'Holidate' on Netflix: What happened to Emma Roberts? How a stuttering career was saved by 'American Horror Story'
Netflix is ending the Halloween season with its latest romantic comedy titled 'Holidate'. Bringing an interesting premise around holidays and singledom, the movie claims to offer a new spin on romantic comedies. When screenwriter Tiffany Paulsen wrote the movie, she said she wanted "to figure out how we could shake that (traditional romantic comedies) up".
Playing Sloane, Roberts takes on the role of a successful single woman whose family expects her to bring home a partner for the holidays. Exhausted by their constant pressure, she devises a dating hack - 'holidate', where she takes home Jackson (played by Luke Bracey) every holiday without the stress of the relationship. Only, this is exactly what pushes the two in love.
This is the first time since her 2011 romantic comedy alongside Freddie Highmore 'The Art of Getting By' that Roberts in returning to the genre.
In these nine years, Roberts was occupied with the horror and gore genre with roles in horror films, dramas and indie flicks. Even though her work in items like 'Nancy Drew', 'Adult World', 'We're the Millers', 'Family Guy', 'Aquamarine' 'Lymelife', and 'Valentine's Day' is well known, she is really recognised - and celebrated - for her performances in the horror genre.
With her leading roles in multiple seasons of Ryan Murphy's anthology television series 'American Horror Story' for FX, Roberts developed a fan following of millions. She deemed the opportunity of working on the franchise as "the highlights of my career". Fans of the franchise had deemed her "perfect" for each of the roles that she played.
In 2013, she appeared in the third instalment, 'American Horror Story: Coven', playing the role of Madison, a party-girl teen witch who attends a special institution devoted to training and educating the few remaining witches to keep their coven from extinction.
The following year, she appeared in the fourth instalment, 'American Horror Story: Freak Show', playing the lead role in pf fortune-teller Maggie Esmeralda in a circus of misfits and deformities. She reprised her character Madison in the eighth season, 'American Horror Story: Apocalypse', the eagerly-anticipated crossover between the previous 'Murder House' and 'Coven' seasons.
Her performances in the horror genre have not only gained her a following across the globe but also earned her accolades. Both 'American Horror Story: Coven' and 'American Horror Story: Freak Show' saw her receiving Emmy nominations for Outstanding Limited Series.
It is no surprise that she played these characters with brilliance and perfection - it was her dream role. "When I heard it was going to be 'Coven', I was like. "I'm so happy I'm on this season because if I wasn't and I was watching it, I would be so mad," she had said in a 2013 interview. "When I was younger, I loved all those witch movies like 'The Craft' and 'The Witches' and 'The Witches of Eastwick'. Even 'Sabrina The Teenage Witch' was what I grew up on. There's just something so fascinating about witches, and I think it hasn't been done, in a very, very long time. It's just so cool."
She returned to the Murphy-led franchise once again in 2019 in the role of Brooke Thompson in 'American Horror Story: 1984'.
A versatile actress who has juggled performances across genres, Roberts' fans highly recommend her horror performances. With 'Holidate' she might be returning to the romantic comedy spectrum, but she has come a long way owing to her work in 'American Horror Story'.