s great treasures. Onscreen and onstage, Lange’s control and emotional range have made her sought after by auteur directors and earned her two Academy Awards and one Tony. When she took a role in Ryan Murphy’s inventive anthology series American Horror Story in 2011, Lange didn’t know much about the boundary-pushing Glee creator. “He immediately convinced me that this would be a good thing to do,” Lange tells Rolling Stone. “He’s very good at that.” Lange took a starring role in the four seasons of the series, earning her two Primetime Emmy awards along the way — and a whole new generation of fans. This year, Murphy’s powers of persuasion ensnared her once more. For the just-concluded Season 13 of American Horror Story, Lange returned to to portray all four of her iconic characters — Constance Langdon from Murder House; Sister Jude from Asylum; Fiona Goode from Coven; and Elsa Mars from Freak Show — alongside returning AHS cast members (and fellow Murphy regulars) Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Emma Roberts, Angela Basset, Kathy Bates, and Billie Lourd. Ahead of last night’s season finale, Lange stopped by the Rolling Stone Studio to talk about returning to the Murphy-verse, her accidental start in showbusiness, and why she might be saying goodbye to Hollywood. Ryan Murphy has called Season 13 of American Horror Story an Avengers-like collab. What was it like to return to these roles after so many years? It was absolutely great. Why I said yes to this season was the idea of revisiting, reprising these four roles. Because when we originally did them, it was just so new and crazy and wild. There was so much to do with every single episode that it was a wonderful adventure. Working with really what was a repertory company — all of the actors returning every season and creating a new character in a new story in a new situation — it was a wonderful way to work. I loved it. Editor’s picks SACHA LECCA You think you finish a character and then you’re done with it. Certain characters that I’ve played through my career, you can feel them stay with you. I remember after finishing shooting [Frances], the film about [the 1930s actor] Frances Farmer, she just stayed with me for a long time. It was almost like a haunting. I don’t want to sound like crazy or something, but I felt her presence. When I played Blanche Dubois [in A Streetcar Named Desire] three different times, again, it felt like I was still holding on to something. The same with Mary Tyrone [in Long Day’s Journey Into Night]. She wouldn’t let me go. What are the characters you enjoy playing more than others?Well, my favorite character was the last one I played [in American Horror Story], Elsa Mars, just because of where the story was set. It was such a magical, poetic environment that was created. This down and out circus, the freak show. The fact that they let me sing was a lot of fun. With these characters, it’s such an extraordinary opportunity to explore how much of them are still there, and how easily they are to bring up. I would listen to old scenes from the original series. Not look at them, but just listen to the voice. The voice is what always brought me back. How did Ryan Murphy convince you to sign on? I sat down with Ryan and he explained the idea for this season to me and immediately it felt like this is something I want to explore. All four of these characters presented me with an opportunity to do something wild and very baroque, gothic. It’s fun to work that way. I thought, “Why not?” Related Content What kind of rapport have you and Ryan developed through these seasons? I adore Ryan. We don’t see each other often, but when we do — [like when] he directed the first episode of this season — [it’s] great to be around him again. I love the way he directs. He’s an amazing force. I can only imagine returning to the show brought back a flood of memories. Was there a season that was particularly hard or emotional to film? I like playing emotional. So the more emotional, the better for me. That makes it even more interesting. Some of those monologues given to me in those first four seasons are amazing writing and great opportunities to explore extreme emotions and stories and backstories and memories. It was always rich. Can you describe the energy on set working with so many legendary actors? Even before American Horror Story, I knew Sarah Paulson really well. We did a stage play together. Nothing brings you closer than being onstage every night together. I’ve worked with Kathy Bates over the years on other things, and again, she’s just a phenomenal actor. Being in her presence and seeing what she’s willing to do and her bravery and her intelligence, it was thrilling. We were like a repertory company. Every year we would get a different character, a different story, different situations, but you could always count on them to come through. It was a wild ride. SACHA LECCA What was it like acting alongside Stevie Nicks, who appeared in Season Three? She is such a