Well I’ll still be somewhat vague [about what connected her to Fosca], just because I choose to, there was a time when I experienced an illness in my life— it wasn’t life threatening. But it was… it threatened sort of the way I lived my life. And for a period of that time I felt like it defined me, and it was something that was definitely aggravated by stress and I remember thinking sort of when I was first introduced to the character of Fosca, um, I didn’t judge her I think the way other people were quick to. “What is she a hypochondriac?”
You know in addition to being an obsessive personality, self pitying, there were many elements of her persona that were unusual and distinctive, but for me this sort of emotional hope was a vulnerability of somebody who was ill and who felt like that illness was bigger than any other element of their personality and in some way obliterated other elements of who they were. Even, for me it was just a brief period of time, that sounds very dramatic but, it was a hook into her for me.
The other thing was just that I think everyone is aware of the parts of themselves that, or I shouldn’t say everyone, a lot of people and I certainly feel, I’m aware of the parts of myself that have not been perceived as attractive. Physical things, but also parts of my personality. And so this woman’s unattractiveness that people mocked within the show, the characters in the show mocked and were dismissive to her because of, was something I was sensitive to.
… And I don’t think it’s about how many moles I put on my face or how bushy my eyebrows are, although we did make those choices, it’s about how this woman sees herself and what she feels like, and I always had this image of her rotting from the inside out.
—Donna Murphy on Fosca
