The Surprising Inspiration For Spalding's Makeup In AHS: Coven

”We looked at a lot of sources for this," O'Hare said of Spalding's look. "The first thing that comes to mind is ['Rocky Horror's'] Riff Raff (...) We just kept exploring with the costume designer Lou [Eyrich] and we ended up with a very elegant, distinguished-looking freak."

In case you never socialized with the theater kids in high school, Riff Raff is the name of Frank-N-Furter's manservant from the cult classic stage musical "The Rocky Horror Show" and its big screen adaptation, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Originally portrayed by series creator Richard O'Brien, he's an alien from the planet Transylvania who enjoys a close relationship with his sister and eventually wrests control of an interplanetary castle by means of a small-scale coup. It's a peculiar piece of theater.

What's important is that Riff Raff, as portrayed by O'Brien, looks like a greasy albino cheekbone brought to life through sorcery. Imagine if Fritz from the classic Universal "Frankenstein" movie showed up at your favorite bar and refused to leave you alone. Picture what would happen if Adrien Brody took a tiny sip from the wrong cup in the grail room from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and suddenly aged 20 years all at once. That's what Riff Raff looks like. And that's what they were going for with Spalding in "American Horror Story: Coven."