lovely person. So warm and beautiful. Then to do a scene where she sits down and plays and sings? I was like, “Oh, my god, this is great. Does it get any better than this?” She was lovely. American Horror Story is a show that balances the dramatic and the hysterical in both meanings of the word. When you work hard on the emotional resonance of a scene, how does it feel when that scene gets turned into a meme online, and all of a sudden it has to live in a different context?Gratefully, I’m not on any social media. So unless somebody makes a point of sending me an Instagram meme, I’m not aware of it. I don’t even understand social media, so I’m not the right person to ask. Let’s do a power ranking of your iconic lines from AHS. I’m going to give you three, and then you’re going to rank them: least favorite to most favorite. First one, Fiona Goode in Coven: “Oh, God, I can’t spend eternity here. This place reeks of fish, cat piss, and what is this? Knotty pine?” Second, also Fiona: “This coven doesn’t need a new Supreme, it needs a new rug.” Third, Constance Langdon in Murder House: “There’s not going to be a swimming pool, you stupid slut!”Least favorite is “This coven doesn’t need a new Supreme, it needs a new rug.” Then the “swimming pool, you stupid slut” because that was a line I had to do with Franny [Frances Conroy], so it was a great scene. At Number One, I would say, “What is this place?” This is where she’s going to spend eternity. And doing that scene with Danny Huston was just fabulous. I never watch my own work but I watched that scene again [for] “knotty pine.” I thought, “I got to get the voice.” So I watched the scene and he’s so incredible in it, the whole thing came alive. Let’s go way back to the beginning of your career. Your very first role was in King Kong , which was a commercial hit and a critical flop. What are some of your strongest memories from that experience? It’s the first movie I ever did. It was my first audition. I remember a dear friend of mine that was on the film too, Chuck Grodin, said to me, “It’s lucky this is your first film because you don’t know any better.” They would have me sitting in this hydraulic hand that could have gone wrong at any moment. It could have killed me. But I figured, “Well, they know what they’re doing.” It was that kind of naivete, that innocence, that I would do whatever they asked me to do. I really loved the director, John Guillermin. He was a very complicated man — English and incredibly smart. How did you start thinking that acting was a viable career path? I had been living in Paris studying mime. I came back to New York because I thought I should find something to do that has a future. Maybe mime might not be it. I came back to New York specifically thinking, “Maybe I’ll study acting. I’ve go to do something. Maybe I’ll study acting then get some off-Broadway regional theater job.” Then out of the blue, somebody contacted me. I was also trying to work as a model at the time, although I never had a paying model job. When they talk about “model turned actress,” that was just bullshit. I was living in a fifth-floor walk-up down in the Village, making a few bucks a night working as a waitress. They offered me a trip to Los Angeles to audition for King Kong. Well, I’m not that stupid. “Yeah, I’ll go. Why not? This might be a lark.” So I went out there and they didn’t like the looks of me. At all. They were going to send me home. Then the modeling agent back in New York said, “Come on, you flew her out there. At least roll some film on her.” So they did and then they offered me the part. We were shooting within a matter of weeks. I had no idea what I was doing. I’d never been in front of a camera before. How did that lack of experience show up on set? It was a very weird experience and it went on for months and months. We would shut down because the mechanical stuff wasn’t working, and then we would start up again. We finished shooting [in] October, maybe November, and the film came out in December. It was just this frantic, crazy year, and the film came out, and suddenly it was horrible. It felt like such a terrible invasion, this publicity. I remember I was flying home to Minnesota for Christmas, getting on an airplane. Some guy was reading a Time magazine, and that was me on the cover in the big hand. I started to cry. I thought, “Oh, my God, my life is ruined.” Suddenly, I’m this public thing. Then the reviews, of course, completely dismissed me as being like some old dumb blonde thing. All except for one critic, and that was [The New Yorker’s] Pauline Kael. I was dismissed. I didn’t work again for three years. SACHA LECCA How did that change the roles you took after? It wasn’t the way I ever imagined starting — in some big extravaganza. But I always knew what was true to me and that I could go back and study painting or something. I could do something else. But I just knew that [doing those types of roles] wasn’t my destiny. Luckily, the next couple parts that came along