The Cast of Monsters Takes Us Inside the Infamous Menendez Murders

MONDAY 7:35 PM SEPTEMBER 16, 2024 WEST HOLLYWOOD

The next edition of Ryan Murphy’s true crime series Monsters is out, and this latest installment follows the disturbing and sensational story of Erik and Lyle Menendez, the Beverly Hills brothers who fired shotguns at their parents one evening as they sat quietly watching television in their living room. The trial gripped all of us in the late 90’s, as public opinion shifted rapidly following the revelation that the brothers had suffered years of extreme emotional, physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their parents. Accordingly, Ryan Murphy and Netflix pulled out all the stops—the star-studded cast includes Chloë Sevigny as Kitty and Javier Bardem as Jóse, with newcomers Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch playing Erik and Lyle, respectively. At the show’s world premiere at the Egyptian Theater earlier this week, we caught up with the them to find out how they prepped for their roles, what other true crime stories they’re obsessed with, and which bizarre detail of the Menendez case surprised them most.

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CHLOË SEVIGNY

 

EMILY SANDSTROM: We’re here with New York City it-girl Chloe Sevigny at the premiere of Monsters in L.A. If I remember correctly, you’re not the biggest fan of this city. How are you holding up? 

CHLOË SEVIGNY: [Laughs] No, I love L.A. I have a lot of friends here. I like coming to the sunshine, there’s so many great restaurants, and of course I love all the old Hollywood stuff. 

SANDSTROM: So you’ve come back around?

SEVIGNY: Yeah, I’ve come back around. 

SANDSTROM: Tell me how you became Kitty Menéndez. 

SEVIGNY: I watched a lot of the court TV stuff, and reading the Dominik Dunne pieces from Vanity Fair and any other books I could get my hands on.

SANDSTROM: You’re living every girl’s dream, being married to Javier Bardem in the show. What was it like working with him? 

SEVIGNY: It was just amazing. I mean, he brings this intensity and passion to the work, and sensitivity, and his love for acting and actors and he really wants to take care of everyone else around him. He’s very generous. 

SANDSTROM: Which true crime stories in your real life are you hooked on? 

SEVIGNY: I always, always go back to The Manson murders. 

SANDSTROM: Of course. 

SEVIGNY: Also, I love Black Dahlia. I mean, of course I don’t love it, but I find that story fascinating.

SANDSTROM: Did you have fears about playing Kitty? 

SEVIGNY: You know, I think that we tell this story with a lot of sensitivity and we unpack it in a way that I think people haven’t really done before. I think now the conversation around mental health and sexual abuse is so different, you know? So we get to really investigate in a way that people maybe shied away from in the past.

SANDSTROM: Was this role harder to play now that you’re a parent yourself? 

SEVIGNY: No, I find playing parents easier now that I have real-life experience. 

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JAVIER BARDEM

 

SANDSTROM: Which details of the case surprised you the most? 

JAVIER BARDEM: I don’t know. That’s a good question. I guess the explosion in the media and the echo that that attention had on the trial itself. I guess it was one of the first cases where the public opinion had something to do with what happened inside the courtroom. 

SANDSTROM: That’s a good point. How did you go about researching for the role of José? 

BARDEM: You know, there’s not much information on José Menéndez actually out there, other than what the brothers say about him. So I just relied on the material itself and on the writing of Ian [Brennan] and Ryan Murphy. They did great research through the years, and I found the humanity in him [José] through trying to understand who he was as a person.

SANDSTROM: I imagine this was an incredibly challenging and emotional role to play. Did you find it difficult? 

BARDEM: It was not actually; it was a pleasure. We were surrounded by top-notch quality  professionals at every level. The cast was crazy good, and Ryan Murphy is a master. So it was a matter of really going there and trusting the process. You do your thing and come out and remind yourself that this is a game. That you get to play for a living. 

SANDSTROM: Can you tell me a little more about working with Ryan Murphy? 

BARDEM: I met him in 2009 for Eat Pray Love. Back then, he was such a loving, caring, fun and inspiring man. And since then, 15 years ago, I’ve been saying, “I would love to work with you again.” And then I saw Dahmer and I thought, “Wow, what a show. What a performance.” Then he told me, “I may have one for you,” and then he showed me this and I was like “Oh, shit. This is it.” 

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COOPER KOCH

SANDSTROM:  How’s your night going? 

COOPER KOCH: Absolutely fantastic. I’m so excited. 

SANDSTROM: Was Erik an emotionally difficult character to get into? 

KOCH: No, it was a piece of cake. [Laughs] I’m just kidding, it was super emotional and intense. I had to really work to be able to be Cooper and then go be Erik and then be Cooper. I had to really make sure I was separating myself. 

SANDSTROM: Was there one point during filming that was particularly difficult?

KOCH: Yeah, when Erik starts talking about what really happened to him to his attorney Leslie Abramson (played by Ari Graynor). That was really intense and difficult.

SANDSTROM: What details of the case surprised you the most? 

KOCH: Oh, the wig. 

SANDSTROM: You’re gonna have to explain that one to me because I haven’t seen it yet. 

KOCH: The toupée. That’s all I’ll say for now…

SANDSTROM: Tell me about working with Ryan Murphy.

KOCH: He believed in me from day one and was so encouraging. We had amazing conversations and it was a super collaborative experience.

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NICHOLAS CHAVEZ

 

SANDSTROM: How are you feeling? 

NICHOLAS CHAVEZ: I’m ecstatic.

SANDSTROM: Tell me about one detail of the case that surprised you the most. 

CHAVEZ: I’m riding by the fact that what made these characters compelling were that they were the sum of their parts. There was no one thing that I was able to say took me by surprise because things were constantly changing.  And I had to form a composite of all of these different aspects to be able to form an interpretation of this character.

SANDSTROM: What I’m hearing from the kids on TikTok is that they find the therapist’s mistress the most shocking. 

CHAVEZ: Oh, that little thing. That tiny, tiny detail. Correct. 

SANDSTROM: What research did you do to get into the role of Lyle? 

CHAVEZ:  There’s really a deeper truth. There’s court TV available, and it was really interesting to see how the boys behaved during the trial. I wasn’t alive during the time so I felt like that footage gave me a glimpse back into the era.  Not only into who they were as people and what the energy inside the courtroom was, but really the look and the feel of the time.

SANDSTROM: They were kind of well-dressed, right?

CHAVEZ: Oh yeah, they looked good. Also, there were documentaries that came out about them. I tried to be as thorough as I possibly could, and I had the benefit of having a good amount of time as well.

SANDSTROM: Tell me the most challenging or emotional part of playing this character. 

CHAVEZ: You know, it’s a really volatile character that calls for you to be a lot of different people. And those swings can be really gut-wrenching at times. But I was honored to play Lyle Menéndez.

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