Ashton Kutcher opens up about 'The Beauty' acting return, balancing family

NEW YORK — Ashton Kutcher is back with his very own version of "The Substance."

The "That '70s Show" star, 47, stepped out Wednesday, Jan. 14, at the New York premiere of FX's "The Beauty," Ryan Murphy's new body horror series that marks Kutcher's first acting role in almost three years. He was last seen in the 2023 romantic comedy "Your Place or Mine."

Speaking to USA TODAY on the red carpet, Kutcher, who also hasn't had a regular role on a television series since "The Ranch," explained he "wasn't actively pursuing anything," but "also wasn't actively not pursuing anything," since we last saw him on screen. Instead, he has been keeping "very busy" running his venture capital firm and has wanted to make sure he's around for his children.

"I have two young kids who are nine and 11, and I have very strict guidelines about [how] I don't ever want to work away from where my kids are because they only are that age for a very short period of time, and then they are not," he said. "And I don't want to miss the game, and I don't want to miss the play, and I don't want to miss the concert. I'm very strict about that."

Kutcher shares two children with his wife, Mila Kunis.

In "The Beauty," Kutcher plays a tech billionaire behind a miracle drug that promises to make anyone who uses it into the most beautiful possible version of themselves. But it turns out to have some gnarly side effects, setting the stage for a mix between a body horror movie and a globe-trotting thriller that ropes in a pair of FBI agents, played by Evan Peters and Rebecca Hall. Anthony Ramos, Jeremy Pope, Isabella Rossellini and Bella Hadid also star.

Kutcher noted that during his time away from the screen, he told himself he would return to acting if something "amazing" came along that he couldn't say no to. Then Murphy reached out and said he was writing a character for him that would be "different than anything you've ever played before," and he was intrigued.

"And I've never done a single-camera television show before, so I was like, there's a lot of new things, and it's a little scary but a little fun, and usually, that's when your gut goes, 'Yeah, let's go for it,'" he said.

The show delves into society's obsession with beauty and the pressures we face to look a certain way. Murphy has said he was inspired by the rise of GLP-1s like Ozempic. From its marketing, fans have been quick to compare "The Beauty" to "The Substance," another body horror story about the dangers of pursuing beauty at any cost. But to be fair, it's based on a comic that predates the Demi Moore movie.

On the red carpet at the Museum of Modern Art, Hall recalled Murphy taking her out to breakfast and pitching her the "most Ryan Murphy show that I can imagine," and she described it as the "right show for the right time."

"I don't think the notion of striving for unobtainable beauty, or even understanding what that means, is something that's new," she said. "It's been around since the beginning of humanity. ... But there is something new, at the moment, in that you've got the combination of, if you have enough money, you can make yourself look pretty much like anything, and you've got the internet, and algorithms, constantly drilling into our brains feelings of inadequacy."

Guest star Jessica Alexander agrees that "the obsession with beauty in our society is obviously at an all-time high," adding that she hopes people come away from the show "questioning a little bit more closely and intensely why you want to do certain things" in pursuit of beauty. "What are you going to sacrifice and lose as a result of that? It's probably not worth it."

Ramos, a newcomer to the Murphy universe, teased that the show is "absolutely bonkers" and noted he asked himself, after hearing the pitch, "How are we going to pull this off?"

Peters, a frequent Murphy collaborator, embraced the opportunity to be the "good guy" this time after playing Jeffrey Dahmer in his most recent show with the producer, "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story." He also noted "The Beauty" expands on a recurring theme for the "American Horror Story" creator.

"There's a throughline through all of Ryan's projects, which is the thing that makes you unique and you is the thing to be celebrated," the actor said. "It's an incredibly powerful, empowering message. I hope people take that away."

But the irony of the show's stars getting glammed up to walk the red carpet for a series about the pressures to achieve beauty wasn't lost on Ramos.

"Look at us. We're all dressed up," he said. "Everybody did their hair, everyone's wearing a suit or a dress, got makeup on. We're all in costumes. Everybody's trying to look their best to feel like their best and to present themselves as their best. There is this pressure, every day, to be beautiful."

"The Beauty" will premiere with its first three episodes on Jan. 21 at 9 ET/PT on FX.