Emmys 2012: Jessica Lange Says 'American Horror Story' Like 'Doing a Different Film'

Jessica Lange

American Horror Story Emmy winner Jessica Lange took a firm no comment on whether the FX series would have been better off competing in the drama category, noting backstage Sunday that the anthology feels more like doing different films.

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"I felt we had told that story in the first season and to return to it and revisit it was less interesting to me than starting fresh with a whole new place, time, characters, story, circumstances," Lange told reporters backstage of the series co-created by Glee's Ryan Murphy. "I'm actually enjoying it, it's like doing a different film."

AHS, following its 13-episode freshman run, was revealed to be an anthology format -- rebooting itself with a different location, theme and plot every season. In a controversial move, the series was submitted in the miniseries and movie category, where it was shut out in the major awards save for Lange's acting win. (HBO's Game Change collected the miniseries/movie Emmy.)

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Asked directly if she thought Horror Story would have fared better had it been submitted in the drama category, the two-time Emmy winner (her first was for HBO's telepic Grey Gardens) played it safe.

"I don't know. That's an area that I wouldn't be able to speak to," she noted of AHS, which tied with AMC's Mad Men with 17 overall nominations.

Lange, who's returning for season two, played nosy neighbor Constance Langdon in the first season of AHS, which explored infidelity and adultery. Season two, she noted, will explore faith and madness with what she called "bigger themes." 

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