Aaron Tveit Goes Full Patrick Bateman in American Horror Stories Episode 2: 'It's Brutal, Violent and Unexpected'

Heads off up: We’re spoiling American Horror Stories‘ “Rubber (Wo)man Part Two,” now streaming on FX on Hulu.

Not many people would jump at the chance to get stabbed by a man in a rubber suit, but when the chance to work with Ryan Murphy is at stake, that choice becomes much clearer.

Such was the case for Aaron Tveit, who plays a key role in the second episode of American Horror Stories — one that might make you think twice the next time you hire a contractor.

“This guy basically serves to totally disrupt [the main characters’] marriage and relationship,” Tveit tells TVLine. “He’s an opportunist and he’s manipulative. But even though [horror] is a bit of a departure for me, I have gotten to play a number of characters who look a certain way at the outset before it all turns around. I do like looking for these off-center, dark people. I actually haven’t played many princes — a lot of just-off guys. I knew I’d really get to throw the paint against the wall. I definitely had American Psycho and had Patrick Bateman-esque sociopathy in my head.”

Part of the appeal of this particular role — which Tveit describes as “brutal, violent and unexpected” — was getting to work with Matt Bomer, whom he’d met previously, and Gavin Creel, with whom he’s had a longtime friendship.

Gavin and I have known each other for a long time, and we’ve sang in a bunch of things, but we’ve never worked together properly,” Tveit says. “Matt was the lead of Jeff Easton’s White Collar for USA, and Graceland on USA was a Jeff Easton show, so I met Matt when we were both starting. He was wonderful to me. So that was also packaged and rolled into this thing, that the two guys I’d get to be spending most of my time with on set were Matt and Gavin, which is a dream come true.”

And here’s a fun fact for all you musical theater fans, especially those who caught Tveit and Creel’s virtual performance of Jekyll & Hyde‘s “In His Eyes” for Miscast 2021. Fans of the duo — which previously performed Rent‘s “Take Me or Leave Me” for Miscast 2016 — were delighted by the video’s twist ending, for which we can apparently thank American Horror Stories.

“Everything was virtual, but our gag was that we ended up in the same frame… because we were bubbled together living in the same apartment complex while we were shooting this show,” Tveit reveals. So that whole bit worked because we were together for this show. We had to be vague about what we were doing, because we couldn’t say it was American Horror Stories.” (Mystery solved!)

And if Tveit has his way, this won’t be the last time we see him in the AHS universe. “I would be lucky to be among the company of actors [Murphy] keeps, especially with that show,” he says. “It reminds me of a company of players doing different theater projects. It’s a very fun, very specific world to be in.”

Your thoughts on the first two installments of American Horror Stories? Grade the “Rubber Woman” episodes below, then drop a comment with more of your thoughts.