FOR ANYONE WHO might not be in the know, Sarah Paulson and Rihanna are starring opposite each other in Ocean’s 8 - Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Triology spin-off.
Equally acclaimed in their own right, it’s hard to imagine either feeling starstruck in the other’s presence, but it turns out Sarah Paulson is.
And in a big way.
Appearing on the Ellen De Generes Show this week, the 43-year-old American Horror Story star admitted that she was such a goon in front of the singer that she was advised to ‘dial it back’ by co-star Sandra Bullock.
No, seriously.
Sarah filled Ellen in on the dynamic at play on the set, and it’s fair to say Sarah Paulson is all of us in front of Rihanna.
It was sort of a daily struggle not to embarrass myself because every time I looked at her, I was like ‘Werk, werk, werk werk.’
So far, so standard.
It was just like… it was not good. I’m not a singer, A, and B, it was just deeply nerdy. Sandy would just constantly look at me and be like ‘Hey, just dial it down. Just stop.’ It was not good.
And yet Sarah couldn’t help herself and regularly performed self-composed songs for the Werk singer.
I dealt with my own anxiety by going up to Rihanna and being like ‘I got a new song I could do’ and she was like ‘No, Paulson!’
According to Sarah, Rihanna gives amazing side-eye, and she was regularly on the receiving end when her fan-girling got too intense for everyone on-set.
Skip ahead to 1.43 for Sarah’s take on the whole shebang.
