Niki Cruz
It’s easy to root for Natalie Morales and the characters she plays, whether that’s the lovable pediatric surgeon Dr. Monica Beltran on Grey’s Anatomy, Judy’s ex-girlfriend Michelle on Dead to Me, and now in Netflix’s The Beast In Me as Shelley, ex-wife to Aggie Wiggs and artist who’s just starting to get her footing after going through the loss of the former couple’s 6-year-old son Cooper.
In every performance, despite playing wildly different characters, Morales has the ability to ground them in honesty and quiet vulnerability, which she has in spades as Shelley.
The binge-worthy The Beast In Me, now up for 3 Golden Globes, centers around the suspense-filled relationship between author Aggie (Claire Danes) and the subject of her latest book, Niles (Matthew Rhys), who may or may not have killed his wife. As Aggie writes her book and is consumed by her own grief, she’s also investigating whether Niles is actually the monster the press has portrayed him to be.
While the dynamic between Niles and Aggie drives the engine of the show at breakneck speed, the way Beast unpacks grief and all the different ways it manifests through Aggie and Shelley’s fraught relationship and individual journeys is incredibly compelling. Morales’ quiet work here grounds the show in necessary humanity. So often, we see the ex-wife character relegated to an episode for exposition, but through the script and the actress’s performance, there’s a bit more to discover. It’s refreshing to see a character like Shelley try to jump-start her career after taking a back seat.
Natalie Morales and Awards Radar‘s Niki Cruz unpacked some of the show’s themes and the actress’s experience working on the show.
Morales on experiencing grief and her character’s journey:
“I have lost things and people that are important to me, and I think grief is different every time it happens, and sometimes really unexpectedly so. I think it’s something we can all relate to, and I also think sometimes it’s something you don’t really want to look at in the eye, because you’re afraid it’ll be contagious, and afraid that it’ll happen to you. I really wanted to play Shelley as a character who had looked it in the eye and experienced it. And I think the real difference between her and Aggie is that Shelley’s gone through a lot of therapy.”
On jumping at the chance to audition to play the ex-wife of actress Claire Danes:
“I was like, ‘What!? This is so exciting!’ I love Claire Danes. I’ve always loved Claire Danes. I mean, Romeo and Juliet was formative for me, and so was My So Called Life, and I loved Homeland. I love so many things that she does. Fleishman Is In Trouble. She was unbelievable in that. And so I thought, ‘I think this is a challenge, but I think I can do it.'”
Check out the interview in full below:
The Beast in Me is currently available to stream on Netflix.
Comments
Loading…