How to Get Cast on Ryan Murphy’s ‘The Beauty’

“The Beauty” is being adapted from Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley’s graphic novel series of the same name. The story follows Drew Foster and Kara Vaughn, two detectives working in the beauty crimes department of the NYPD. Foster and Vaughn must investigate the spread of a sexually transmitted disease that’s infected half of America. Most of the infected individuals purposely contracted the illness because it makes the given person beautiful—burning fat and sculpting muscle in a way that makes the infected more attractive. However, as they dig deeper, the detectives discover the disease is fatal and might have been introduced by the government as a plot against the people.

There’s been no confirmation as to how closely Murphy and Hodgson’s series will align with the source material, but it’s safe to say this project will be both entertaining and thought-provoking.

So far, the actors tied to the project include:

• Rebecca Hall
• Evan Peters
• Anthony Ramos
• Ashton Kutcher
• Jeremy Pope

Currently, there is no casting director connected to the series. However, Murphy worked with veteran CD Tiffany Little Canfield on many of his latest series—including ABC’s “Doctor Odyssey,” FX’s “Grotesquerie,” and Netflix’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”—so we wouldn’t be shocked if they’ve partnered up again.

Murphy has also worked with Robert J. Ulrich, Eric Dawson, and Carol Kritzer of Ulrich/Dawson/Kritzer Casting on a number of his most notable shows, including ABC’s “9-1-1,” FX’s “American Horror Story,” and Fox’s “Glee,” so it can’t hurt to familiarize yourself with this team, too.

When auditioning for Canfield, she told us, “I hope that people can expect to collaborate with another artist on material that they are hopefully passionate about. I think it’s really important to be kind and respectful, and know that it’s really difficult to show up to an audition. I always try to treat that person with respect and kindness…. People are always looking for what they did wrong, and I always want to say to them, ‘One person gets the part; that doesn’t mean one person is excellent.’ It’s often a very hard decision.”

If you read for Dawson, make sure you come into the room with confidence (and maybe an intelligent question or two). “I think you have to believe that you’ve done your homework and you’ve made strong choices. You have to come in and do it and not apologize at the end or make excuses or ask on and on, you know, ‘Give me direction.’ I think that takes away your confidence, and so much of what producers and directors are looking at is that confidence that people carry with them,” he told us. “You just can’t look too needy, because often that reads. So it’s important to come in, not talk too much, do what you’re there to do, feel good about it, say a nice goodbye, and leave the room.”

Peters has collaborated with Murphy repeatedly since first joining “American Horror Story” in 2011. Most recently, he starred on “Monsters: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” playing the titular serial killer on the first season of Murphy and Ian Brennan’s anthology series. As he told us, it was Murphy’s willingness to take a chance on him that altered the course of his career.

“Ryan Murphy gave me a huge shot with ‘American Horror Story,’ ” he shared. “He gave me opportunity after opportunity to play a different character each season. And absolutely, there was darkness for some of those characters.”

He continued, “Working on ‘Horror Story’ helped me be able to approach a darker character like Jeffrey Dahmer. I knew I was going to take the 10 years of working on that show and apply it to something that I felt had a message that was incredibly important. I really wanted to tone everything down and home in on it and really give it everything that I had—all the things that I’ve learned over the years—and apply it to this project. I have to thank Ryan Murphy for giving me the opportunity. It all goes back to him. He changed my life—he really did.”

Dawson, who helped cast Season 1 of “Monsters,” noted, if you want to appeal to Murphy during an audition, showing a bit of your personality helps make an impression. “What I actually think is nice, and [Murphy] does watch for [this], is a little thing—30 seconds at most—at the beginning [of your self-tape]. Say something important about yourself, or the shows he does, or the character you’re reading for. Just a personal moment, and probably not more than 15, 20, 30 seconds. But I think sometimes that’s important, to just see the person for a second. You get engaged with the person or a little snippet or story. Michael Learned, who played [Peters’] mother in ‘Dahmer,’ she was friends with Sarah Paulson. When she taped, she told a little funny Sarah Paulson story at the beginning. I think Ryan enjoyed that. Nothing too big, but just a little bit of your personality.”

