A modern day Beauty and Beast fairytale, CW’s update has Catherine (Kristin Kreuk) inexorably connected to Vincent (Jay Ryan) through her scientist mother, who conducted the military medical experiments that changed Vincent into a beast. Catherine first encountered Vincent years earlier, when he saved her from the killers that took her mother’s life. Although the show began primarily as a procedural drama, Beauty and the Beast has morphed into a mythology love story.
In this roundtable interview, Kristin Kreuk talks about the show, her character and what viewers can expect in episodes to come.
How excited were when you found out that Catherine and Vincent were finally getting together?
Kristin Kreuk: I’m happy about that. I think there’s a certain energy to the “will they or won’t they” in any TV relationship, but that goes away. There’s a certain energy to the beginnings of something. But I’m really interested in how two people actually relate, because that’s what love is. Over time, through difficulty, how do you survive this, and they do have a lot of difficulties. But I love them. They can be really funny and honest with each other. They can both screw up and discuss it. And I like that. They’re really a team.
How awkward is it to do those steamy scenes?
KK: I’ve always found it very awkward, but I tell myself, I’m gonna get over this. Like, who cares? It’s a weird environment. And it’s not what people think it is. What I wanted to portray was a loving interaction between two people. Because I see things on TV sometimes, especially for shows with young people, and they’re going, “I’m sexy, you’re so sexy, we’re sexy, let’s make out.” I talked about this with everyone, and I said, I just want this to be as loving as possible. And that’s what we tried to do. That makes it less awkward, because I’m really bad at being sexy.
Now that Tess knows the secret, will she be getting into mischief?
KK: Well, now there are four of us, so there’s more hands on deck. Tess obviously doesn’t know as much about the situation, but I’ve always wanted to see Tess and JT engage with each other, even before we started the show. Those two will be so funny together, since they’re kind of similar and they’re both so biting in their humor. So there’s some good scenes with them. And it becomes Catherine and Tess as a team again, and JT and Vincent as a team. I like that about our show—that kind of Friends team dynamic.
What’s the one thing that attracted you to the role?
KK: In part, it was our executive producers, Sherri Cooper-Landsman and Jennifer Levin. That and the role itself: I thought there was a potential for an incredibly strong woman. And I think Catherine is becoming that more and more. I really like her. I think she’s fascinating and I love working on her story lines and developing her.
When you landed the role, did you study the 1987 Linda Hamilton-based series?
KK: I didn’t study it, but I did look at it. I try to understand the underlying metaphors in light of the material we have. It’s very different, I think, although we have a lot of little tributes and homages. There’s so many of them up until the end of our season.
How has the show changed since it began, not so much your character but the show in general?
KK: I think it’s a first season thing; trying to find what the show is. We started as a procedural in many ways and now we’re not. Now it’s a full mythology show. So that’s been really interesting to watch. The writers have had quite the task to build that mythology quickly. You try something and you go, wait a minute. The best thing about this show is the love story and the mythology. So it’s been a real dynamic to see that change.
How much of a problem is Evan going to be in the coming episodes?
KK: It’s going to be a really big issue for them, and Catherine is going to feel a lot of guilt and responsibility for it. Because she didn’t tell him and she handled the situation poorly.
Will he go to the dark side?
KK: That’ll be the struggle you’ll see in the next episode—Evan’s struggle with that, and if he chooses love in Beauty and the Beast themes or not.
Another big conflict throughout the season is Heather, she being Catherine’s roommate and also finding out about Vincent. Will that come up later this season or will she learn more about Vincent?
KK: I think with Heather, and with Darius dying, they’ve kind of put that whole thing out of her mind. So you’ll see Heather again but it’s going to be more about their family. So it will be Heather and dad. Especially when we get into he episode called “anniversary,” which is about the anniversary of Catherine’s mom dying.
Did Catherine handle the things with Vincent and Heather poorly or is it more important that Heather remains in the dark?
KK: I think it’s better that Heather remains in the dark. Does Catherine want her sister to remain in the dark? Obviously, ultimately, no. But for everyone’s safety, which is Catherine’s primary concern, it’s better if Heather remains in the dark. It’s going to get harder for her to do that in her life.
Any thoughts of co-habitation at this early stage?
KK: No thoughts of co-habitation yet. It would be too difficult, too. How’s she going to explain that one? Let’s give that a couple of seasons.
Alex A. Kecskes is a published author of "Healer a Novel" and "The Search for Dr. Noble"—both now available on Amazon. He has written hundreds of film reviews and celebrity interviews for a wide variety of online and print outlets. He has covered red carpet premieres and Comic-Con events for major films and independent releases.
