Twisty the Clown is undoubtedly the most frightening character on "American Horror Story: Freak Show," and John Carroll Lynch thinks that most of the fear that viewers feel every time the murderous clown pops on the screen has to do with people's general fear of clowns.
"I think a lot of it has to do with people's general fear of clowns and fear of people in masks," the 51-year-old actor told Huffington Post during a recent phone interview. "But I also think it's this kind of kooky discomfort around this person where you don't know what his agenda is."
Speaking of agenda, why does Twisty collect kids on a bus? What is his mission? "I think that the show is about people, for one motivation or another, trying to get an audience," he explained. "I think that's as true of Twisty as it is of Elsa Mars [Jessica Lange]. Why he wants an audience, I can't tell you. But there certainly appears to be a need for one."
"His actions are horrific, but his motives are really strangely, oddly pure. And that's what is most human and most disturbing about it," Lynch told BuzzFeed of his villainous character last month. "As an actor, I've given up judgment of evil, as long as it's human evil - we have to see ourselves for what we really are, and we're capable of horrific things."
"I don't intend to advocate for the horrific characters, but I hope they reflect humanity at its most vicious because we need to really look at ourselves and see it," he explained. "Otherwise, we're deluding ourselves into thinking we're not capable of it."
He added: "You can have the most wonderful motives for what you do, but if what you do harms other people, you're fooling yourself. I hope that's what people get out of [this character]. If it terrifies people, I'm OK with that - this show is called Horror Story after all - but I hope they see a reflection of their own lives. Even if it means they need to look at what they're actually doing, not what they think they're doing."
In the same interview with Huffington Post, Lynch was asked how the relationship between Twisty and Dandy (Finn Wittrock) will work out in the upcoming episodes.
"I think it's funny how it unfolds, and I wondered about that myself," he said of the bizarre team-up. "There must be something of a kindred spirit in the two of them. Certainly that's true of Dandy. I think their agendas don't quite fit together. From Twisty's point of view, by the end of the episodes, he recognizes something inside of him."
In a recent interview with TVLine, Wittrock praised Lynch's portrayal of Twisty. "He's such a good actor, John Carroll Lynch," the 29-year-old actor said. "He can do anything, and you'll find in Episode 4 that there is a human side to the clown. We will learn his backstory, and we'll actually see a sort of humanity in him."