{"id":130253,"date":"2024-10-10T19:20:32","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T19:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/10\/nicholas-alexander-chavez-and-cooper-koch-dont-think-the-menendez-brothers-are-monsters\/"},"modified":"2024-10-10T19:20:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T19:20:32","slug":"nicholas-alexander-chavez-and-cooper-koch-dont-think-the-menendez-brothers-are-monsters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/10\/nicholas-alexander-chavez-and-cooper-koch-dont-think-the-menendez-brothers-are-monsters\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch Don\u2019t Think the Menendez Brothers Are &#8216;Monsters&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"has-dropcap\">A week before <em>Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story<\/em> premiered on Netflix, <strong>Ryan Murphy<\/strong> warned a crowd at a preview screening that we were about to witness a star being born. Make that two of them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s September 12, also known as the last Wednesday before Nicholas and Cooper are super famous,\u201d Murphy said of his <em>Monsters<\/em> stars <strong>Nicholas Alexander Chavez<\/strong> and <strong>Cooper Koch.<\/strong> The pair play <strong>Lyle<\/strong> and <strong>Erik Menendez,<\/strong> respectively, the brothers who are currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole after being found guilty in 1996 of murdering their parents, Jose and Mary Louise \u201cKitty\u201d Menendez. Murphy turned to the two young actors seated beside him and offered them a congratulatory yet foreboding message in their last moments of relative anonymity: \u201cEnjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Hopefully they heeded his warning. <em>Monsters<\/em> immediately became the number one show on Netflix as it courted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/hollywood\/story\/ryan-murphy-reacts-to-erik-menendezs-criticism-of-monsters-the-lyle-and-erik-menendez-story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">controversy<\/a>, fan frenzy, and an onslaught of opinions about how it depicted the controversial case of the Menendez brothers. The real Erik blasted the series, saying it was full of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2024\/09\/23\/nx-s1-5123898\/menendez-brothers-comment-netflix-monsters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cblatant lies.\u201d<\/a> Murphy, meanwhile, defended the show and claimed it was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/hollywood\/story\/ryan-murphy-thinks-the-menendez-brothers-werent-incestuous-but-were-abused\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cthe best thing that has happened to the Menendez brothers in 30 years.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Throughout it all, 25-year-old Chavez and 28-year-old Koch have been in the eye of the storm. In separate Zoom interviews, the actors attempt to articulate the wild ride they\u2019ve been on since their portrayal of the Menendez brothers went public.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">\u201cI was speaking with some Netflix personnel before <em>Monsters<\/em> came out, and they said, \u2018This is going to go live in 190 different countries at once,\u2019\u201d Chavez tells <em>VF.<\/em> \u201cI was like, Wow, the enormity of that is really difficult to grasp.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">\u201cI feel like the same person,\u201d Koch tells me of his life post-<em>Monsters.<\/em> \u201cThe only thing that\u2019s different is we did a big TV show and everyone\u2019s talking about it. There\u2019s been some overwhelming feelings, exciting feelings, scared feelings, happy feelings. It\u2019s all the things.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed\">\n<div class=\"AssetEmbedAssetContainer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-container\"><span class=\"SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB responsive-asset AssetEmbedResponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__responsive-asset\"><picture class=\"ResponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa AssetEmbedResponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__responsive-asset responsive-image\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"CaptionWrapper-jSZdqE cmter caption AssetEmbedCaption-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__caption\"><span class=\"BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptionText-bHjzlu iUEiRd jSwmTa iXWezO caption__text\"><\/p>\n<p>Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez, Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez in episode 202 of Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span class=\"BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptionCredit-ejegDm iUEiRd cvffOM fNaHcW caption__credit\">COURTESY OF NETFLIX<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-dropcap paywall\">Chavez and Koch took very different paths to <em>Monsters.