Sarah Paulson, nominated for an Emmy for her performance in the FX series American Horror Story: Coven, certainly earned her paycheck doing the part.

The actress was in a scene where her character of Coredelia had sex with her husband inside a ring of fire with snakes slithering around them. It was all part of a magical fertility spell.

Paulson confessed to talk show host Seth Meyers this week that she needed some liquid courage to get through the scene during which an albino snake named Butter was wrapped around her.

‘I did have some tequila because I was a little nervous,’ she told Meyers.

When show’s director asked Paulson how she felt about being in a scene with snakes she said bluntly: ‘Um, I don’t feel good about it.’

She wondered if a snake could be defanged and co-star Jessica Lange teased: ‘Have fun with those snakes. Remember even the nicest ones can bite.’

But Paulson had already proven herself to be quite the trouper on the series and had already performed in a scene even more terrifying.

During a previous season, the Asylum chapter of the show, she had to ‘breast feed my 35-year-old friend Zachary Quinto.’