American Horror Story star Dylan McDermott (Ben Harmon) is 50 years old, but when he’s on screen in the buff, it’s not a body double! In a new interview, he talks about the risqué side of the new FX show and working with Ryan Murphy, Zachary Quinto and Denis O’Hare.

From McDermott’s interview with The Advocate:

[explicit language warning]

Mere hours after the television premiere, screencaps of your nude scenes were everywhere online.
Oh, no. [Laughs] I knew going into it that there was nudity and that a lot of people would be watching, so I knew I had to be in really good shape. I’m no fool, so I hit the gym and watched what I ate. Actually, when I first got the role, production called me and asked, “Who’s your body double?” I said, “Oh, hell no. It’s going to be all me, baby.”

Some have commented that yours is not the ass of a 50-year-old man.
Well, I was 49 when I did those scenes, so they’re right.

Ryan Murphy has a reputation of being a very exacting director. What’s he like as a boss on American Horror Story?
I believe that Ryan Murphy is a genius. His instincts remind me of Andy Warhol. I recently went to the Warhol museum in Pittsburgh, and you can see a lot of echoes of Andy in Ryan’s work. Like Andy, Ryan’s finger is so on the pulse of culture that he’s ahead of culture. Their aesthetic and their vision of the world are very similar. Ryan is also so unafraid. Most people in show business are so afraid to fail that they don’t take any risks, but all Ryan does is take risks. He puts himself out there all the time, and it’s his bravery that really separates him from everybody else. When I first heard about American Horror Story, even before I read the script, I was so intrigued by it. I was looking for someone to take me to a different place, and I needed someone like Ryan, someone with a vision who was brave enough to take me there. A lot of times you end up doing something that’s middle of the road, and I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to do something controversial, and I certainly got that with Ryan. I was really happy when I got the role.

And you get to work with openly gay actors like Denis O’Hare and Zachary Quinto.
Yeah. Certainly, when I was first coming up in the business, I worked with gay actors who were in the closet and had to remain so, but from the Rock Hudson years to where we are now, it seems like more and more actors are comfortable being out, and that’s great. I think we’ll get to the point eventually where it doesn’t matter at all, but it just needs more time. People’s tolerance is still questionable out there in the world, but I feel like it’s getting better. James Lecesne, who cofounded the Trevor Project, is a friend of mine, and I’m happy to be involved with that wonderful organization.

Do you think Dylan was the right actor for the role of Ben?