And if you’re not right for the given role, don’t worry. Canfield said making a good impression can last long after you leave the audition room. “So many of our projects feed other projects,” she explained. “On every project we work on, we’re constantly learning [about] new actors and seeing actors we love try something new. This happened with a pilot I just cast. A young actor we cast in a play years ago had gotten close to a show that I had done…[but she] didn’t get the part; and now that producer and I are working on a new project. She came in and slayed and got the lead of a series. I don’t know if that would have happened if I hadn’t seen her for so many different kinds of projects and got to see how much range she actually has.”

“The Beauty” is currently in production, according to Variety, with filming taking place in New York City. However, it doesn’t appear that the entire season will be filmed in the Big Apple. In October 2024, Murphy told Entertainment Weekly that production plans to go “all over the world” in 2025, saying, “It’s a very long shoot. It’s a big shoot and it’s fun.”

So, stay tuned for more filming locations and updates as the project remains ongoing.

Waldron Casting is actively seeking background actors for “The Beauty.” The casting company posted calls on its socials, and provides actors the ability to self-submit on its website. 

If you’re hoping to land a more prominent role on the series, we recommend securing an agent as the secretive nature of Murphy’s projects does not lend itself to public calls. Another of Murphy’s casting collaborators, Eric Souliere (“9-1-1: Lone Star,” “American Horror Story,” “Nip/Tuck”), told us: “We have to be very careful about keeping everything secret…. There’s never any plot, the sides are fake, and the names are changed so if it does get out, people have no idea what anything means. Also, every actor who auditions has to sign an NDA, and they can’t say that they went in for this show or disclose any information about the audition or role they’re reading for. We’re very protective; [we want] audiences to be surprised as they watch.”

We also recommend bookmarking our main casting page, which updates as new opportunities become available, and our selection of horror casting calls to keep your acting résumé fresh.

Accept rejection. As Hall told us, there’s no real trick for handling rejection. “At the beginning, [rejection is] much harder. I think the only wisdom I have on it is that there really isn’t any wisdom. You just have to accept it,” she said. “Find a way to not take it personally. Think of it as if you were directing the piece, and you just happened to want someone who looked a little differently. There is nothing you can do about it on the whole. That, and just sort of go and scream into a pillow, get a drink…. There’s always another [audition].”

Watch television. Dawson said that actors often come into auditions bragging that they do not watch TV shows—an odd flex he strongly advises against. “If you want to act in television, I think you should watch it. It’s important to know the shows that you’re auditioning for and the characters that you’re auditioning against; and now with IMDb and TiVo, it’s really possible for actors to get a lot of information quickly about who the rest of the people in the scene are, even on shows they’ve never seen,” he said. “As a casting director, I work really long hours, but I still manage to watch every pilot that comes on television, and I kind of have a sense of all the shows that are out there. I just don’t understand giving up that extra 20% help that that gives you going into a room. I don’t think there’s any room for snobbery.”

Give it your all. While Peters said he spent his early years “fucking around,” he’d tell his younger self to try harder. “You need to buckle down and bust your ass. And try hard…. The trick is: You can’t look like you’re trying too hard,” Peters told us. “I think Laurence Olivier said, ‘If you give 110%, it looks like you’re trying too hard, so you’ve got to give 65%.’ I think it means more in terms of prep—learning your lines, doing your research, prepping as much as you possibly can, and then letting it go and having fun, which is so fucking hard to do when there’s a lot of pressure. So, I don’t know; it’s a double-edged sword of: Try really hard and then let it go, which I’m still learning to do. But yeah, I would say: Stop fucking around, man. Memorize your lines, be off-book, and try your best.”

Trust the process. Pope told us his younger self was seemingly fearless, but if he could go back, he’d tell himself you don’t need to have all the answers. “It’s OK to be scared; it’s OK to not know what the outcome is going to be. Trust your gut and listen to your instincts. You know that you’re going to work and you’re going to prove [yourself] and you’re going to show up when it’s time to show up. I would just tell myself to lean into that. It’s going to be scary; it’s going to be hard; you’re going to feel lost; you’re going to feel confused,” he explained. “Lean on your friends, the people that you’re meeting, and trust that it’s going to work out in a way that’s unimaginable. I couldn’t have written the story any better. Everything that’s happening to me, it’s like, at this point, I just have to literally close my eyes and lean forward. At this point, I’m just leaning. This is all a dream.”