Ima Wiggles made her debut last week on AHS: Freak Show. Hypable had the chance to talk with the actress behind Ima, Chrissy Metz, about being the new girl on set!
Chrissy Metz joins AHS: Freak Show‘s Cabinet of Curiosities as Ima Wiggles, Elsa’s latest acquisition. Debuting in the episode, “Blood Bath,” Metz enters the compound as the new girl, which reflects her own experience walking onto set. “It’s kind of like you’re transferring in your senior year of high school and you’re the new girl. You don’t really know if people are going to accept you and what’s going to happen,” says Metz.
But Metz has her pick of tables to sit at! She says, “Everybody was so warm and so kind. It was kind of like we already knew each other which is amazing because sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t. Everyone was so awesome and being a part of ‘The Freaks’ was really nice because they already felt like my brothers and sisters.”
Things may be going great on set for Metz, but what about Ima’s future on the show?
“Ima Wiggles is thrust into this world that she is not really sure about. She thinks, ‘This is like a family to me. This is exciting!’ But she is really innocent, she hasn’t experienced much life. She starts to uncover things with the audience, oh there is some ‘stuff’ going on here, these dark deep secrets that people are hiding. [Ima’s] definitely going to stick with her friends which are her family, the freaks, and go on this journey with them. There is going to be some interesting stuff happening.”
Some of that interesting stuff will pan out this week, when Ima’s talents are put on display for Elsa’s act. Though she wasn’t able to give away exactly what we can expect to see from Ima, Metz says, “It was exciting for me to share that as a performer. I didn’t sign on knowing I was going to be doing this. It is beyond exciting, when I was reading the script I’d flip the pages and go, ‘Oh my god, is this my life?'”
While they may have the process down to an eight minute routine, the time spent in the suit is another story. “Getting in the suit you have to rev up for it because you know you are going to be in it for eight, 10, 12, 14 hours, whatever we are shooting. I’m all about it because that is part of the excitement. But it’s definitely a process. The legs come on and they have suspenders then there is the top part that has the belly and the breasts and then those zipper together. Then I put the shoes and socks on and then the dress.”
Metz counts herself lucky avoiding the summer heat and being a part of the cast that undergoes so much transformation every day. “John Carroll Lynch was in that Twisty suit in the high of summer. I don’t even know how he handled it. Everybody has a prosthetic, you know. Evan [Peters] has his hands, Angela [Bassett] has her chest plate, and Grace Gummer [Penny] has this whole thing on her face.”
While the cast and crew are all welcoming and warm, there are certain people lurking around that Metz would not like to find herself face to face with. “Twisty. Clowns personally scare me. I’m a bit intimidated by Dell, Michael Chiklis. On the one side he is a sweet, wonderful dad, but he has some deep secrets and he is willing to cover them up and kill people to do so!”
Speaking of death and the gory aspects of the show, Metz confesses that she is not a fan of the horror genre. “People volunteer for that and pay to be afraid. I don’t like it!” Metz says. “In fact we were shooting something on set and everyone was like ‘Are you ok?’ I was getting kind of white in the face. I was getting ready for the scene and really trying to be there in that moment and have it be authentic, but part of me is truly scared and really freaked out. I don’t like being afraid.”
Finally, the question that is on everyone’s mind when it comes to AHS casting is, “Will we see you next season?”
Metz says, “That would honestly be a dream come true. A dream come true. I’m really surprised, you never know how people are going to take a character. It’s like, I want to think about it, but I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to be greedy, but that would be incredible. Everyone from Ryan Murphy to the Ads [assistant directors] to the directors, everybody is so cool and creative. It’s a dream show to be on.”
We are looking forward to learning more about Ima Wiggles on tonight’s AHS: Freak Show!
Watch AHS: Freak Show episode 9, “Tupperware Party Massacre,” tonight at 10:00 p.m. ET on FX.