Ryan Murphy's new show is part erotic thriller, part coming-of-age story about privileged L.A. teenagers left to raise themselves. Gerber can't relate.


Kaia Gerber opens up about entering the sexy, sinister world of The Shards — and the ultimate compliment of being compared to mom Cindy Crawford. (Photo illustration: Nathalie Cruz/Yahoo News; photo: Dia Dipasupil/WireImage)

It's no secret that Kaia Gerber resembles her mother, supermodel Cindy Crawford. But in FX's The Shards, with her hair swept into voluminous, side-parted curls and the show's early-'80s styling framing her familiar smile, the likeness is especially uncanny.

Gerber, who plays Susan Reynolds — the most popular girl and student body president at an elite Los Angeles prep school — doesn't quite see it.

"It's an honor when people tell me I look like my mom. I wish I did," she tells Yahoo. "I think even on my best days, I'm not even close."

From provocative storytellers Ryan Murphy and Bret Easton Ellis, The Shards is part teenage coming-of-age story, part erotic thriller. Set in Los Angeles in 1981, the series — which premieres Aug. 5 — follows a privileged group of prep school seniors navigating identity, sex, jealousy and obsession as a serial killer targets teens across the city.

For Gerber, the role meant embracing Susan's seriously committed '80s hair, crediting it with any resemblance to Crawford. While filming, she called her mother to ask whether she had truly put that much effort into getting ready.

"I was like, 'There's no way you were doing your hair like this before high school,'" Gerber recalls. "And she goes, 'Oh, yes, I was. I was waking up at 4 a.m., putting the curlers in.'"

The future supermodel still styled her hair before school on days she had swim practice for first period. Gerber was stunned.

"I've just never put that much effort into anything I've ever done," she jokes. "Just at all."

It's an honor when people tell me I look like my mom. I wish I did.

Another unrelatable (but welcome) moment? Imagining adolescence without social media documenting every first, mistake or heartbreak. These 1981 teens didn't have smartphones, and the cast found it easy to slip into that screen-free mode. Once they stepped onto the period sets in full hair, makeup and costume, Gerber says, pulling out an iPhone simply felt strange.

"We got so much in-person, one-on-one time with each other and time as a group," she says. "It forced us into the present in a way that I don't think is super-common now." She adds, "To make friends the way we got to, without the presence of so much technology was really lovely."

Side-by-side comparison of Kaia Gerber styled in 1980s-inspired hair and clothing for The Shards alongside a vintage photo of Cindy Crawford in a similar hairstyle and neutral outfit.
In The Shards, Gerber(left) channels mom Cindy Crawford (right). (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Ray Mickshaw/FX, PL Gould/Images/Getty Images)
Gerber was also drawn to the show's exploration of adolescence during an era she believes hasn't been depicted enough onscreen — "kind of the end of innocence and that transition from adolescence to adulthood."

Gerber grew up loving high school dramas like Gossip Girl, Glee and Beverly Hills, 90210. Adolescence, she says, remains ripe for storytelling because nearly every experience feels monumental.

"It's all first times: first kiss, first love, first heartbreak," she says. "Those emotions are so expansive, and there's just so much discovery in that."

At the center of Susan's increasingly complicated social world are two boys. She may be dating Thom Wright, played by Graham Campbell, but she also appears intrigued by mysterious new student Robert Mallory, played by Homer Gere.

Gere's casting creates an unexpected Hollywood connection: His father, Richard Gere, was previously married to Crawford, before she wed Gerber's dad, Rande. Despite that shared history, Gerber says she and the younger Gere, whose mom is actor, artist and former model Carey Lowell, had never met before the series.

"The first time I met him was when we all sat down together for the first time," she says. "I think he's such an incredible actor. I actually couldn't believe it was only the second thing he had ever done."

Gerber was immediately struck by his "quiet, kind of unshakable calmness and confidence."

"As soon as I saw him in character as Robert, I was so excited for where it could go," she says. "Getting to do scenes one-on-one with Homer and seeing how Robert is different in every situation, depending on who he's talking to … it was fun to explore Robert outside of the group dynamic."

The series also gave Gerber the chance to work with Campbell, who plays her onscreen boyfriend. The two had known each other for years but had never acted together. Offscreen, the pair have an easy banter and mutual respect. Campbell calls Gerber "a real actor's intellect" who wanted to dig into every scene, while she appreciated having a partner willing to rehearse and take chances.

Graham Campbell and Kaia Gerber, both in school uniforms with 1980s-inspired hairstyles, smile at each other while Homer Gere looks on from the background.
Graham Campbell, Gerber and Homer Gere in The Shards. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: FX)
"He wasn't afraid to try something insane, even if it didn't work," Gerber says. "I felt we created a really safe environment to throw a bunch of stuff around. … It's great when you know somebody and trust somebody before you start, because so much of that is done in the preproduction."

Neither followed a particularly conventional educational path: Gerber graduated from high school early, while Campbell left college with about a year remaining. Returning to the hallways onscreen allowed them to revisit that emotionally heightened period with the perspective they have now.


"It was actually really nice to step back into a high school body, knowing what you know now," Campbell says.

"When you're a high schooler, you do feel like an adult," Gerber adds. "We talked to Ryan [Murphy, the show's co-creator] a lot about the fact that we're playing high schoolers, yes, but high schoolers who were acting like adults."

In The Shards, that confidence is heightened by the near-total absence of parental supervision.

"There's almost no parents to be seen in this show," Gerber says. "I think a lot of that confidence and maturity comes from a lack of knowledge of the horrors. You feel immortal."

We talked to Ryan a lot about the fact that we're playing high schoolers, yes, but high schoolers who were acting like adults.

Gerber's own teenage experience was markedly different. Although she grew up in Malibu and entered modeling at a young age, her parents remained an essential source of support and guidance.

"I mean, I still need my mommy and daddy," she says. "I don't think it matters what age you are. I feel so grateful to have them and to be able to call them."

The Shards may have given her a glimpse of what life was like for her mom as she was coming of age in the '80s, but Gerber's connection to Crawford runs far deeper.

"I think she's just the most beautiful woman inside and out," she says. "If there's any way that I remind anyone of her, it's the largest compliment I could ever receive."

Source