American Horror Story and Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story alum Evan Peters says he was excited to play the hero in Ryan Murphy's latest project, The Beauty.
"He said he just wanted me to be normal, just to try to be myself, which was difficult," he quipped.
Premiering Wednesday on FX and Hulu, the dark comedy/horror series casts Peters as Cooper Madsen and Hall as Jordan Bennett, FBI agents investigating gruesome deaths connected to the use of a drug that instantly improves people's appearances.
Ashton Kutcher plays the unscrupulous head of the corporation that makes the drug and Anthony Ramos plays an assassin employed to kill people who share the drug without permission. Jeremy Pope, Bella Hadid and Isabella Rossellini co-star.
"The goal, I think, first off, is to figure out why people are exploding, like what is going on?" Peters said of his character's motivation."That's strange, so [he wants to] figure that out and then it becomes personal. So, the stakes are raised and then he has to go rogue and figure out how to do this thing without help, essentially, from more powerful government agencies," Peters revealed. "It only gets more complicated and the stakes get raised higher and higher."
The theme of what makes something aesthetically pleasing is debated by various characters throughout the drama.
"There's also a through-line through a lot of Ryan's projects, which is that the thing that makes you 'you' and makes you unique is the thing that makes you interesting and is to be celebrated," Peters said.
"There are some episodes that really hammer that in and I think that there's nobody better than Ryan to spread that message."
Parade's End and Godzilla X Kong actress Hall, 43, described Cooper and Bennett as work colleagues, who are also "best friends with benefits."
"They both think that there's nothing more to it, although it's a complete lie and they're just refusing to be vulnerable with each other," she added. "So, there's a lot of unspoken nonsense and they should just get on with it."
Peters agreed.
"They're both very prideful types that are frightened of emotional intimacy," Hall explained.
Peters added, "Cooper's a bit of a straight edge straight and Jordan is very fun and funny and I think they balance each other out."



