Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny are stepping into the shoes of José and Kitty Menendez in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”
“Extra” spoke with Javier and Chloë about the challenges of portraying real people — particularly when the public has a lot of opinions about them.
"It's always a different responsibility," Javier reflected, "But mostly what it is is to try to embody sombody that had such an effect on so many people, and that has to do with trying to be as accurate as possible in shaping that character."
H continued, "In this case, I didn't have that much information about him, because there is not much audio or video material to look at, so I just followed the material and went there."
Chloë pointed out that Ryan Murphy decided to tell the story from different people's perspectives who were affected by the crime.
She said, “As actors, we had to paint different people’s ideas of these characters so that we weren’t playing one truth of a person, so it was a challenging acting exercise, first and foremost. I think a lot of people have opinions about these people, and they’re very passionate about the crime and the story and what allegedly happened to the boys, so we have to consider the weight of all of that and of all people’s already preconceived ideas of these people and the crimes... You’re really, you know, taking on a lot more than just, like, an acting role when you come on board playing anybody who is known.”
Erik Menendez issued a statement from prison criticizing the series as inaccurate.
Javier reacted to the criticism, saying, “I think it’s absolutely legitimate for him to express and have an opinion, of course. I totally respect that, we respect that, and we and support whatever he wants to think about it, because it’s his life.”
“That being said, the show doesn’t want to show one truth,” Javier emphasized. “The show has to show different views depending on who’s telling the story, based on research and facts and opinions. It doesn’t have anything to do with a statement — this is what it was —because nobody knows except those two boys — no, two old men like me — and those parents who are not here to say anything. So, but whatever he said, I totally understand and support."
Chloë shared her two cents, saying, “I think Erik and Lyle and the family have a right to say, you know, their opinion, obviously, and to vocalize it and make as many statements as they want to make. I know that Netflix has a documentary coming out where they tell their side of the story, so I think it’s admirable of Netflix to give them that platform to reach as many people as they want to to tell their side of the story. You know, I'm very interested to tune in and hear them."
In 1996, the Menendez brothers were convicted of the 1989 murders of their parents and were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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