Meet Ryan Murphy's Take on a Classic Movie Villain in Netflix's 'Ratched'

Sarah Paulson plays the notorious 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' nurse.

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If you're looking for something that echoes the vibes of Miloš Forman's classic adaptation of Ken Kesey's groundbreaking novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, you're probably not going to find it in Ratched, even though the new series is an origin story for that film's notorious villain. No, Ratched -- at least based on the new trailer released during Netflix's virtual Television Critics Association Panel -- is pure Ryan Murphy. It may as well be called American Horror Story: Ratched

Murphy favorite Sarah Paulson now plays the malicious nurse famously portrayed by Louise Fletcher in the movie. She's decked out in sumptuous costumes as she strides into her new job to the sounds of "Big Spender" from the musical Sweet Charity. Though this is supposed to depict how Ratched became the chilly woman familiar to viewers, Paulson doesn't seem to give her any warm and fuzzy qualities. She's introduced telling a gas station attendant to "bathe more often." Elsewhere, we see a lot of horrible abuse being perpetrated around the hospital where she works, in addition to a zany dance number and Sharon Stone with a monkey. 

Ratched drops on Netflix September 18.  

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Esther Zuckerman is a senior entertainment writer at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter @ezwrites.