The mind of Ryan Murphy certainly creates unique worlds and characters, and that rings true with ‘Grotesquerie,’ his latest 10-episode series for FX.
Starring Niecy Nash (Det. Lois Tryon), Courtney B. Vance (Marshall Tryon), Micaela Diamond (Sister Megan Duval), Nicholas Chavez (Father Charlie Mayhew) Raven Goodwin (Merritt Tryon) and Travis Kelce, the story follows Nash’s character after a series of “heinous crimes” unsettles her small community, and she believes they are personally fueled.
“This is a combination of the thriller/mystery/horror with a family drama,” explains Vance. “And it leaves you breathless when you get to the end.”
“It’s a show where you can go back and watch episodes to understand other episodes as well,” adds Goodwin.
Vance and Goodwin play father and daughter in the series. Vance’s character has some issues of that you get to see play out while he’s in the hospital suffering from a long term illness. Goodwin’s character also goes through her own sets of problems, especially when it comes to her strained relationship with her mother.
“Ryan [Murphy] wasn’t fully clear about what the character was going to be when he asked me to be a part it. I trusted him on faith and said, yes, I’m in. That’s probably the biggest thing I love about the Ryan Murphy world is that it’s a character driven world,” says Vance.
“When I think about Niecy’s character and about Raven’s character, and then how I fit into all of that… It’s why people jump in with Ryan, because they know they’re going to be a part of something deep or something crazy. The worlds are very, very dense and you’re going to be in for a ride. And the audience is in for a ride.”
For Goodwin, the actress tried to find both the similarities and the differences in her character to help inform the role.
“Like any other character, I always try to find both. For the most part, Merritt is in this kitsch world of imagination. She’s just trying to find her way, but she knows she’s not doing the work,” says Goodwin.
“She’s almost pretending that she’s finding her way and she’s clouding all of it with food and her comfort. She’s just trying to learn herself to an extent, but I think she’s lazy in doing it. Doing that always with empathy and nuance attached, that’s all I can do. But I love how he [Ryan] wrote her for sure.”
‘Grotesquerie’ will unfold over ten episodes beginning Sept. 25, but fans have already been part of the experience themselves. The show recently promoted the first-of-its-kind “Symphony of Screams.” The promotion had FX travel to different cities earlier this month to deploy in-person scream chambers. Fans who entered had the chance to be immersed in the world of the show and could add their own scream to the Symphony in anticipation of the new series.
“It is absolutely brilliant. There’s so much that goes into the launch, and they leave nothing for chance. They’re telling us, you have to go see it,” says Vance.
“That’s the cool part about it. Even the colors, the neons and purple in the show, it’s so deep and beautiful and layered, so the marketing just came out deep and layered. It’s feeding the horror and the crazy… but when it all comes together, I think the audience is definitely going to want more,” finishes Goodwin.
FX’s Grotesquerie premieres Wednesday, September 25 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX, next day on Hulu.
