In the Netflix limited series East of Eden, Zoe Kazan works with fellow showrunner and executive producer Jeb Stuart to deliver a new interpretation of John Steinbeck’s famous 1952 novel previously made into a film starring James Dean by her grandfather, Elia Kazan. Brothers Charles (Mike Faist) and Adam (Christopher Abbott) receive a strict upbringing from their father Cyrus (Tracy Letts) and are eventually driven apart by the influence of Cathy (Florence Pugh), who marries Adam but soon leaves to start a life of her own after giving birth to twin sons.
Awards Buzz had the chance to speak with Faist and Abbott about playing brothers in this high-stakes project. Faist spoke about his relationship with the source material:
“I moved to New York when I was seventeen. I wanted to be an actor, and the original film is almost mandatory watching if you want to be an actor, especially a New York one, studying the legacy of Elia Kazan and his films and James Dean and all of the actors that came out of that era. When Zoe came to us, I think I can speak for Chris in this, it’s simultaneously one of those things that you get extremely excited about and also very nervous about, because the task is daunting.”
Abbott shared what he could find to relate to about his character:
“I think a thing that’s relatable probably for all these characters, the stakes are high for all of them, in a good way. It’s a melodrama. I think that throughout the course of this series, all of these characters are in a state of fight or flight mode, whether they know it or not. They’ve all been through their own version of trauma you. I think, if you’re someone, which is pretty much everyone, who’s been through some sort of trauma, you can’t recognize it in yourself, but when you’re in that fight or flight mode, it’s the big question, how do you protect yourself? And they’re all just trying to really protect themselves. They just do it in in in different ways.”
Watch the video above to hear what they learned about each other in the course of playing brothers and how they feel about the limited series as a very specific format.
All seven episodes of East of Eden premiere October 1st on Netflix.
