SARAH PAULSON HAS THE UNIQUE GIFT OF MAKING COMPLICATED, and often murderous, women relatable. “It’s my job as an actor to not judge the character I’m playing.” Rather, she hopes to bring the audience along on the journey, “even if they know it’s morally questionable or downright criminal.” That’s what she does as Diane Sherman in Run (Hulu, November 20). Paulson thinks audiences crave seeing nontraditional characters take center stage right now. “They want to see more narratives that represent their life more accurately. Not that this movie would do that, because then you might have some real trouble in your home life [laughs].” Next year, Paulson plays Linda Tripp, the whistleblower in the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. “I don’t know that this will be a radical shift in terms of the way people think about her. But I didn’t think about that when I played Marcia [Clark] either.” Paulson won an Emmy for her portrayal of the O.J. Simpson murder trial prosecutor. “I felt like if I just played the truth of it, that it would be what it would be. And I feel the same way about Linda.”
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“I think it’s my job as an actor to not judge the character I’m playing.”