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Posted in: FX, Netflix, TV | Tagged: bleeding cool, cable, feminism, feminist, horror, Louise Fletcher, milos forman, netflix, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, ratched, ryan murphy, Sarah Paulson, series, streaming, television, thriller, tv
Ratched: Ryan Murphy Calls 'Cuckoo's Nest' Prequel Series "A Feminist Horror Story"
American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy is giving fans a little background on Ratched, his new dramatic series starring Sarah Paulson as a younger version of the sadistic Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The series was given a two-season, 18-episode, straight-to-series commitment by the streaming service, with Murphy directing the opening episode as he does on all of his series from a script by newcomer writer Evan Romansky.
Speaking at GQ Live in Los Angeles over the weekend, Murphy described the series as a "gorgeous story" that champions feminism and likened the character to another cinematic "big bad": "She's one of the great villains…she's like a female Lecter (from The Silence of the Lambs). She's a great, great villain, very misunderstood."
Murphy's interest was sparked by a viewing of Milos Forman's 1975 film where the writer/director/producer looked at the story from Nurse Ratched's perspective: "How did she get that way? What made her do that? How do you become a sociopath? Most people are not born that way." As has been his custom in the past, women will be taking the lead in a series Murphy describes as "a feminist horror story, that a lot of women are involved with, so I keep waiting for them to tell me when something's too much."
At the Television Critics Association's (TCA) press event in January 2018, Murphy revealed that he had mapped out a four season origin arc for Paulson's Nurse Ratched, where she would face off against a different male adversary each season; with the fourth and final season blending One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest into the narrative.
Similar in approach to Bates Motel, Ratched is an origins story that begins in 1947 and follows Ratched's (Paulson) devolution from nurse to full-fledged monster as she makes her way up through the mental health care system. The Academy Award-winning 1976 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (based on Ken Kesey's novel) introduced audiences to the character of Nurse Ratched, who instantly became one of the most famous and infamous pop culture villains of all time. Ratched was played in the movie by Louise Fletcher, who would go on to win a Best Actress Academy Award for the role, one of five Oscars that the film would win.
Murphy, original film producer Michael Douglas, as well as Aleen Keshishian, Margaret Riley and Jacob Epstein of Lighthouse Management & Media will serve as executive producers; with Romansky co-executive producing the series. Paulson will produce along with Paul Zaentz of the Saul Zaentz Company, which owns the rights to the Cuckoo's Nest feature. Fox 21 is the designated studio, producing through Murphy's overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV.
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