Some actors dream of earning an Emmy for their work in television. Actress Chasty Ballesteros dreamt of being the first victim in American Horror Story: Hotel. Ballesteros met her grisly end at the hand of Lady Gaga and Hotel boy toy Matt Bomer during, what else, a bloody foursome deep in the heart of the Cortez.
In an interview with MTV, Ballesteros recounts how it felt to be working with the songstress, who plays the vampiric Countess in her first regular television role. As it rusn out, Ballesteros had no idea she would even be sharing a bed with Gaga and Bomer until her manager broke the news to her: she’d be appearing opposite Gaga and Bomer, as well as on-screen boyfriend Nate Peterson, in a sensual, bloody foursome.
“You know, I’ve done this kind of stuff before,” Ballesteros told MTV. “I was just more mesmerized to be able to work with actors of the caliber of Matt Bomer and Lady Gaga — just being surrounded by them and seeing how comfortable they are… Really, it’s almost just like hanging out with someone when you’re actually doing this kind of stuff on set. Like, there’s no emotion — you don’t really go there. It’s kind of just like, ’put your arm here, put your arm there.’ It’s very strategic, so it was mentally — I don’t know if you actually prepare for these kinds of things. You kind of just show up and go with it.”
But despite how tantalizing and sexy Gaga behaved as the Countess in the first episode of Hotel, the energy was a whole lot different behind the scenes, with Gaga a confident, radiant force that seemed to drive the entire production:
“Lady Gaga is just so confident,” Ballesteros told MTV. “Just to be around her, she gives off that confidence, and she’s so humble and really charismatic. Had it been anybody else having to do that elaborate thing with, I don’t know how well it would have went. And Matt Bomer — he’s such a pro; he’s just so down to earth. Thankfully they were there and they were super natural about it.”
Apparently, Gaga helped make what could have been an incredibly awkward sex scene into a leisurely exercise. “It was as if we weren’t even naked,” said Ballesteros. “We were all just super comfortable, and we got along really well and we just chatted about cats and the business, things we had for lunch — what we didn’t eat, what we shouldn’t eat for the day, who ate and who didn’t eat. So we’re all like, ’Who’s going to eat? Who’s not eating? What are we going to not do for lunch?’
The sex scene (orchestrated by Ryan Murphy himself, of course: “he was literally a composer,” according to Ballesteros) culminated in the gory throat-slitting of both Ballesteros and Peterson, with as Gaga and Bomer using a bladed glove to slice open the couple’s throats as cleanly and as quickly as possible. Voila! A bloody orgy fit for the likes of American Horror Story fans, and a crazy memorable scene overall. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be killed by Lady Gaga after all.
Photos by Suzanne Tenner / FX