Nicholas Alexander Chavez was committed to meticulously researching his role as Lyle Menendez, one-half of the real-life brothers who brutally murdered their parents in 1989, for his role in Ryan Murphy’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” He took his part so seriously, in fact, that he said he felt “some of spiritual connection” with the Beverly Hills mansion where the crime occurred.
While the production team used three different L.A.-area locations to cobble together its Menendez home, the real life site is very much intact on North Elm Drive in Beverly Hills. Chavez said he lives “not quite a stone’s throw but pretty close” to the house, and took daily walks to it while preparing for the production.
“Maybe you’ve had a similar experience to this, where you just know that spaces carry energy with them,” Chavez said during a recent interview with The Los Angeles Times. “I would sit in front of the house and I would try to create in my mind’s eye and know that all of these things actually happened at this house that I’m standing in front of. And that was really heavy and took a few days of walking to the house to even begin to process. I was just trying to align myself with the story, with the people, with the place as intimately as I possibly could from as early as I possible could in the process.”
Chavez added that he felt as if he will “always carry some symbol” of his characters, including Lyle, with him.
“You’re always married to it in some way, shape or form for the rest of your life, but certain behavioral aspects or ways of thinking that just creep their way into your psyche, those hang out longer than you might think,” he exaplined.
Earlier this month, the real-life Menendez brothers were resentenced from life without the possibility of parole to 50 years with the possibility of parole. Their parole hearing is scheduled for Aug. 21 and 22. Erik’s portrayer Cooper Koch, who has visited his off-screen counterpart in jail, said Erik is “jazzed” about the potential of being released after 35 years behind bars.
“I talked to Erik yesterday, and I just think he’ll always be a part of my life. And he’s so excited and passionate about this next chapter of his,” Koch said. “He was just saying how his whole mission, and what he wants to dedicate his life to, is prison reform and making huge change for people who also have LWOP [life without parole] who he knows.”
