American Horror Story's Sarah Paulson Would Have Loved To Play Myrtle Snow
There is hardly ever a shortage of interesting characters in "American Horror Story." The 3rd season of the show, subtitled "Coven," focuses on a cadre of magic users of exceptionally different personalities, and it proved to be so popular that they were brought back in Season 8, which was known as "Apocalypse." These witches, led by Cordelia Goode (Sarah Paulson), are able to essentially save the world from the literal Biblical apocalypse due to cunning, planning, and teamwork. Acting as somewhat of a right-hand and greatest confidant, Myrtle Snow (Frances Conroy) has always been a rock-solid foundation in Cordelia's life and even acted as an ersatz mother figure.
Besides doting upon Cordelia, Myrtle has a unique style and demeanor all on her own. With bright red hair and a prolific wardrobe, Myrtle is definitely a stand-out character in "American Horror Story." Unsurprisingly, Paulson adores this character just as much as audiences, and during a brief red carpet interview with GameSpot Universe, she was asked if she could play any other character on the show, and she replied, "I would have loved to play Myrtle Snow, but I would have been terrible at it." At this point, the interviewer asks why that would have been the case, and Paulson answered, "It's just that Franny Conroy's magic made that what it was."
Although Paulson doesn't think she could be Myrtle, she still adores the character
Sarah Paulson added, "I could never have done it, but just every time I saw her I just wanted to be her and crawl inside that cloak and in that wig and just live there." However, despite the fact that Paulson would have loved to play Myrtle Snow, she did an absolutely fantastic job with her portrayal of Cordelia Goode. Cordelia originally started off as a meek and unassuming individual, only to become one of the most powerful magical users in the world. This requires a tremendous amount of acting range, and Paulson pulled it off with her typical aplomb.
Although Paulson would have loved to try her hand at the character of Myrtle, Frances Conroy was apparently always the person showrunner Ryan Murphy had in mind. Speaking with HuffPost, Conroy explained that Murphy wanted her to base Myrtle off of the famous fashion editor Diana Vreeland, stating, "I just know Ryan wanted me to play a character. I said, 'Oh cool, that's great.' Then we did hair, makeup, and wardrobe tests, and he'll kind of give you an idea and lead and let you play with it." Conroy continued and said that after doing plenty of research, she just kind of let the character develop organically throughout episodes of "American Horror Story: Coven" and "American Horror Story: Apocalypse."
It would have been interesting to see what Paulson would have looked like as Myrtle Snow, but it's hard to deny Conroy's take on the fiery character.