<\/em> Born in Houston at the turn of the millennium, Chavez spent most of his childhood in Denver doing typical boy stuff\u2014playing football, snowboarding. It wasn\u2019t until he spent a summer at Camp Rising Sun, a full-scholarship international leadership program for teens, that he was introduced to theater. \u201cThis guy from Egypt, <strong>Marwan,<\/strong> who\u2019s now my best friend, directed me in <em>Into the Woods<\/em> and cast me as the cow,\u201d he says. \u201cI remember being so nervous that all of the girls were coming over to the boys camp to see the play, and I was dressed up like a cow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Koch, too, had his first brush with acting as a child, albeit in a very different way. He grew up in Woodland Hills, California, a suburb of Los Angeles akin to Calabasas; his mother put him and his twin brother in community theater at age five. \u201cMy brother and I had a manager for a second, and we went on auditions for commercials and some film and TV, but we had to keep getting pulled out of school,\u201d he says. \u201cWe really didn\u2019t like that.\u201d While child stardom wasn\u2019t in the cards for Koch, a love of theater, particularly musical theater bloomed. \u201cI grew up doing musicals,\u201d he said. \u201cI really liked Sondheim, so <em>Into the Woods<\/em> and <em>West Side Story.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"GenericCalloutWrapper-tojWn eYeNYz callout--has-top-border\" data-testid=\"GenericCallout\">\n<figure class=\"AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed\">\n<div class=\"AssetEmbedAssetContainer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-container\"><span class=\"SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB responsive-asset AssetEmbedResponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__responsive-asset\"><picture class=\"ResponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa AssetEmbedResponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__responsive-asset responsive-image\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Image may contain Blazer Clothing Coat Jacket Formal Wear Suit Adult Person Tuxedo Accessories and Jewelry\" class=\"ResponsiveImageContainer-eybHBd fptoWY responsive-image__image\" src=\"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6708259ed87975605983d258\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/NICHOLAS_PR1_1055%2520(1).jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6708259ed87975605983d258\/master\/w_120,c_limit\/NICHOLAS_PR1_1055%20(1).jpg 120w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6708259ed87975605983d258\/master\/w_240,c_limit\/NICHOLAS_PR1_1055%20(1).jpg 240w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6708259ed87975605983d258\/master\/w_320,c_limit\/NICHOLAS_PR1_1055%20(1).jpg 320w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6708259ed87975605983d258\/master\/w_640,c_limit\/NICHOLAS_PR1_1055%20(1).jpg 640w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6708259ed87975605983d258\/master\/w_960,c_limit\/NICHOLAS_PR1_1055%20(1).jpg 960w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6708259ed87975605983d258\/master\/w_1280,c_limit\/NICHOLAS_PR1_1055%20(1).jpg 1280w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6708259ed87975605983d258\/master\/w_1600,c_limit\/NICHOLAS_PR1_1055%20(1).jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"100vw\"\/><\/noscript><\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"CaptionWrapper-jSZdqE cmter caption AssetEmbedCaption-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__caption\"><span class=\"BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptionText-bHjzlu iUEiRd jSwmTa iXWezO caption__text\"><\/p>\n<p>Nicholas Alexander Chavez<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span class=\"BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptionCredit-ejegDm iUEiRd cvffOM fNaHcW caption__credit\">NINO MU\u00d1OZ\/NETFLIX<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Chavez capitalized on his small but mighty role as Milky White the cow by joining his high school\u2019s speech and debate team, and soon found himself stepping into the role of Atticus Finch in his high school\u2019s production of <em>To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em> after the original lead got sick. With the encouragement of his teachers, he auditioned for drama schools, and attended one for two years before striking out on his own. \u201cMy first attempt at the real world got hit with a global pandemic,\u201d said Chavez. He took on odd jobs\u2014selling life insurance and cars\u2014to get by. \u201cIf there\u2019s a product under the sun, I probably sold it at one point or another,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Koch also felt the sting of rejection at the onset of adulthood. \u201cI auditioned for all the musical theater schools,\u201d said Koch. \u201cI thought, I\u2019m going to be a musical theater guy. I want to be on Broadway.\u201d The world had other plans: \u201cI didn\u2019t get into one school for musical theater.\u201d He did, however, get into Pace University in downtown Manhattan. \u201cI absolutely loved it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt just really taught me how to be myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/hollywood\/story\/nicholas-alexander-chavez-and-cooper-koch-dont-think-the-menendez-brothers-are-monsters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A week before Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story premiered on Netflix, Ryan Murphy warned a crowd at a preview screening that we were about to witness a star being born. Make that two of them. \u201cIt\u2019s September 12, also known as the last Wednesday before Nicholas and Cooper are super famous,\u201d Murphy said [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[9806,9807,358,2274],"class_list":{"0":"post-130253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrity","8":"tag-menendez-brothers","9":"tag-monsters-the-lyle-and-erik-menendez-story","10":"tag-netflix","11":"tag-ryan-murphy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}