In this Screen Tests interview, 'Pose' actor Evan Peters talks about the many characters he's played on 'American Horror Story', wearing MC Hammer pants, his first kiss, and his crush on the Olsen Twins.
You've probably seen Evan Peters any number of different ways. The actor has grown from a tween appearing in PlayStation commercials and guest starring on the Disney Channel shows to becoming one of Ryan Murphy's go-to troupe members, featuring in some form in practically every new series the super-producer creates, including his latest, Pose, the acclaimed show whose first season finale aired on Sunday night. Audiences might be hard pressed to think up a role Peters has yet to occupy-he has shapeshifted himself from dorky adolescent to Frankenstein frat boy to superhero to cult leader.
How did your role as Quicksilver in X‐Men: Days of Future Past come about?
Well, [the film's director] Bryan Singer was a fan of American Horror Story. It was 2013, he called me and was like, "Yeah, I got a cool part for you. He kind of has caffeine or whatever, he kind of goes crazy, and he's in his mom's basement, and kind of comes in and saves the day. And then kind of gets out. So it's kind of like a quick role, and it should be really fun and cool special effects." And I was like, "Dude. Yes. I'm in." I was so excited and jumped on the couch.
Tell me all the different characters you've played in the Ryan Murphy universe.
In the Ryan Murphy world of American Horror Story, I played Tate Langdon. Crazy. He was just crazy. A teenager, kind of love‐obsessed with Violet and wanted to be in this relationship with her, but also was seriously chemically imbalanced and had a horrible childhood, and just was kind of a monster. So yeah, he was crazy. I played Kit Walker, who was kind of your every man, who was in an interracial relationship and then got abducted by aliens. He came back seemingly insane to everybody else, but he was just sort of living his truth. He was put in an insane asylum-kind of a horrific thing to have happen to you.
Then it was Kyle, who we called Frankenkyle, because he's this college frat guy and then gets in an accident. And then gets sewn back together and brought back to life sort of as this kind of Frankenstein monster who has to relearn how to talk and walk. That was probably the hardest one that I had to do.
And then it was Jimmy Darling, who had the lobster hands, for Freak Show. That was crazy. Then Mr. March for Hotel. He was also insane, and a mass murderer. He was kind of based off of H.G. Wells, which was pretty cool. I love the book, Devil in the White City. I listened to a lot of 1930's music, and that stuff is so creepy and so weird. Then I did Edward Mott, and he died. And then I played Rory [Monahan]. I don't know his last name. He was the actor that was playing Edward Mott.
And now you’re starring in the television series, Pose.
It's a really fun show. It's great for the transgender community. We need it now more than ever, and it's going to shed a lot of compassion and a lot of light on their plight. It's set in 1987. If you've seen Paris is Burning, it's based off of those balls and that culture and that world. I play Stanley, who's a yuppie, essentially, from New Jersey and is trying to climb the ladder of New York City success and rise to the top. He's actually got a job at the Trump office. James Van Der Beek plays my boss, and Kate Mara plays my wife. I sort of get a little bit by a bug of the transgender underworld. And chaos ensues. It's more of a love story for me. Tragic, but like I said, it's a really fun show.
You’re also starring in the film American Animals right now. What’s that about?
I kind of have a lot of unrest in that one. It's not the first time I've played a real person, but this juxtaposition to the real person, definitely. My character’s name is Warren C. Lipka. He's just doing the whole going to college, on the soccer team, got the scholarship thing. He's having an existential crisis and doesn't really know why he's doing this or what it's all about. It's hard, but choosing to do something before you know what it is that you want to do can kind of lead to you blowing up your world. He didn't want to do soccer. He didn't know what he wanted to do. He wanted to do something that would make his life special and important. He obviously made the wrong decision, but he got a movie out of it.
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Evan Peters on American Horror Story, Hammer Pants, and The Olsen Twins | Screen Tests | W Magazine