Jessica Lange, Zoey Deutch Laud The Politician's 'Sexuality, Satire'

Oscar-winner Lange shares with The Advocate about how the chance to do a comedy was a big draw for her in Ryan Murphy's Netflix show The Politician.

Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.

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Tracy E. Gilchrist

September 27 2019 10:58 AM EST

September 27 2019 11:15 AM EST

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Oscar-winner Jessica Lange plays the grifter grandmother Dusty Jackson to Zoey Deutch's Infinity Jackson, a teen cancer patient whose illness Dusty uses to get freebies in Ryan Murphy's satirical Netflix series The Politician.

But Dusty, who lives on the outskirts of Santa Barbara, Calif., in what amounts to a step above a trailer, isn't the only one who uses Infinity. Ben Platt's politically ambitious Payton Hobart deploys her as his running mate for the class presidency to gain the sympathy vote.

In an interview with The Advocate, Lange shares that in addition to working with Murphy again, The Politician appealed to her because it's a comedy.

"I'm rarely offered comedies. People don't think of me in terms of their first choice on the list of comedy actresses," Lange says, laughing. "It was great because it allowed me to play it in a way that I never get a chance to do."

Meanwhile, Deutch discusses what appealed to her about playing Infinity (besides working with Lange, one of her heroes).

"I thought it was the best pilot I'd ever read," Deutch says. "It was so well-rounded and approached politics and representation, sexuality, in a way that I hadn't read before -- with a lot of satire, a lot of sarcasm, and a lot of texture."