Was Cathy a monster? The cast of 'East of Eden' on Zoe Kazan's vision and the importance of timshel

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Set us as preferred Hollywood is filled with book-to-screen adaptations that have ignited grumbling and spirited debates.Even before its release, Zoe Kazan’s interpretation of John Steinbeck’s sprawling 1952 masterwork, “East of Eden,” roused passionate opinions from loyalists of the text on social media.Much of the discourse surrounds Kazan’s creative choice in how to portray the book’s infamous antagonist, Cathy Ames, in Netflix’s seven-episode limited series out Thursday.

Steinbeck’s multigenerational saga ruminates on family, the power of choice and the nature of good and evil — deeply exploring the biblical stories of Cain and Abel and the fall of Adam and Eve — through the intertwined destinies of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons.Cathy (later known as Kate) functions as a chilling, destructive force in the saga.Kazan pared down much of the Hamilton family’s story for the show and centered Cathy (Florence Pugh), whose arrival alters the lives of the Trask brothers, Adam (Christopher Abbott) and Charles (Mike Faist).

In doing so, Kazan dared to humanize the character who has been considered one of literature’s most definitive symbols of pure evil, described by Steinbeck to be a “psychic monster” born without a conscience or kindness.“I’m trying to protect my mental health by not being too much online,” Kazan said in a video call from London on a recent weekday.“I do think it is not surprising to me that this character brings up a lot of strong feelings for people ...

I’m excited to see what people think once they actually see what we have made and aren’t just anticipating something.”When Kazan, an actor who has expanded her creative footprint behind the camera, first pitched the series in 2019 and was asked about which actor she envisioned as Cathy, she replied: “I ha...