Award-winning U.S. director, producer and screenwriter Ryan Murphy (‘American Horror Story’) presents ‘The Beauty’, his new series, where he portrays the aesthetic obsessions of today’s society in a “provocative” way, as described by two of its protagonists, Evan Peters and Rebecca Hall, in an interview with EFE.
Based on the comic book of the same name by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley, ‘The Beauty’ imagines a world in which a new sexually transmitted virus spreads rapidly through the population, turning carriers into a more attractive version of themselves and awakening greed in those who see the disease as a way to do business.
Peters and Hall, who in ‘The Beauty’ play two FBI agents in charge of investigating the suspicious discovery of several corpses related to this beauty virus, receive EFE in a London hotel before the premiere of the series, which will arrive in Spain on January 22 on Disney+.
‘The Beauty’ explores in a hybrid between science fiction and body horror – inevitably reminiscent of ‘The Substance’ (2024) – the less beautiful part of today’s society: its fears, its ambition and its endless and obsessive search for aesthetic perfection, in part enhanced by the impossible canons displayed by social networks.
“Ryan Murphy always has a nose for the zeitgeist of what we’re talking about and somehow exploits it, but intentionally. He sensationalizes it, makes it subversive, provocative and a talking point,” asserts the British actress.
In this context, for Hall the series sends the message that “your uniqueness is important, whatever it means to you, and chasing something that is imposed from the outside can be dangerous and can make you go crazy.”
Ryan Murphy and the sacrifices of beauty
The Spanish saying goes that “to look good, you have to suffer” and throughout the 11 episodes of this first season of the series, the characters of ‘The Beauty’ offer countless definitions of what beauty means to them and the sacrifices they are willing to make to achieve it.
When thinking of beauty, the first image that comes to Peters’ mind is “fresh snow,” confesses the American actor, while for Hall it is something that defies his own definition, like an “instinct.”
The weight of age and the onset of old age is another theme the series explores and Hall reflects on: “It would be naïve to say that I’m not afraid of getting old. We all are. Getting older is literally the process of losing your life,” says the 43-year-old actress.
“Some days I look in the mirror and love the way I’m aging. There are others when I look at myself and I hate it. I wish it were otherwise. Every day it changes, but whether or not I decide to do anything with it is up to me,” she maintains.
Criticism of the ‘Ozempic’ culture
‘The Beauty’ may be a fictional drug, but the series does not forget to satirize the recent phenomenon of slimming treatments such as Ozempic or Mounjaro and their effects, which are already real and visible in people all over the world.
According to Hall, another virus – metaphorically – that has taken hold of society is that of disconnection: “Somehow, we are losing our shared sense of humanity and need to spend more time in person talking to each other,” he reflects.
Next to him, a less than loquacious Peters during the interview adds, “I like that, that’s a great answer.”
‘The Beauty’ is also a personal challenge for the 60-year-old Murphy himself, who returns to the horror genre and will try to convince critics after the devastating reviews of his last project ‘All’s Fair’, starring Kim Kardashian, Glenn Close and Naomi Watts, but with a zero-star rating for ‘The Guardian’.
Peters and Hall headline a cast that also includes Ashton Kutcher, Anthony Ramos, Jeremy Pope, and Isabella Rossellini; and features cameo appearances by Gigi Hadid, Meghan Trainor and Ben Platt, among others, reported Agencia EFE.
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