Womack and Bowman and American Horror Story

A haunting love affair

 

Brett on a poster for AHS 'Hotel'

If you have driven down the ninety freeway in West Los Angeles this week, or along La Brea Avenue in Hollywood or Laurel Canyon Boulevard in The San Fernando Valley, you have probably seen the gorgeously spooky new commercials for American Horror Story 'Hotel' starring Brett Womack and Rachel Bowman. The compelling images feature Brett as a tortured drag queen, trapped in what appears to be a carnivorous vintage bed and Rachel in a painfully contorted back bend clawing desperately towards the heavens. The riveting images appear on dozens of billboards, bus stops, buses and buildings throughout the city, promoting the new season of the series that premieres October 7^th on FX.

Rachel on a billboard for AHS 'Hotel'

This is not the first time that Brett and Rachel have been featured in the promotional campaign for American Horror Story, in fact it is Rachel’s second and Brett’s fourth! Back in 2011 when the series premiered, Brett was hired to portray the freakishly bendy ‘Rubber Man’ for the print campaign and even toured the character across the USA in an interactive promotional campaign for the show.

Brett as 'Rubber Man' in AHS 'Murder House'

In 2012 Brett was again hired by FX, this time in more of an ensemble role behind Jessica Laing for American Horror Story 'Asylum.'

Brett as an Asylum patient in AHS 'Asylum'

In 2014 the series took place at a "Freak show" and FX Productions took their promotional campaign to a whole knew level of scary; Cue the carny folk! The vice president of production and special projects for FX hired Brett directly, and asked him to recommend a ‘freaky’ female aerialist to work alongside him. The duo were featured both in print (billboards, bus stops etc.) and in broadcast (TV, internet), Rachel as a three legged Aerial Hoop artist and Brett as the Trapeze wheeling killer clown ‘Twisty.' 

Rachel as a three legged Aerialist in AHS 'Freak show' print campaign

A still shot from AHS 'Freak show' teaser with Brett as 'Twisty'

Womack and Bowman perform at the AHS 'Freak show' premiere

The American Horror Story ‘Freak show’ campaign was a huge success breaking FX records and bringing in an audience of over 10 million viewers for the season premiere! The FX production team was so impressed with Brett and Rachel’s performances in the campaign that they hired the duo to perform at the shows LA premiere event and even scheduled their wrap party to coincide with an existing Womack and Bowman performance!

Behind the scenes of AHS 'Hotel' print campaign

When I asked Brett why he thinks that American Horror Story continues to feature the duo in their promotional campaigns he responded shyly. “Well, they (FX casting) think we are very expressive, I guess that comes from all the years of performing aggressive aerial acts! The Vice President of production told me that she could hire thirty models but that none of them could do what the two of us can do.”

From the looks of these images, that definitely appears to be the case. Here’s hoping that this campaign does as well as the last and that Womack and Bowman return to decorate Los Angeles again next year in their hauntingly beautiful, acrobatic glory.