‘Monsters’ Star Cooper Koch Turned His Trailer Into Erik Menendez’s Bedroom to Get in Character for the Ryan Murphy Series

Cooper Koch, who plays Erik Menendez in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series “Monsters,” told TheWrap how he got into character to play the convicted murderer.

“I turned my trailer into Erik’s room so I had clothes everywhere, and I had pictures of him on the wall, pictures of me too,” said the actor, whose previous credits include “They/Them” and “Power Book II: Ghost,” at Monday night’s Los Angeles premiere.

Erik was 21 and his brother Lyle was 18 in 1989 when they shot and killed their parents, José and Kitty (played in the series by Javier Bardem and Chlo? Sevigny) after years of alleged abuse. Both brothers were convicted and are still serving life sentences in prison.

“I looked at videos of me when I was really young, and I watched how my parents treated me, which gave me a level of gratitude for my family and my parents. I listened to [Erik] and watched him religiously. And I had my music, I had all different kinds of journals, all different kinds of things to help me really feel like him and be him,” said Koch.

The actor, who is from the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, had heard of the case growing up. Meanwhile Nicholas Alexander Chavez, who plays Lyle, had not heard of it before joining the cast.

“The first thing that I did was called the people who I love who were alive at the time, and then I asked them what their perspective was and what their impression was,” said Chavez, who said he also watched Court TV footage and “several” documentaries about the brothers.

“This show is going to present the facts from so many different perspectives,” he said of “Monsters,” which producers compare to “Rashomon,” the famed 1950 Akira Kurosawa movie that shows a murder from three different points of view.

“Ultimately, it’s going to allow people to make their own judgments about this family and the events that transpired, and I think that that’s one of the more compelling aspects of the show,” added Chavez.

Murphy regular Leslie Grossman, who starred in his first series “Popular,” as well as multiple seasons of “American Horror Story,” plays a pivotal character who tipped off the cops to the brothers’ confession.”

“I play Judalon Smyth, the mistress of Erik and Lyle Menendez’s therapist,” said Grossman. “She is the one who goes to the police and lets the cat out of the bag because her boyfriend, the therapist, wasn’t interested in continuing their relationship. So she had her own angle, and ends up becoming sort of an important person in the first trial.

Grossman added, “I don’t know if her motivations were that pure. I don’t think she was terribly concerned with the brothers or the murders. I think that she had some scores to settle.” The actress added that Smyth may have also wanted her 15 minutes of fame. “Thankfully, we have the court transcripts, and we know that everything she did was true, and it’s wilder than any fiction you could have written.”

Nathan Lane, who plays Vanity Fair correspondent Dominick Dunne in the series, vaguely remembered the 1990s trial, but added that he’s learned far more about what happened in the Menendez’ Beverly Hills mansion.

“I mean finding out more… you can’t believe what went on,” said the actor. “I thought I felt one way [about the case], but the deeper you dig it’s, it’s far more complex and disturbing. I think people will be surprised.”

“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” is now streaming on Netflix.

The post ‘Monsters’ Star Cooper Koch Turned His Trailer Into Erik Menendez’s Bedroom to Get in Character for the Ryan Murphy Series appeared first on TheWrap.