This article contains mentions of sexual abuse.
Following in the footsteps of its highly successful first season, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story was released on Netflix to high viewership and loud conversations all across the internet. The latest installment of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s hit crime anthology focuses on a pair of siblings who murdered their parents in 1989. Though Lyle (played by General Hospital star Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik (They/Them‘s Cooper Koch), committed a terrible act for which they were sentenced to life in prison, the show delves into the extenuating circumstances that place them in a more sympathetic light.
Javier Bardem plays their father José Menéndez, who is painted as a villain just as often as he is a victim. He is at first shown as a domineering and verbally abusive father, but the brothers reveal during their trial that he sexually abused them both as well, which was the reason they killed him. As for their mother Kitty (played by Chloë Sevigny), Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story treats her more neutrally, suggesting that she enabled the abuse and covered for it — though it should be noted that the siblings accused her of participating in real life.
Screen Rant interviewed Bardem and Sevigny about their roles in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, as well as Murphy and Brennan’s creative interpretation of the shocking tale. Bardem praised Murphy in particular for his supportive behavior, while Sevigny shared what she found most challenging about playing Kitty.
Javier Bardem & Chloë Sevigny Trusted Ryan Murphy’s Vision Despite Monsters’ Delicate Material
“I knew he was going to take care of it properly.”
Screen Rant: This show had me gripped the whole time. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from it, with brilliant performances all around. Javier, what made you decide to take on the role of José Menendez without having read the script?
Javier Bardem: Ryan Murphy, [whom] I knew since 2009. Eat Pray Love, we did that together, and I had the greatest experience with him. I adore him, and back in the day, he treated me so well. I mean, I loved him.
Second,
I binged Dahmer
, and I was like, “I want to work with you in one of those,” and he came back with it. I didn’t know about the story because he’s a very well-known story in the States, but not so well known in Spain or out of the States. When I started digging in, I was scared, like, “Wow, this is very delicate material,” but I knew he was going to take care of it properly. Then I said, “Well, let’s jump in,” because I think he’s going to open a conversation that is very needed, which is about trauma abuse in childhood, whether it’s physical, emotional, or sexual. I think it’s very powerful, in that sense.
Screen Rant: Chloë, you’ve mentioned that the role was a great challenge. What were some of the most challenging aspects of portraying Kitty Menendez in this?
Chloë Sevigny: I think [the question of], “Are we all monsters? Are we all victims?” is part of the conceit of the show. To play a woman who is very flawed, but also give her some depth and emotionality and vulnerability and let people find some empathy or sympathy for her, even if she is doing things that are abhorrent, is a challenge. To strike a balance and also to play her from different people’s perspectives is very challenging.
For me, I haven’t done that many roles where there was that kind of physicality; where she was erupting in anger, slamming dishes and stuff like that. That was new for me to access that kind of anger or rage. And that’s not something I always enjoy tapping into, so I would say that that was also challenging.
Javier Bardem Explains His Take On The Themes In Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story
“How do we do something that is about justice when everybody has an opinion about it?”
Screen Rant: Has the Menendez family’s response to the series made you reevaluate the material at all? What are you hoping audiences consider about the real brothers after watching the series?
Javier Bardem: No, no. I think we did what we did, and we did it with our best intentions. And since there are many things that we don’t know and nobody knows, the show doesn’t want to make any statement about anything. There are actual proven facts that are shown in the show, but also there are many other theories that are explored there because everybody had an opinion on it, including the media.
I think that’s what’s powerful about the show’s world. How do we do something that is about justice when everybody has an opinion about it? It’s hard to decide what is true and what is not, and that’s one of the themes in the show, I think.
About Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
Following the massive success of Dahmer, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s true-crime anthology series returns with Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, chronicling the case of the real-life brothers who were convicted in 1996 for the murders of their parents, José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez.
While the prosecution argued they were seeking to inherit their family fortune, the brothers claimed – and remain adamant to this day, as they serve life sentences without the possibility of parole – that their actions stemmed out of fear from a lifetime of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of their parents. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story dives into the historic case that took the world by storm, paved the way for audiences’ modern-day fascination with true crime, and in return asks those audiences: Who are the real monsters?
Check out our other Monsters interviews with:
All 9 episodes of
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
are now streaming on Netflix.
Source: Screen Rant Plus