Florence Pugh says the new adaptation of “East of Eden” invites audiences to view Cathy, one of American literature’s most notorious villains, under a more sympathetic light.
The actor, who plays Cathy in the seven-part limited series, said the adaptation adds context to a character whom author John Steinbeck famously described as a “psychic monster” with a “malformed soul”.
“She can still make terrible decisions and face awful consequences, but there can also be … an understanding of her history and her past which makes her the way that she is,” the Academy Award nominee said.
Carrying the Past Forward
Written by Zoe Kazan, who co-showruns the series alongside Jeb Stuart, the adaptation revisits Steinbeck’s multi-generational saga, with a renewed focus on Cathy.
Kazan said the adaptation challenges viewers to look beyond simple notions of good and evil.
“We wanted our audience to be able to identify with every single character, the ones that are good on the surface and the ones that are evil on the surface,” she said. “Because if we think about people that are evil or bad as being not human, we don’t learn anything about ourselves.”
Kazan said she has felt a deep connection to “East of Eden” since reading the novel aged 15, describing it as a story that “grabbed me by the throat and wouldn’t let go” with its exploration of how people carry their family’s past into the future.
Asked whether the novel’s focus on inheritance and reckoning with the past resonated personally, Kazan pointed to her own family history. Her grandfather, filmmaker Elia Kazan, remains a controversial figure after naming former colleagues with Communist Party ties before a congressional committee during the McCarthy era. He also directed the 1955 adaptation of the novel, starring James Dean.
Humanising fundamental truths
Describing her connection to the material as both “baggage” and a “gift”, Kazan said she hoped the series would prompt audiences to reflect on their own families rather than hers.
“I don’t want anyone walking away from this thinking, Zoe Kazan, Elia Kazan,” she said. “We want people walking away from this (to think) … ‘My father, my son, the things that I’ve done’.”
For “Challengers” star Mike Faist, who plays Charles Trask in the series, Steinbeck’s story has endured because it reflects fundamental truths about human morality. “We go back to these classics to … poke at them again, and that’s a good thing,” he said.
Stuart echoed Faist’s sentiment, saying readers can return to “East of Eden” throughout their lives and discover new meanings as their own experiences evolve.
“I lost an adult son, so later in life … I read it as if I had never read ‘East of Eden’ before,” he told Reuters. “That’s just the cool thing about Steinbeck’s writing.”
Made in New Zealand
East of Eden is now streaming on Netflix.
