[Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for The Beauty.]

Summary

FX’s ‘The Beauty’ tracks a virus that makes people physically perfect, and the terrifying costs of chasing beauty.

Evan Peters and Rebecca Hall explore how obsession with beauty drives extreme choices, from myths to modern scares.

Intense stunts and physical contortion sell the danger and consequences of the story.

Created and written by Ryan Murphy and Matthew Hodgson, the FX series The Beauty follows FBI Agents Cooper Madsen (Evan Peters) and Jordan Bennett (Rebecca Hall) as they track a virus that transforms those infected into physical perfection. But the terrifying consequences that come with this new version of themselves really test their limits of what they’re willing to do to obtain their ideal beauty. The more the epidemic spreads both by choice and through unintended transmission, the more questions arise about how to handle what comes next. During this interview with Collider, co-stars Peters and Hall discussed the human obsession with beauty and how far some will go to achieve their ideal, that Murphy should consider a remake of 1959’s The Wasp Woman, Peters’ brutal fight scene in episode two, the physical transformation that Jordan experiences, the “mildly perilous” contortion that Hall needed to perform, and the experience of sharing a role with another actor. Hall also talked about her role in the family dynamic of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story and the twist that Murphy is putting on the real-life story, while Peters shared how exciting it is to be heading into Season 13 of American Horror Story.
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“It’s a tale as old as time.”

Collider: There are conversations in this series about plastic surgery and weight loss drugs. And people are getting intentionally infected with something described as “the love child of HIV and rabies but neither.” Do you think we even know just how far some people would go in real life to achieve an ideal of beauty that can never really be obtained, and is that frightening to even think about? HALL: Yeah, of course it’s frightening, but I think it’s a tale as old as time. Honestly, I think humans have always been obsessed with beauty, what is beautiful, and how you can obtain it. What would you sacrifice, in order to have it? Yes, there are certain types of recent movies and stories, but there’s also great myths about it. There’s also Dorian Gray, for example. That’s it. That’s all the references I’ve got. PETERS: The Wasp Woman, I quite liked. The Wasp Woman came out in 1959. It’s great. HALL: I love a 1959 movie. PETERS: She’s running a makeup company and then finds this guy who’s making this serum from wasp [jelly]. She starts injecting herself and then turns into this wasp woman who eats people. HALL: This was in 1959. PETERS: Yes. It’s been around for a while. HALL: I want to watch that. It sounds great. I sniff a remake from Ryan Murphy. PETERS: You could be the Wasp Woman. That feels like something that Ryan Murphy will be doing at some point. PETERS: I agree.

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To jump into spoilers, Evan, in episode two, you have a pretty brutal physical fight with two men that continues while you’re trying to run and get away from them. What was all of that like to shoot? How much of that did you actually get to do? What was all of that like to figure out? PETERS: I got to do all of it. It was awesome. Our stunt team, Mark Fichera and Jason Mello, came up with these incredibly long, intricate fight sequences that we rehearsed. We were in the middle of the night in Venice, running all over the place for a couple of nights, trying to shoot it. It was a dream come true, really. It was one of the main reasons I wanted to do this show because there were going to be several of those. I was excited to be able to have the opportunity to do that.
Rebecca Hall Had To Do Some “Mildly Perilous” Contortion While Experiencing Jordan Bennett’s Transformation

“It was fun to do all of that.”

Rebecca Hall as FBI Agent Jordan Bennett looking frustrated in The BeautyImage via FX Network

Rebecca, the physical reaction that you have in episode two, when you’re throwing yourself around and tearing out of that skin, what was that like to figure out? How was that to shoot, especially when everyone we see as they go through that has to have the same physicality throughout the transformation process? HALL: Yes, the stunt team worked out some themes that we were to work within. You had to imagine that you’re just really, really hot and then imagine that you just have an unquenchable thirst. But there was a certain amount of freedom within that. You could act as intensely as you wanted. And then, there was some light contortion. I did some of that. And then, an actual contortionist did some of the more intense stuff. It was fun, actually, to do all of that, as well as mildly perilous. Was it disappointing to have to hand your character over to another actor? Did you see what the other actor did? Especially for you, Evan, it seems like an unusual experience to find the same character relationship between Cooper and Jordan with two different actors. PETERS: Yeah, it was interesting. It was challenging. Jessica [Alexander] did a fantastic job embodying the character and taking on some of Rebecca’s voice and mannerisms. It was uncanny at times and strange, but incredibly helpful to carry on the passion and the drive to fix the problem, to make sure that she doesn’t explode. HALL: It’s a totally unique situation to share a character with another actor, and I think there’s something quite lovely about it, actually. I had a nice cup of tea with Jessica, where we talked through some things that we understood about her. I realized very quickly that we were very much on the same page, and it was nice to be able to just be like, “Good luck. I’m here if you need me. Give me a call at any point.” I think she does an incredible job and she’s brilliant. I was in full support.

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You both already know what your next Ryan Murphy projects are after this. Rebecca, you’ve got Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story. What was that family dynamic like to figure out? It’s such a famous family dynamic. HALL: Yeah, it’s a famous family dynamic, but this is definitely like a lot of Ryan Murphy’s shows. There’s whatever the reality may have been, and then there’s a fictionalization that is going on, on top of that. I don’t think I was actually tied into any particularities of what the real Abby Borden might have been like. For a start, I think I’m 20 years younger than her. It’s a fantastical creation and a hell of a character. I’ve had a complete role playing her. It’s unlike anything that I have done. I got to just go to town, chewing all the available scenery, and I had a great time. PETERS: That sounds fun.
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“I’m very excited about that.”

Evan Peters as FBI Agent Connor Madsen with a band-aid on his right cheek in The BeautyImage via FX Network

Evan, what’s it like to be at lucky Season 13 for American Horror Story? It seems wild that we’re there now. PETERS: Lucky 13. I know, it is surreal that it’s been 13 years. HALL: Wow.

PETERS: Yeah. It’s exciting because Ryan’s got a lot of the original cast members over the years coming back. It’s a little bit of a high school reunion here. It should be interesting to see what he writes for all of us and see what he has us do. Just to be able to work with those actors and actresses again will be awesome. I’m very excited about that.

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Do you even know what you’re playing yet? PETERS: No. Are you still waiting to find out the details? PETERS: We’re still waiting, yeah. We’re just gearing up. HALL: That’s fun. PETERS: Yeah, we’ll see.

The Beauty airs on FX and is available to stream on Hulu. Check out the trailer: