Menendez brothers 'Monsters' series: Cooper Koch, Nicholas Alexander Chavez are 'still refilling the well' after emotional project

"They understood that we were dealing with really heavy, really sensitive material, and that would have a really profound effect on us as artists," Chavez said

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story continues to top the chart of most popular Netflix shows, created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, starring Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez as the Menendez brothers. The series chronicles the infamous story of how Erik (Koch) and Lyle (Chavez) were convicted in 1996 for murdering their parents José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez (played by Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny).

The series has garnered a lot of support, and criticism, for its depiction of this family and the case, including from the brothers themselves. But for the show's stars, they remain steadfast in their support for how the series tackles this devastating and controversial story.

"I feel like I've already won just from the experience itself and I know what my point of view is, and it's very strong and I'm very passionate about it, and so ... no matter what anybody says, it can't really take that away from me," Koch told Yahoo Canada in Toronto. "I feel really good. I feel really calm and relaxed, and I'm actually enjoying watching everybody just get to have a conversation about it, because I think that's the point of the show."

(L to R) Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez, Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez in episode 202 of Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story(Miles Crist/Netflix)
(L to R) Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez, Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez in episode 202 of Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story(Miles Crist/Netflix)

Aside from anyone's specific opinions about the case, there's no denying the emotional depth both Koch and Chavez brought to the series. That's particularly true when we see them depict the testimony the Menendez brothers gave about being sexually abused by their father.

As Chavez stressed, watching Erik and Lyle in court, "it's hard to watch that footage and not be affected by it."

"The prosecuting attorney, he said that watching Lyle up there on the stand was captivating, the same way that watching Laurence Olivier act is captivating," Chavez highlighted. "But when I saw him up there, I never saw an actor. In fact, I saw someone who was trying really hard not to cry, who was expressing publicly the worst aspects of his life and the things that he was most shameful to be talking about."

"That's why it's so frustrating when people are like, 'Well, they could have run away or they could have called the cops, or they could have told the therapist,' but what they don't understand is that is so incredibly difficult for a sexual abuse survivor," Koch added. "That is like holding the weight of a thousand elephants on your shoulders."

Koch also recognized that back in the 1980s and 1990s, the understanding around child sexual abuse, particularly male child sexual abuse, was more limited than today.

"I think we've come a long way in the past 35 years. It was very difficult for people to understand that something like this could happen to boys, and male-on-male child sexual abuse was very difficult for people to believe," he said.

"I hope this show can encourage people who are experiencing that, or who have, to be vulnerable and to talk about it, because that is the way that you can heal from it."

Where Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story really shines is in the way the series presents Erik and Lyle as people. It's not just about the murder and their criminal convictions, we're painted a picture of these individuals where they come across as full human beings — sometimes sad, sometimes joyful, sometimes wealthy brats.

"Dramaturgically, the story takes Lyle in so many different directions and presents him in a lot of different lights," Chavez said. "His behaviour can be incredibly erratic, impulsive and unpredictable at times."

"I think what was most important to me was to understand who the hurt child was behind all of those actions and behind all of that behaviour. ... They say that anger is a secondary emotion, usually it comes from a place of deep hurt and deep pain, and I wanted those feelings, and I wanted that hurt inner child to really step into the light and come to the forefront."

Koch shared that he invested significant time in specifically making Erik's physicality as accurate as possible.

"Physically, I really worked on trying to have tension in my mouth, he clenches ... a lot and he sighs and his shoulders are very reverted forward," Koch said. "I felt like all of those physical attributes, that body language, really helped to justify that what he was saying happened to him was true and was real."

"Because when you have that kind of body language and behaviour, those are signs of someone who's been sexually abused and who's been through a lot of trauma. So that was very important to me."

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story stars Cooper Koch (Erik Menendez) and Nicholas Alexander Chavez (Lyle Menendez) in Toronto at Netflix Canada event (Arthur Mola / Netflix)
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story stars Cooper Koch (Erik Menendez) and Nicholas Alexander Chavez (Lyle Menendez) in Toronto at Netflix Canada event (Arthur Mola / Netflix)

But portraying characters with trauma can be complex and difficult for actors, no matter how impressive they are. Koch and Chavez stressed that they always felt safe on set to go to those dark places as their characters.

"I always felt so safe on set to be vulnerable and to show up to work and be able to do it," Chavez said.

"The crew was incredibly kind to me. A couple of the more difficult scenes to film for me were speaking to Leslie [Abramson] and Jill [Lansing] during Episode 4, and then Lyle's testimony in Episode 7. The crew was so helpful and understanding during those times, they set aside a small room off to the side that I could just excuse myself and go into in between takes. So they understood that we were dealing with really heavy, really sensitive material, and that would have a really profound effect on us as artists."

Both actors were also able to take some time for themselves to unwind from this intense project.

"I took some time for a couple weeks before everything started happening for the premiere, and before the show came out. There were a couple of weeks there where I did some relaxation, went on a retreat with my partner," Koch shared. "I feel like I am still refilling the well and definitely taking some time to relax and enjoy."

"I rolled one Ryan Murphy project into the next, but once that wrapped, yeah I took some downtime," Chavez added. "I had a nice vacation. Got out of the country for a little while, saw what there was to see. There's a great big world out there."

For Chavez, who has done more than 300 episodes of General Hospital, the actor also highlighted that it was an interesting experience going from the soap opera "machine" to something like Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, where there's more time to spend deconstructing each episode.

"I think any opportunity that an actor gets to act is a good opportunity. It's another opportunity to just work on your tool belt," he said.

"I think soaps require almost a utilitarian tool belt because you're turning scripts so quickly. It was really, really nice to work on the Menendez brothers project because you had so much more time with the scripts. You're able to research, you're able to dig your hands into these characters and do script analysis."

Javier Bardem, Cooper Koch, Nicholas Chavez and Ryan Murphy at Netflix's
Javier Bardem, Cooper Koch, Nicholas Chavez and Ryan Murphy at Netflix's "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story" premiere held at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on September 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/Variety via Getty Images)

Koch also credited Murphy for really allowing them the freedom to explore these characters as needed as artists, giving him confidence in his abilities.

"It was the first week of shooting and we went out to dinner on the weekend in between and I was telling him, 'I'm nervous about this week.' It was sort of my first big scene that was going to require some emotions," Koch recalled. "And he was like, 'I believe in you. You can do this. I have no doubt that you can do this. I wouldn't have cast you if I didn't think that. And just go and be an artist. Evan Peters destroyed his trailer and he did all this stuff, and do what you've got to do to feel like you're an artist.'"

"That was so inspiring and helped me have faith in myself, and then I actually went and turned my trailer into Erik's room. I had pictures of him everywhere, clothes that reminded me of him and tennis balls and tennis rackets and journals, and stuff like that. And so I'm very thankful for that conversation and that meeting."