Sarah Paulson is nominated for her eighth Emmy this season for her role in FX’s Impeachment: American Crime Story , which provides a nuanced and compelling portrait of a public servant who was involved in the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, After she handed over the recorded phone call between herself and Monica Lewinsky (played by Beanie Feldstein) in a conversation with independent consultant Kenneth Starr, the latter revealed her relationship with President Bill Clinton during her White House internship sexual relationship.
For showrunner Sarah Burgess, she was also nominated for an Emmy for outstanding writing on a limited or anthology series, although special Rip infamously betrayed her, but she wasn’t the onetime friend and former Pentagon colleague Lewinsky of the production’s villain.
“Not that she was not responsible for her actions, but the defamation of Linda at the time, in the later ’90s, It’s because she likes the drama of it all,” Burgess said. Although throughout the series, Tripp is sometimes portrayed as a resentful government employee with a higher sense of purpose – and with a deep disdain for Clinton, who she believes is partly responsible for her unsatisfactory career trajectory — but impeachment is far from the nosy, attention-seeking nosy person she portrays.
Instead, Tripp is a passionate, patriotic woman: uncovering the truth about a leader she despises, who she believes is bad for the country, in addition to exploiting His power was exploited by then-24 year-old Lewinsky. Tripp didn’t consider herself a villain, especially in the early days when she was secretly recording private phone calls between herself and Lewinsky. From her point of view, Lewinsky needs protection from predators – as the impeachment shows, the destruction of her friendship is a events that deeply affected Tripp.
Burgess said: “I don’t believe Linda is going to be like a psychopath and forget about it the moment it happens.”
Her nominated episode “Man Handled” depicts the moment Tripp realizes the seriousness of her actions – not only their impact on the President’s legacy, but also on the young and naive Lewins base influence. In this episode, Lewinsky is ambushed and detained by the independent attorney’s office after Tripp’s tapes show that Lewinsky gave perjury denials in his testimony in the Paula Jones case. The night before, Tripp met with Jones’ attorney, and she began to realize that her grand vision of patriotic duty was offset by her betrayal of Lewinsky.
“Linda, at the beginning of the show, was someone who wanted to feel important and involved in everything,” Burgess said. “When she actually had a very important meeting with these lawyers, [people might think] she should love it. But in reality, she was miserable. It’s something she’s been working on. She has a deep feeling for this president. Deep anger and grievance that she has the opportunity to help them get him. But the person she is thinking about and focusing on is Monica.”
Burgess said this regret Sense and Ann Coulter (Cobie Smulders) express the story of Clinton’s impending downfall. “They don’t have skins in the game,” Burgess said. But for Tripp, the moment set an almost tragic turning point that would cement her own legacy in American history. “This is the beginning of Linda’s life with his anticlimactic consequences,” Burgess added, “and she will have to explain herself and tell her story for the rest of her life.”
This story first appeared in The Hollywood Reporter Magazine’s August issue.
