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Ashton Kutcher has revealed he read a domestic terrorist's manifesto ahead of his new villain role.

The47-year-old star joins forces with Evan Peters in FX's fresh body horror thriller,The Beauty. Crafted by Ryan Murphy, the programme follows FBI agents investigating a sexually transmitted virus that transforms ordinary people into their most attractive selves, but with deadly consequences.

Kutcher portrays Byron Forst or 'The Corporation', a tech mogul who developed the original substance known as The Beauty, which is the root of the show's mayhem.

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He is a merciless entrepreneur prepared to go to any lengths to maintain his trillion-pound empire.

Prior to the series' launch, Kutcher disclosed he read American terrorist Ted Kaczynski's manifesto, Industrial Society and Its Future. Better known as The Unabomber, Kaczynski killed three people and wounded 23 others during a nationwide postal bombing campaign targeting those he believed to be advancing modern technology.

The Unabomber's atrocities occurred between 1978 and 1995. He was arrested in 1996, and pleaded guilty at trial in 1998, reports the Mirror US. Kaczynski died in prison aged 81 in 2023.

When asked whether he sees his character as a villain or someone genuinely helping humanity, Kutcher explained why this book choice proved valuable for understanding the role.

"I was reading Ted Kaczynski's manifesto," he said during a press conference. The Hollywood actor then revealed: "I'm in a banned book club where we read books that you would be embarrassed to read on The Subway. Because you wouldn't want people looking at you."

He went on: "As I was reading Ted Kaczynski's manifesto [I found that] you can follow his train of thought for a lot of it. I didn't agree with a lot of his train of thought, but you could follow it.

"Then you get to Article 94, where he's like 'So I needed to kill a bunch of people, so people would actually listen to what I was saying' and then you go 'Okay, you jumped the shark there.'"

"But every so-called villain can rationalize their behavior," Kutcher concluded. Whilst his character wildly differs from The Unabomber, he admittedly uses questionable methods that he justifies as serving the greater good.

According to Kutcher: "As the person portraying this character, I have to look at the character as a good guy that's doing a good thing. I have to look at the character as someone who thinks 'This will help people live better, happier, more fulfilled lives."

The first three episodes of The Beauty are streaming now on Disney+