The cast and crew of Netflix's latest series monsters installment, Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendezgathered in Hollywood on Monday night for the show's Los Angeles premiere.
From Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez follows the famous case of real-life brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez, convicted in 1996 of the murder of their parents José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez. It is the second story in the series monsters series after the success of Dahmer (starring Evan Peters), with a third installment just announced following serial killer Ed Gein, played by Charlie Hunnam.
The first trailer was released earlier this month, focusing on a portrait of the “perfect” family as cracks began to show and hinting at claims made by Lyle and Erik that they were subjected to years of sexual abuse at the hands of their father José.
“One of the cool things about this show is that it tells the story of the Menendez brothers from so many different perspectives,” said Nicholas Alexander Chavez, who plays Lyle Menendez. The Hollywood Reporter on the carpet. “It’s a really insightful way of telling this story because we’re able to get so many different points of view here. It allows everyone to make their own interpretation at the end of the day,” he added, noting that he found that to be a great thing.
Cooper Koch, who plays Chavez's brother, Erik Menendez, found that the role made him realize “a new sense of gratitude for my family and my parents and the way they raised me and treated me. That really helped me relate to Erik a lot and understand that that's something that wasn't given to him and that he didn't have.”
Several cast members, including Nathan Lane, who plays the deceased Vanity Fair reporter Dominick Dunne — said working on the show expanded their knowledge of the notorious case. “I can’t say I followed it that closely, but once you start looking at the court testimony or all the other research about what happened in their family, it’s pretty disturbing,” Lane said.
“I think it was easy for people to think at first that these two rich, spoiled kids would kill their parents for the money, for the inheritance, but it's much more complicated than that,” he continued. “It doesn't change the fact that they committed this horrible act, but I think maybe we're starting to understand what led to it.”
Javier Bardem, Cooper Koch, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Ryan Murphy and Chloë Sevigny
Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix
Lane praised Koch and Chavez for their “incredible” performances. He also gave a shout-out to Javier Bardem, who plays José Menendez and serves as an executive producer on the project.
Bardem noted that research is key when playing a real person, but that there weren't many audio or video clips of José Menendez. “In that case, I let the great team of Ryan Murphy, the creator, and Ian [Brennan]the writer, to do the work for me,” he said. Bardem — with Chloë Sevigny playing his wife Kitty — worked closely with both of them through his role as executive producer.
“They let me be a part of a lot of the decisions, and I was very grateful to them in the sense that I felt very protected,” he said, adding that he felt Murphy and Brennan took his views into account.
“I'm not a pain in the ass,” Bardem joked. “I didn't expect too much.”
The 10-episode season will release Thursday on Netflix, becoming the second Ryan Murphy-produced show to debut this week following Tuesday's release of American Sports History: Aaron Hernandez.