Is Ryan Murphy’s new show The Beauty a copy of The Substance? An explainer of Hollywood double-ups
From the opening scene of Ryan Murphy’s new series, Beautyis a high-octane gore-fest set in the world of supermodels. Real-life model Bella Hadid struts down the Milan catwalk before going off script and off balance. Sweaty and confused, he desperately claws at bystanders, begging for water, before launching an all-out attack on people on the street.
Violent and visceral, all high-fashion etiquette goes out the window as the bodies begin to pile up and the police circle the panting, sweating model. Then it explodes.
with FBI agents played by Evan Peters (Dahmer – The Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story) and Rebecca Hall are assigned to the case, we soon discover that Hadid’s character isn’t the only beautiful person blown up.
Models around the world have died in what we learn is the result of a secret cosmetic procedure that causes people to tear off their normal, average, much less beautiful skin outfits so their new selves can be revealed. Then it starts to spread. Like a virus in a horror movie followingThis is sexually transmitted. Sniffing out the potential of selling the Ugly Cure, shady pharmaceutical entrepreneurs begin sniffing around to get the world addicted to appearances.
From now on trailer dropped, obvious comparisons were made. The prevalence of weight loss pills like Ozempic, whose name is mentioned three times in the first four episodes of the series. And to Coralie Fargeat’s 2024 satirical body horror film ArticleA story where a black market drug promises a cure for aging and apathy.
That last comparison is especially odd for Ashton Kutcher, the real-life ex-husband of Oscar-nominated star Demi Moore, who plays a billionaire financing a black market version of the titular drug in this new series. Article. But after watching the show now, are the two works really that similar?
really? Beauty just a new version Article?
The similarities cannot be denied, but Beauty Murphy’s distinctive maximalist approach and broader satirical scope distinguishes himself from others.
Where Article It focused closely on one woman’s indulging in body horror as a way to discuss how Hollywood replaces “expired” talent with younger models, Beauty explodes the premise into a global pandemic thriller that examines vanity as contagion. Less psychologically claustrophobic and more epidemiologically assertive, classic Murphy-like shock tactics are thrown in for good measure.
Casting is also a delicious commodity. Along with Hadid’s incendiary opening, the show also features superstar model Amelia Gray Hamlin (Hadid’s daughter). Real Housewives star Lisa Rinna and Kardashian’s baby daddy Scott Disick’s ex-girlfriend) and Nicola Peltz Beckham. Most importantly, Isabella Rossellini’s place in the cast recalls her iconic return in 1992 Death Happens to HimAnother cautionary tale about the deadly quest for eternal youth and beauty. The show understands its pedigree.
For Murphy devotees, Beauty feels like a spiritual successor to the groundbreaking medical drama, Pinch/NipThis series, which ran from 2003 to 2010, also challenged America’s obsession with physical perfection through extreme cosmetic procedures but traded blood for psychological manipulation. Beauty takes these themes and turns them up to 11, replacing scalpels with skin-melting self-combustion.
More importantly, Beauty it is also based on the 2015 comic book series by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley. Murphy and series co-creator Matthew Hodgson purchased the rights almost a decade ago, long before the series was released. Article.
What did the cast and creators say about it?
When Vanity Fair When asked about the similarities between the two works, Kutcher shyly admitted that he had not seen them. Article. However, in a later interview Fun TonightHe praised his ex for her work and quickly zoomed out to relate the themes to her personal experiences.
“I started modeling when I was 19 and realized very quickly that everyone has insecurities,” she said. “If you look in the mirror long enough, you will find something you don’t like.”
Murphy – fresh off the headline-making first season of his legal drama All is Fair – also talked about Beautytakes on what he says “Ozempic culture”: “One little shot and suddenly you’ll look better, feel better, and all your problems will disappear.”
The creators of the comic put it simply: An STD that makes you beautiful.
“We’re obsessed with external beauty. That’s… a bit of a problem,” Haun told the broadcaster. Picture Comics.
“We see all this [who] We are ready to do anything to be beautiful and perfect. People are going on crash diets, making outrageous exercise plans, and having elective surgeries left and right. I looked at all of these and wanted to examine exactly how far we would go to look beautiful.
“Would we be willing to contract a disease? In most cases, I think the answer would be yes.”
Why does Hollywood have a history of double-debuts?
The phenomenon of similar projects arriving at the same time is an interesting quirk of Hollywood.
In 1998, both Antz And A Bug’s Life Both computer-animated films about individualistic insects who defy conformity, they arrived within weeks of each other. In the same year, audiences were shown two asteroid disaster movies: armageddon And Deep Impact. A year ago Dante’s Peak And Volcano It exploded within months. This phenomenon intensified further in 2005 with the dueling biographical films of Truman Capote: Kapote And infamousboth reviewed the author’s work In cold bloodcompeting for the same awards and audiences.
This can sometimes occur because studios monitor each other’s development plans, and when a project gains momentum, competitors push similar concepts into production. Fear of losing to the market often accelerates production rather than stopping it. But it could also be a coincidence caused by the zeitgeist. Writers and producers are responding to the same cultural trends, the same headlines, the same collective anxieties.
For Beauty And ArticleThe timing seems truly coincidental – one is a nearly decade-long journey from comics to screen, the other is an auteur’s independent vision. The fact that they have both come to talk about our current Ozempic moment, Instagram filters, and the normalization of cosmetic procedures suggests that these are symptoms of the same cultural diagnosis.
Beauty It will premiere on Disney+ on January 22.
Find out the next TV series, streaming series and movies to add to your must-watch list. Get the Watch List delivered every Thursday.
