Kathy Bates was the first to arrive at Lady Gaga's blood-red pool party 

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When Lady Gaga threw a pool party for her 

 castmates, Kathy Bates was the first to arrive. Normally not an ideal situation, but in this case, she “really lucked out,” Bates said Saturday at the first-ever EW Fest. 

Why? Bates got to see Gaga make her spectacularly glamorous entrance — which of course involved descending a curved staircase, “looking through [Bates’] soul” all the while — bedecked in such Lady Gaga staples as fishnet stockings, a thong, a Cleopatra diamond collar, and her hair in the style of Veronica Lake. That’s when Bates knew she was looking at The Countess. 

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 mastermind Ryan Murphy was similarly awestruck by Gaga’s hosting duties. “The thing about her that I love is that she doesn’t disappoint,” he previously told EW. “Like the other night was a perfect example: She wanted to get together with the cast and she had a decorator come to the house and transport it with black lace curtains and horror themes and she had dyed the pool blood red. It was quite incredible. What you want her to be is who she is which is a really rare quality in a star.”

See Bates fail to keep her inner Little Monster at bay in the video above, and check out the entire Ryan Murphy & Friends panel here.

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