BURDEN of SUCCESS
After breaking out in Smallville and Beauty & the Beast, actor produces and stars in CBC’s Burden of Truth
Kristin Kreuk is perhaps best known as Lana Lang on Smallville or detective Catherine Chandler in Beauty & the Beast.
But her new show for the CBC is headed in a darker, perhaps more mature direction than fans of the CW might recognize: in Burden of Truth, she plays lawyer Joanna Hanley, who leaves the corporate world to tackle the case of a mysterious illness affecting her former high school. In the process, she’s forced to confront why her family really left the town. It debuts Jan. 10 at 8 p.m. on CBC. Born in Vancouver, Kreuk, 35, got her start in the ABC TV movie Snow White: The Fairest of Them All with Miranda Richardson before moving on to the CW’s Smallville and Beauty & the Beast.
The CBC original series, shot in Winnipeg, was created by Brad Simpson ( Rookie Blue) and is executiveproduced by Kreuk, Ilana Frank ( Saving Hope) and Jocelyn Hamilton ( Cardinal).
The Star caught up with Kreuk in Toronto over two meetings to talk about her breakthrough roles, going back to school and her new series.
Can we start at the beginning? Lana Lang was your breakout role. But when CW green-lit Smallville, most pundits said it wouldn’t fly. But that little show started an industry. And now Vancouver has become this global superhero factory.
I know, it really became the CW’s bread and butter. Smallville was such an innocent show. So sweet and naive. It’s so cool we were there at the beginning. Didn’t anticipate that Vancouver would turn out to be superhero city. And we weren’t going to shoot there originally. But it was so great being home where Dad could drive me to work.
After Beauty & the Beast, as if you weren’t busy enough, you decided to go to university.
Yes, I’m in the midst of it right now. I started working when I was 17 and I didn’t do my post-secondary education, and I’ve been working pretty much constantly ever since. So I decided I’m going to do a distance bachelor’s degree from Queen’s, which is going to take me forever, but that’s fine.
There are quite a few Canadian history focus classes, some Indigenous histories, which I haven’t done yet but sound really interesting, and then a little bit of China, a little bit of India.
It’s just kind of a little flavour of everything.
So, with history itself as kind of my major focus, I just love learning about the context of our existence; like where we are at now is completely defined by where we have come from. It started with understanding my own personal family history, where our people came from, why they did and how that’s linked to events that happened globally, so that kind of started me down the path.
You’re the executive producer and the star of Burden of Truth. I’m sure you’ve been pitched on endless projects since Beauty & the Beast ended, so why this show?
I thought it was really interesting. I love this character Joanna, who is incredibly focused on herself and hasn’t developed personal skills for a bunch of family reasons, which come out over the course of the series. I think it’s a wonderful thing to explore. She has to face the way she’s been single-minded in her focus . . . because the law can be, I think it can be difficult especially when you’re defending massive corporations who do sometimes questionable things. Joanna just believes it’s her job to do that, but as the show progresses she starts to see there’s something more to it, that she cares about something, like she starts to develop her humanity.
And the show isn’t stylized. It’s full of beautiful relationships that feel grounded. It’s the most interesting part I’ve been allowed to play. I feel lucky I get to play her. I feel very excited about the show and can go into interviews not feeling ashamed. (Laughs) But really, it looks at issues like the environment, patriarchy and legacies of abuse and power.
Superficially, at least, it seems to have elements of Erin Brockovich, where your character is investigating a potential environmental illness, and Sweet Home Alabama, where a successful young woman goes back to her small town to discover herself. Were those touchstone movies?
It’s not quite so bright and crackly like Erin Brockovich. I just rewatched it recently. Yes, definitely, that was an inspiration. Whereas Erin Brockovich’s skill was people — she got people, she understood everyday people, she could hang out with them — but Joanna doesn’t understand people. She really struggles with that part of it and so it more delves into her own personal family mystery at the same time as you learn about the case and she solves the case.
The whole thing is she goes back home and when she goes back to her small hometown, she’s confronted with all the reasons why her family mysteriously left when she was 13 years old.
What was it like to wear the executive producer hat while you’re in virtually every shot?
I really struggled to wear different hats. Especially in a role like this when you want to give your all to the character. I did get to have a say in how we shape the show. There are many voices, but it allowed me to be actively involved in the decision-making process.
The show went through a bunch of name changes. What happened?
The placeholder title was Cause and
Effect. Then it was Burden of Proof and now Burden of Truth. I think that last title really addressed the tone of the show, that it’s not specifically legal.
You were a law student when Beauty & the Beast premiered. It seems that you’ve graduated in more ways than one with this new series.
There is a shift, I think, happening now with really good Canadian drama. And I hope the show is part of that. It can be a sad show, but there are elements that are heartfelt and loving. Your heart breaks for these characters.