Ryan Murphy’s New Horror Show Is About Politics, Faith

While filming a series as grim as the new FX drama “Grotesquerie,” it helps to have someone like star Niecy Nash-Betts cut the tension once in a while. Otherwise, things can get dicey, spending all day filming bloodied bodies posed in perverted Biblical poses.

“There is that shock factor when you first walk in,” she said in an interview with Variety. “After that, you say, ‘I’ve got to tell some jokes to try to keep this crew up all day.’ After all, we’re going to be standing in all of this blood and guts for the next 12 hours.”

Although Nash-Betts has a gifted comedy voice, she’s playing against type in “Grotesquerie” as Detective Lois Tryon, a troubled alcoholic pursuing a serial killer with a penchant for Biblical carnage. To help her unravel the religious clues, she teams with reporter and nun, Sister Megan Duval (Micaela Diamond) — all while juggling a difficult family life with her daughter Merritt (Raven Goodwin) and coma-bound estranged husband Marshall (Courtney B. Vance).

For Nash-Betts, it was a gift to play a part so far removed from her typical roles.

“I’ve never played a character like this,” she said. “Detective Lois has a lot of drama in her family life, and now she’s hunting a serial killer that’s taunting her. She has a very layered life, and when you add her addiction to that, I just thought, ‘I’ve never done this before.’ And that’s what made me excited about it.”

While the premise might sound straightforward, the first two episodes — both airing tonight and then weekly on the cable network — bring in many big ideas about faith, family and madness that elevate it from traditional slasher fare.

In a press conference for the series, Ryan Murphy, who created the show along with Jon Robin Baitz and Joe Baken, teased his overall vision.

“Most horror pieces can get very violent and sort of cynical,” Murphy said. “And I feel like this definitely has raciness and some action, but it’s not cynical. It’s about the search for hope and light in a dark place. That’s what ultimately I found and what I was interested in writing about. And it gave me hope. We premiere this week, I’ve just finished editing the last of the episodes for this season. And I think as shocking as the show is — and it is very shocking — it also gives you hope. And make no mistake, our last episode airs on Oct. 30, right before the election, and I think that that’s kind of what we’re writing about. It’s kind of what we’re dealing with. And it gives you something to think about. At least I was thinking about it, as we go into the next phase of our country’s life. I found that to be very profound.”

The show’s big ideas are so vast that they harken back to historical versions of religiosity as well. Nicholas Chavez, who plays the charismatic (and, of course, hot) local priest, Father Charlie, said the series and his role in it made him consider the church in relation to American life both modern and historical.

“One of the interesting aspects of history that I tried to log was that, and this is going back centuries, but the Church was oftentimes preaching to people who were illiterate,” said Chavez, who also plays Lyle Menendez in Murphy’s new drama, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” “They couldn’t actually read other sources. People’s ability to educate themselves was hindered, so all they knew was what you told them. This is a show that takes place in a really, really small community, and I viewed Father Charlie’s view of his community as harkening back to a more archaic version of the Church.”

For Vance, community was top of mind as well, as he wanted to use his executive producer position as a way to foster support during grueling shooting days.

“The Ryan Murphy universe is a blessing,” he said. “My wife [Angela Bassett] has been in the RM universe for about 15 years or so. I watch her and she’s someone that is just very easy-going — ‘Whatever I can do to help.’ And that’s me. I’m really just trying to make sure everybody is comfortable, and getting to know the PAs and everybody’s name. Because, more than anything, that makes the difference on a set.”

That good energy helps the crew get through difficult moments, be it sets covered with blood or monologues that cut to the bone. Goodwin, who has emotional scenes with both Vance and Nash-Betts in the first two episodes, said the empathy she felt for her castmates helped her to navigate these challenging moments.

“It’s a family conversation, it’s a tough conversation,” Goodwin said. “You pull from that happening because that’s a real thing where, especially in the Black household, you fought with your parents, but you do it from a place of respect and love. Even if you disagree, there’s a boundary that you don’t cross. Merritt has a lot of empathy and sympathy for her parents, as they do for her — almost to a fault, almost to the point where they enable each other. Preparation-wise, we just came up with it and figured it out as we go. I think that’s what makes it feel more authentic to a family going through something.”

Ultimately, Nash-Betts chalks up moments like those and their place in the series as all part of Murphy’s master plan.

“With Ryan, I just lean in, because I know that there is something happening in his brain that none of us will ever be able to understand,” she said.