PICKING SIDES
ARE YOU TEAM KATE… OR TEAM JEANETTE? NEW THRILLER CRUEL SUMMER PLAYS GAMES WITH THE TRUTH, DISCOVERS KEITH WATSON
We are going back to the old school, if someone is bullied, it’s face-to-face bullying
BE STILL, STILL your beating b i hearts, Bananarama fans: Cruel Summer is not, as the title teases, a biopic of the beloved 1980s girl band. But this intriguing thriller is not far off in era – roll forward just a few years to the early 1990s and we meet Kate and Jeanette, two highschool girls whose fates become darkly intertwined.
The story unfolds over a three-year time period from 1993 to 1995 but on just three separate days. We’re dripfed clues as we land in small-town America on Jeanette’s birthday for three consecutive years, and the episodes bounce back and forth between each girl’s perspective as their lives – Kate starts out popular, Jeanette a gawky nerd – take very different turns.
‘We just love this non-linear way of telling the story,’ says co-producer and star of The Sinner Jessica Biel, who, along with partner Michelle Purple, set up Iron Ocean Productions 15 years ago with the intent of creating female-led stories. Cruel Summer, which hit a powerful nerve with audiences when it aired in the US earlier this year, is their biggest hit to date.
A big part of that is down to how it cleverly takes the contemporary concern of fake news and gives it a personal slant, using its 1990s setting to sidestep how, in this day and age, social media would impact on events.
‘I think the mystery, the dual perspective, the intrigue about who’s telling the truth, that’s what grabbed people’s attention,’ says Biel. ‘And the fact it was told from the perspective of a younger generation meant it was the social media generation who got so behind it. I’m so grateful to not be a teenager at this point. In this show we’re going back to the old school – if someone is bullied, they are bullied face to face.’
The ’90s setting, Biel admits, was something of a challenge for a young cast for whom the era represented a period drama. While the fashions went down a storm and ’90s music has never really gone away, the technology was a different story.
‘Olivia Holt, who plays Kate, had to use a Walkman and she had absolutely no idea what to do with it,’ chuckles Biel. ‘She had it upside down, it wouldn’t fit into her purse!’ Holt backs up Biel’s story.
‘I love the era, I’m obsessed with ’90s music and fashion, all of that is very relevant in my life now,’ says Holt. ‘But a Walkman? No idea!’
Yet while there’s amusement to be had at the antiquated tech, the themes touched on in Cruel Summer don’t feel dated at all. As we get to know the awkward Jeanette (Chiara Aurelia) and the popular Kate, the twisted tales they tell contradict each other and spiral out of control, sending shock waves through their small town. The element of not knowing who to believe chimes with a time when trust in anything is at a premium.
‘I loved that as people became invested enough in the story they would pick sides, Kate or Jeanette,’ says Holt. ‘And with each episode, people would change their mind.
‘The way the show evolves the characters and the story, I would probably compare it to The Undoing. As thrilling and twisted as our show
can get, I still think it’s a beautiful story. Well, it’s a beautiful mess!’
As well as taking on the challenge of playing a character who is in three very different states of mind (and outfits) as she traverses the threeyear timespan, 23-year-old Holt, who started out in Disney comedy Kickin’ It ten years ago, has a parallel career as a pop singer and was also tasked with putting her spin on classic tunes by the Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead for the nostalgia-soaked soundtrack. Was that something of a musical departure?
‘You’re right!’ she says. ‘I make pop records that have a little bit of soul. I’m in that realm. But I grew up with ’90s music, my dad was in a band, so singing these songs was a real challenge. They’re so iconic. I really wanted to do them justice.’
And the Radiohead song she covers? It’s their hit Creep. If you want one song to sum up the Cruel Summer, that’s it. Someone doesn’t belong here.