Sarah Paulson has answered critics who rank her Aileen Wuornos in Netflix’s “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story” below Charlize Theron’s Oscar-winning turn, saying she never tried to compete with it.
Paulson addressed the comparisons on the “Shut Up Evan” podcast, hosted by Evan Ross Katz. “I didn’t set out to blast hers off the screen,” she said, adding that nobody could and calling Theron’s 2003 work in “Monster” the most glorious performance imaginable.
She argued that actors revisit famous roles constantly, pointing to stage revivals, where audiences accept fresh interpretations of the same play. Her Wuornos, she said, draws on her own research and her own sensibility. Paulson acknowledged that some viewers find her version great and others think it falls short of Theron’s. She also admitted the comparison crossed her mind when the part was offered, and that she briefly questioned why anyone would step into a role that already produced an Oscar.
Netflix released all eight episodes of the fourth season of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s anthology series on Sept. 17. The show centers on Lizzie Borden, played by Ella Beatty, who was acquitted in the 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother. Wuornos enters the story in the fourth episode as a hitchhiker who idolizes Borden. Charlie Hunnam, Rebecca Hall and Billie Lourd co-star.
Critics have been unkind to the season. It holds 38% on Rotten Tomatoes across 28 reviews. IndieWire’s review called the Wuornos storyline a weak echo of the Theron film and said the series has little to say about either killer. Some viewers on social media took the opposite view, singling out Paulson as the season’s best element even as they dismissed the rest.
The audience has kept watching. The series drew 14.5 million views in its second week, a 20% rise from its debut week. It sits atop Netflix’s global English-language chart, ranks in the top 10 in 92 countries, and leads in 36, up from 16 the week before.
Wuornos has been played on screen by several actresses. Lily Rabe played her in “American Horror Story,” and Jean Smart and Peyton List have also taken the role. Paulson next returns to Murphy’s orbit in Hulu’s “All’s Fair,” which starts its second season Nov. 5.
