Sarah Paulson (left) and Judy Davis
We had a great time chatting and sharing chuckles with “Ratched” lead actress-producer Sarah Paulson and her costar Judy Davis for this exclusive two-on-one interview for Inquirer Entertainment.
In the eight-part Netflix series about the sordid beginnings of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’s” iconic nurse with a less-than-ideal bedside manner (Oscar winner Louise Fletcher), the younger Nurse Mildred Ratched (Sarah) finds her nasty match in Head Nurse Betsy Bucket (Judy)—who runs the psych ward like the Führer of the Third Reich.
In 1947, following her stint as a wartime nurse, Mildred gets herself employed at the Lucia mental facility in California, just six months after Edmund Tolleson (Finn Wittrock) was admitted for brutally killing priests without any remorse. It’s this feisty mano a mano between Judy and Sarah that keeps the series’ grim proceedings at bay.
It soon becomes clear that there’s a scarred soul and a bleak motive lurking under Mildred’s cool and collected exterior.
Paulson (left) as Nurse Ratched and Davis as Nurse Bucket
Asked what element in Ms Fletcher’s performance Sarah wanted to connect to in order to “synchronize” Nurse Ratched’s younger and older iterations, the actress replied, “That’s a good question. From a physical standpoint, I tried to simulate her posture. I have terrible posture, and she doesn’t.
“But mostly, I was really struck by the moments of isolation, when she wasn’t around the other men in the ward. They were fleeting, but they were traditionally moments of Mildred entering the hospital from outside. And that was very intriguing to me, the moment before she was around all of the people she was in charge of.
“She just seemed so sad to me! And of course it was something our story did lend itself to, especially the loneliness in her and what appeared to be melancholy. I could have been overreading into that and, you know, and Louise Fletcher might say, ‘Oh, no. I was so happy to come to work’ (laughs). I don’t know, but at least that’s what I saw. So, I tried to make sure that some of that was present [in my performance].”
We also quickly addressed the issue that people are discussing online: Why was there a need for Nurse Ratched’s origin story?
“You know ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ is a movie about a bunch of men—OK, there’s this lone woman who comes in briefly—but, among these characters, Mildred is the person we know the least about. So, why not?
From left: Paulson, Cynthia Nixon and Davis
“She’s a mysterious character, and anything could be invented about her. In both the book and the movie, there’s literally nothing about her personally. So, it was a very open field for us to build any house we wanted—and an interesting opportunity worth exploring.”
And explore Sarah did. In the series, the actress delivers a high-wire act complemented by the sinister synergy emanating from the sensational Ms Davis, who turns in our favorite portrayal in a string of sumptuous characterizations.
We then asked Judy how she managed to create a “veritable vanishing act like no other”—a character that is as sharp as she is “morally messy.”
“Betsy is not based on anybody,” Judy said with a winking smile. “She’s like a big, overgrown child. She’s just badly behaved (laughs). I’m not going to say she’s a bad person because there are times that, when pushed, she turns out she isn’t. “She’s mean, and she knows she is. Possibly, she tells herself, ‘Well, I have to do it that way because it comes with this job that I have.” It comes with the territory, and sometimes, she just gets a kick out of it. Let’s be honest, she is tremendously sexually frustrated (laughs)!”
It was wonderful to see Sarah and Judy just letting their hair down and laughing together, even on Zoom—because the characters they breathe life into spend much of their time competing for hospital director Dr. Richard Hanover’s (Jon Jon Briones) attention.
Scene from “Ratched”
The actresses even have different answers when we asked them if they’re as competitive in real life as their characters in the series.
“Here’s what you need to do to somebody like Betsy: Sometimes, you just need to knock her on the head with a piece of wood (laughs),” Judy quipped. “I’m not competitive. I probably should have been more so. But I love collaboration! [Working with] Sarah was just a joy! (She turns to Sarah.) What do you think, Sarah?”
“You know, I think I’m a bit [competitive] (laughs),” Sarah admitted. “I’m trying to not say something so revealing about myself, because I’m a desperate person, see? And so, I think I am—I so desperately want to be good. But sometimes, that’s an effort you can’t see.
“I think it’s terrible to be so competitive and desperate for adulation. But sure, I also don’t mind being celebrated (laughs)! Oh, I’m giving you a lot of things you don’t necessarily need to know.”