Sarah Paulson addresses criticism comparing her Aileen Wuornos portrayal to Charlize Theron’s in “Monster”
Sarah Paulson addresses criticism comparing her Aileen Wuornos portrayal to Charlize Theron’s in “Monster”
Marina WattsTue, September 29, 2026 at 4:33 PM UTC
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Sarah Paulson as Aileen Wuornos in ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’; Charlize Theron as Aileen Wuornos in ‘Monster’Credit: Netflix; EverettKey Points -
Sarah Paulson is addressing the comparison between her and Charlize Theron portraying serial killer Aileen Wuornos.
“I didn’t set out to blast hers off the screen or something—as if anyone could do that. It’s the most glorious performance in the world,” Paulson said of Theron.
Theron won the Best Actress Oscar for her turn as the notorious murderer.
Sarah Paulson is pushing back at those criticizing her portrayal as Aileen Wuornos in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.
Her take on the convicted serial killer, interwoven into Borden’s narrative in Ryan Murphy’s anthology series, comes over 20 years after perhaps the most famous interpretation.
In the 2003 movie — also titled Monster— Charlize Theron portrayed Wuornos and won the Best Actress Academy Award. As their performances of the notorious criminal are compared, Paulson addressed the disparity.
“It’s just the sort of weird thing where it’s like, I didn’t set out to do something better than Charlize Theron,” Paulson said during an appearance on Evan Ross Katz’s podcast Shut Up Evan on Netflix.
“I didn’t set out to blast hers off the screen or something—as if anyone could do that,” she said. “It’s the most glorious performance in the world.”
Sarah Paulson as Aileen Wuornos on ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’Credit: Netflix
Paulson also mused about how performances cannot be compared, whether two people take on the same role or not. “Maybe it’s because I come from the world of the theater,” she continued.
“People get to reinterpret great plays all the time. No one goes, ‘Oh I don’t want to see Glenn Close’s version of this play because I saw so-and-so’s version or this director’s.”
She mentioned seeing Philip Seymour Hoffman and Nathan Lane’s respective turns as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. “I don’t sit there and go, well that one was worthy, and this one was not,” she explained.
“The experience of acting, the art of acting, is the exploration of human behavior by way of your personal experience and by way of your interpretation,” she added.
The American Horror Storystar said that her interpretation of Wuornos in the Monster anthology series is based on her research and “my personhood and how it comes out through me.”
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“It’s not an attempt to do something like anybody ever did,” she said. “It’s like this interesting thing where you end up wanting to defend what the artistic pursuit was.”
Sarah Paulson at the Los Angeles premiere of ‘Brothers’ in September 2026; Charlize Theron at the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project 2026 Block Party in Universal City in September 2026Credit: Chloe Kern/FilmMagic; Unique Nicole/FilmMagic
Paulson also mentioned that she wondered if fans would compare her and Theron when showrunner Murphy initially approached her about the role.
“It flashed in front of me like, ‘People are going to compare it to Charlize, and that’s going to be so—why would I do that?’” she said. “Why would I want to go out in the world and give a performance when someone has won an Oscar for that? Like, that’s some kind of psycho behavior on your part, Sarah Paulson.”
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“And then I thought, but I want to try,” she concluded.
The masterminds behind the Monster anthologywere keen on Paulson’s appearance as Wuornos. “It’s such an unexpected breath of fresh air when Aileen shows up,” series co-creator Ian Brennan told Vanity Fair in August 2026. “Sarah Paulson’s good in a production of reading the phone book. But she really is something else in this show.”
Aileen WuornosCredit: Florida DOC/Getty
Theron and Paulson aren’t the only stars to portray Wuornos. Jean Smart, Lily Rabe, and Peyton List have also portrayed the serial killer.
Wuornos was convicted of six counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in January 1992. She was executed by lethal injection in October 2002, per The New York Times. Her final words called back to the 1996 movie Independence Day.
“I’ll be back like Independence Day with Jesus, June 6, like the movie, big mother ship and all. I’ll be back,” she said.
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is now streaming on Netflix.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