were The Postman Always Rings Twice and then, of course, Frances, which changed everything for me. Did deep friendships in Hollywood help with that mindset? I’m thinking of your relationship with Bob Fosse.Fosse, bless his heart. Maybe two people, Pauline Kael and Bob Fosse, saw something in that performance they thought was worthwhile. When he was writing All That Jazz, he created that part specifically for me, and he fought for me to do it. It was symbolic, that role: the angel of death. That began to turn things around for me. I love Bob. We were great friends. He was an amazing talent. Sometimes when it’s on TV, I’ll watch part of All That Jazz and realize what a fucking genius he was. In 1982, you went from being the blond in King Kong to the first performer in almost 40 years to receive acting Oscar nominations for two projects in the same year — a Best Actress nomination for Frances and a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Tootsie, which you won. Did your relationship to press and attention change at that point? Yes, but also, with Frances, that was a part that meant so much to me. It was different than other roles. Frances was the first part that I really felt I could fulfill. I don’t know how to describe this, but sometimes there’s almost an alchemy that happens. That’s how I felt with Frances — she came to me at exactly the right moment in my life to play her Is that how you feel about Long Day’s Journey Into Night? First, let me preface by saying, Long Day’s Journey Into Night is the greatest American play ever written. Eugene O’Neill, in his introduction, talks about a play of old sorrows, written in blood and tears, with great pity, understanding, and forgiveness for all four haunted Tyrones. That just moves me. But the play itself is so extraordinary and beautiful. It’s a play of forgiveness and coming from such a deep sense of truth that there’s not a false moment in it. Everything is grounded in this kind of tortured honesty. Playing Mary Tyrone, there is no end to this character. I could do this part for the next 20 years and never, never, never come to the end of it. But playing it on three different occasions: the first time in London in the year 2000, and then on Broadway here in 2016… Which you won a Tony Award for.Yes. And then doing the film of it. We filmed in 2022 and it’s finally out now. It’s been a long, hard road. It’s been 22 years [since] the first time I did it. So much changes in your own life. There’s so much more loss, so much more grieving, many more regrets. [That] just continues to inform what you bring to the performance. You’re receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. What are some career highlights and some career achievements that you feel proudest of?Certainly, the first one would be Frances. That part hit me like a locomotive. I just got on board and went for the ride. But in those first 10 years of working, when I think of the directors I worked with: Fosse, Bob Rafelson, Costa-Gavras, Tony Richardson, Karel Reisz. I [had] extraordinary opportunities working with great artists. SACHA LECCA And the actors I was working with! Dustin [Hoffman] and Kim [Stanley] and Jack [Nicholson]. We got to throw Scorsese in there, too. It was an extraordinary run. I think what I assumed was it was always going to be that exciting and thrilling, and the work was always going to be on that caliber. But then, the business changes. When I started work, the cameraman would set up the for the scene [and] the director would be standing right next to camera. You could be five feet from him, or even closer. There was a wonderful exchange of energy, this belief in each other, and this [willingness] to do better. Then, of course, video playback came in, and now it’s so, so removed. Oftentimes, you don’t even see the director on the set, which I think is very detrimental. You’re clearly still incredibly devoted to cinema as a craft. What projects do you still want to tackle in your career? I actually feel like I’m coming to an end. Maybe it’s not a bad way to end, that last film being Long Day’s Journey Into Night and playing Mary Tyrone. There are a couple projects that have been in the works forever that may or may not happen. I don’t know. It doesn’t seem easy to get things made anymore. At least not the kind of films that interest me. Trending Stories In a sad world, in my opinion, where Long Day’s Journey Into Night was your last film, how would you want people to remember your legacy in Hollywood? For some good parts. For some good films. For being an honest actor. I’ve been incredibly lucky. I love acting, and I’ve had decades of being able to do it, which has been a joy for me. Difficult at times, balancing family and career and locations and dragging my kids here and there. But it all was a great adventure. I’m so grateful that [it] came my way. Watch the full Rolling Stone Studio interview with Jessica Lange at Rolling Stone’s official YouTube channel — or hit the play button above.