Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch Don’t think the Menendez brothers are ‘monsters’
A week ago Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez premiered on Netflix, Ryan Murphy warned the crowd at the preview screening that we were about to witness the birth of a star. Make two of them.
“It was September 12th, also known as the last Wednesday before Nicholas and Cooper became super famous,” Murphy said of Monster star Nicholas Alexander Chávez And Cooper Koch. Couple playing lyle And Erik Menendez, respectively, the two brothers are currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole after being convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez in 1996. Murphy turned to the two young actors sat next to them and sent them a congratulatory but foreboding text in their final moments of anonymity: “Enjoy it.”
Hope they heed his warning. Monster instantly became the number one show on Netflix as it gained attention argumentativefan fervor and onslaught of opinions on how it depicted the controversial case of the Menendez brothers. The real Erik criticized the series, saying it was rife “blatant lie.” Meanwhile, Murphy defended the show, saying it was “the best thing that has happened to the Menendez brothers in the last 30 years.”
All the while, 25-year-old Chavez and 28-year-old Koch were in the eye of the storm. In separate Zoom interviews, the actors tried to articulate the wild ride they’ve been on since their roles as the Menendez brothers became public.
“I previously spoke to some Netflix employees Monster came out and they said, ‘This is going to air in 190 different countries at the same time,’” Chavez said. VF. “I said, Wow, the enormity of that is really hard to grasp.”
“I feel like the same person,” Koch tells me about his life after-Monster. “The only difference is we did a big TV show and everyone was talking about it. There are some feelings of overwhelm, feelings of excitement, feelings of fear, feelings of happiness. That’s everything.
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Chavez and Koch took very different paths to Monster. Born in Houston at the turn of the millennium, Chavez spent much of his childhood in Denver doing typical boy things — playing soccer, snowboarding. It wasn’t until he spent a summer at Camp Rising Sun, an international leadership program that offers full scholarships to teens, that he was introduced to theater. “This guy is from Egypt, Marwan, who is now my best friend, guided me Into the forest and treat me like a cow,” he said. “I remember being so nervous when all the girls came to the boys camp to watch the play, and I was dressed like a cow.”
Koch also made his acting debut as a child, albeit in a very different way. He grew up in Woodland Hills, California, a Los Angeles suburb similar to Calabasas; His mother put him and his twin brother in community theater at the age of five. “My brother and I had a manager for a while, and we auditioned for commercials as well as some movies and TV shows, but we kept missing school, ” he said. “We really don’t like that.” While Koch did not achieve child stardom, his love for theater, especially musical theater, blossomed. “I grew up with musicals,” he said. “I really like Sondheim, so Into the forest And Western Story.”
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Chavez capitalized on his small but powerful role as Milky White cow by joining his high school speech and debate team, and soon found himself taking on the role of Atticus Finch in the series. movie in his high school. To kill a mockingbird after the original leader became ill. With the encouragement of his teachers, he auditioned for drama schools and attended one for two years before striking out on his own. “My first attempt in the real world was met with a global pandemic,” Chavez said. He worked odd jobs – selling life insurance and cars – to make ends meet. “If there was a product under the sun, I probably would have sold it at one time or another,” he said.
Koch also felt the sting of rejection as he entered adulthood. “I auditioned for all the musical theater schools,” Koch said. “I thought, I will become a musical theater artist. I want to perform on Broadway.” The world had other plans: “I didn’t get into any musical theater school.” However, he did get into Pace University in downtown Manhattan. “I absolutely love it,” he said. “It really taught me how to be myself.”
