Fans of Sarah Paulson, Ryan Murphy and/or scandalous chapters in American history, look no further. The actress just showed off the first look at her antagonist character in Season 3 of American Crime Story.
As with the first two seasons of the show, American Crime Story will retell a lurid scandal from American history. This new season, titled ACS: Impeachment recalls the story of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal from the late 1990s. Paulson plays Linda Tripp, a friend and coworker of Monica Lewinsky who leaked word to the press that Lewinsky was engaged in an affair with then-President Bill Clinton. The series uses Jeffrey Toobin’s book A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President as its basis.
Related: Wow, Ryan Murphy and Sarah Paulson just won big
Frankly, we’re kind of amazed that a slender, good-looking woman like Paulson would take the role of Tripp, a figure widely ridiculed for her weight and looks. Famed fashion icon Mr. Blackwell once referred to Tripp as a “sheepdog in drag.”
Linda. American Crime Story: Impeachment has begun principle photography ?@MrRPMurphy? pic.twitter.com/460EshRhZC
— Sarah Paulson (@MsSarahPaulson) November 13, 2020
Along with Paulson, Impeachment will feature Beanie Feldstein as Monica Lewinsky, Clive Owen as Bill Clinton, Annaleigh Ashford as Paula Jones, Anthony Green as Al Gore and Betty Gilpin as right wing lunatic Ann Coulter.
A release date for the series has yet to be announced.
Cam
Ugh, this thing is hashed out every 3 or 4 years by Vanity Fair, Murphy should have done something that hasn’t been picked over so much.
Roy Ajax
How is Linda Tripp a “villain” for exposing wrong-doing? If she exposed a Bush the same way, would she be a “hero”?
WashDrySpin
TRUTH
LifeinShaw
Linda Tripp was indeed a villain. She was a busy body looking for revenge after being pushed out of the White House. She used Monida Lewinsky to exact revenge on the Clinton’s. Being a Republican (she had worked for George H W Bush and was a holdover from him) she had it for Bill from the get go. Yes. Bill Clinton should not have had an affair with Monica but it was not illegal only unseamly. Plenty of US presidents have had affairs while in office. Tripp was one of those people who thought she was somebody when she was really a nobody. As the Washington Post succinctly puts it: “She believed that she could write a book exposing Clinton’s infidelities and that history would remember her as a truth-teller and a whistleblower.” If you read more about her you’ll find she recorded those conversations with Monica at the behest of her literary agent. That’s all you need to know about her motives.
Roy Ajax
@LifeinShaw
That still doesn’t make her a villain. Clinton put himself in that position, and if she chose to exploit it that just makes her an opportunist at best.
My real point is that she was vilified because she exposed the hypocrisy of good ol’ Bill (and Hillary), who implemented the Defense of Marriage act meaning gays could not marry, yet he was disloyal in his own.
Kangol2
As Cam says, the story has been through the wringer more than once. Maybe this is Murphy’s sop to the right, but Bill Clinton should have kept his zipper closed when it came to a much younger former intern. Even if it was consensual it looked really bad, and certainly looks even worse in retrospect.
Speaking of which, what’s Murphy got coming next? “Jeffrey Toobin: A Tiny Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Journalist”? He can even include music and dance numbers to make it lively.
bachy
I, for one, am looking forward to Betty Gilpin’s portrayal of “right wing lunatic Ann Coulter.” Here’s hoping she uses some of the muscles she developed on GLOW to tear Coulter a new one.
DarkZephyr
Linda Tripp was a hypocrite.
Roy Ajax
And Clinton wasn’t?