“Monsters” stars Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Cooper Koch on 'taking off the mask' and the brothers' case

Key Points

• Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story centers on the two brothers, convicted of murdering their parents despite claims of sexual and emotional abuse

• Nicholas Alexander Chavez says he discovered two side of Lyle and found it incredibly vulnerable to expose the things Lyle was most embarrassed about

• Cooper Koch gives an update on the brothers' case and shares his thoughts on the L.A. District Attorney choosing to not recommend resentencing

Nicholas Alexander Chavez still cringes a bit, laughing as he recalls breaking one of Ryan Murphy's antique chairs during his audition with Cooper Koch for Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

"Cooper and I just met, by the way. We've known each other for maybe 30 minutes...We went in and we filmed the thing, and I threw Cooper into one of Ryan Murphy's antique chairs," Chavez says on the latest episode of The Awardist podcast. "The scene ends, and I'm like, 'Oh my God, are you okay?' Cooper just looks at me, and his eyes go wide and he goes, 'That was great.'"

Koch says his reaction was a mix of being both stunned and shocked, and he remembers that he wanted this role "more than anything." They both got the jobs, of course. Murphy "told us that it was never going to be anyone else, that he only had tested the two of us," Koch says.

The limited series looks back on the sexual and emotional abuse that Lyle and Erik suffered at the hands of their father, José (Javier Bardem), which they claim their mother, Kitty (Chloë Sevigny), knew about but did nothing to stop, and then gets into the trial and conviction of Lyle and Erik for murdering their parents — an act they claim was in self-defense, to end the abuse.

Ahead, read excerpts from their podcast interview, and listen to Chavez and Koch's full interview on The Awardist podcast, below, where Chavez teases the I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot, who they've been excited to meet at awards shows, their pre-acting jobs, and more.

Chavez on being physically vulnerable vs. emotionally vulnerable

Chavez says his extensive research included reading "every single book that had ever been written about the Menendez brothers," as well as watching "all the documentaries." His conclusion: "Ultimately, Lyle is just a wounded, wounded boy. And he has to wear the mask of trying to be his dad, or trying to make his dad proud." He realized Lyle's emotional growth was stunted, more like that of someone who's "8, 9, 10 years old, but he feels the responsibility of acting like a record label executive. [He's' walking around and puffing out his chest, and making everyone feel as though he's the most confident and commandeering person in the room."

When "the mask falls," Chavez says, were the hardest scenes for him. "You have nothing to hide behind. You can't act like someone who is confident, or has the bravado. You can't act like your dad. You can't act like a record label executive. You just have to be that wounded 10-year-old boy." He cites a heartbreaking scene in episode 4, when José forces Lyle, who's losing his hair, to get a wig as one of those moments, as well as episode 7, when Lyle finally takes the stand in their trial. "He has to show who he really is and the parts of himself that he's most embarrassed about."

Koch's emotional guiding light

In his script for episode 5 — the must-celebrated one-take episode focused solely on a conversation between Erik and his attorney, Leslie Abramson (Ari Graynor) in jail — Koch wrote a line at the top of a page to remind him of his emotional motivation: "What way you are, and what way you're supposed to be."

"It became the whole throughline for my character. And thematically, it was about identity," Koch explains. "There's some scenes where Erik is trying to emulate his brother, and then that doesn't really work for him." So he has to truly examine himself to answer some deep questions, including about his sexuality "'Who am I? What do I want, and what am I without the experiences that I've had? And does that define me? Does that not define me? What defines me? Am I a tennis player? Am I an actor? Am I a writer? Who am I?'" And that question, "what am I supposed to be,' was just what I used all the time."

When they found themselves in awe of each other

Koch immediately jumps in to answer the question about Chavez, pointing to episode 1, when Lyle bursts into the office of Erik's therapist "screaming" and "in smables" over Erik confessing the murders to Dr. Oziel. "That was the first time I saw the mask come off, which was so heartbreaking. And also, I think for being inside Erik, it was finally like, 'Okay, we're on the same page. He's sort of struggling with this too, it's not just me.'...It just felt so real, and we had to do it so many times."

Chavez admits there's "so much to be impressed by" from Koch. "The moments where I would see Erik lean into the fun of it all, of the spending spree in [episode 2], and then playing the levels of, 'Wait, this is kind of fun, but also I'm feeling a tremendous amount of guilt' — I thought that that was really beautiful and nuanced because that's such a hard thing to play, especially for a character like Erik who feels a tremendous amount of guilt, and is just wrecked with anxiety and depression to the point of being suicidal," he says. "To give it that tinge of, 'I'm having a good time,' and then, 'and what does that mean? Does that make me an even worse person?' And I just thought that Cooper played those moments beautifully."

On new developments in the Menendez brothers' case

In March, Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced he does not support resentencing of the brothers, unless they, "sincerely and unequivocally admit for the first time in over 30 years, the full range of their criminal activity and all the lies that they have told about it."

That part — about "the lies" — does sit well with Koch, who's been in close contact with Erik.

"I don't want to say anything that's too rash, even though whenever I hear that, my thoughts are just like... I say really horrible things," he admits. "All I can say is that someone like him is still really living in the '90s, and is taking the prosecution rhetoric to heart, which is just sort of bonkers to me, that we're still sort of reiterating these narratives that have been debunked since then. It's 30 years later, 35 years later. I just think it's ridiculous. But on that front, they have a hearing, and it's not Hochman's decision to have them go forward with the resentencing, it's the judge's decision. That was just his recommendation. However, they do have another route of going to their parole board hearing, which is in June. And so, that looks really positive. Basically, they just have to go to the parole board and share their story and talk about their case, and they will essentially be let out. Hopefully. You never know. I'm still having a lot of cautious optimism, but to have [California Governor] Gavin Newsom go the clemency route, and advocate for them in that way, was really positive. I spoke with Erik last week, and he's still very nervous but also really hopeful and excited. I'm the same."

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