Director Michael Lehmann likes exploring the dark side of humor. After all, his first movie was the classic teenage murder comedy ‘Heathers’. Since then, he has continued to dwell in darkness, directing several episodes of ‘True Blood’ as well as episodes of ‘Scream Queens’, ‘Jessica Jones’, ‘Dexter’ and more. But there’s one series he will never direct another episode of and that’s ‘American Horror Story’.
Lehmann directed the tenth episode of the first season, “Smoldering Children” and two more for ‘Asylum’, the sinister Christmas episode “Unholy Night” and one episode that remains one of the most memorable out of all the seasons, “The Name Game.”
See why, here:
Well, at least if that was Lehmann’s swan song, it’s an excellent way to make an exit.
Lehmann discussed his time with ‘American Horror Story’ with Syfy FanGrrls:
“I went in for the first season and saw a little glimpse of the show and I thought this looks really good. I did an episode and had a great time and I thought the cast was just fantastic, and for television, it was really good quality stuff.
“I also did a couple more in the second season and I really liked what I was doing but in a way, I didn’t really like living in that dark place. It’s really dark, and I’ll go as dark as anybody for sure, but I think after a couple of seasons of it it was less interesting to me and so I doubt I’ll go back.”
This actually sounds a lot like a sentiment that ‘AHS’ creator Ryan Murphy expressed in 2016 when he decided to alter the presentation of the show, launching it earlier and wrapping up in the fall, rather bleeding into the holiday season and coming back in the New Year. “Do I really want to be watching a horror show post-Thanksgiving when we get to Christmas? I really don’t. I always watch that show live, and I really love it in the beginning when it’s fall, when it‘s Halloween and before Thanksgiving. And then after that, I just don‘t want blood with my Christmas ornaments. I just don’t.”
To check out Lehmann’s classic film, ‘Heathers’ 30th Anniversary 4K Restoration is available on digital and on demand August 20.
Source: Syfy Wire
