Javier Bardem has revealed that he didn’t want to meet the Menendez Brothers because he couldn’t “sit down with murderers”.
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In Netflix‘s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Bardem stars as the brothers’ sexually abusive father, José. Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik (Cooper Koch) are currently serving life prison sentences for the 1989 murder of José and their mother Kitty (Chloë Sevigny).
While filming the series, Bardem said he paid particular attention to Chavez and Koch to make sure they didn’t allow the darkness of the project to consume them.
“At the beginning of the journey, I said, ‘Guys, let’s remind ourselves… and try to remember that we are loved, that we have families that really care for us, are respectful towards us, they love us, and people that we can’t wait to go back to because we love them,’” Bardem recalled in an interview with Variety.
“‘And let’s play the game that this story is demanding for us as actors. But let’s not forget that it’s a game. It’s a fiction. I’m not going to, in any way, put anything of myself into this, and I don’t want if I do or say something that you may expect because it’s written, but also some other times it may not be written or addressed on the notes, and it may happen, please don’t take it personal. This is José, Kitty, Erik and Lyle.’”
Bardem and his co-stars did not reach out to Erik, Lyle or their family before or during filming.
“I didn’t want to,” the actor said. “First of all, I didn’t know much or more basically anything about the story when [series co-creator] Ryan Murphy talked to me, because it wasn’t that big in Spain.
“And then once I dig in, I was like, ‘Wow, this is really, really sensitive material. But then I tried to read and search for material where I could see or understand more of [José], but there wasn’t any.
“He was only based on what people were saying about him, especially his children. I knew I had to trust the research Ryan and [co-creator] Ian Brennan did. It was all there in the writing. So I said, ‘I don’t need to talk to anybody.’ And also I was very, very… the word is not scared, but I never felt for a second that I would be able to sit down with the murderers.”
In October, Erik Menendez told his TikTok supporters not to minimise or diminish “the seriousness of my crime,” following calls for him and his brother to be released from prison.