Nicholas Alexander Chavez portrays Lyle Menendez in a new miniseries by Ryan Murphy. During an interview with Entertainment Weekly at the premiere of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the actor said that he hadn't heard of the Menendez brothers who were convicted of killing their parents in 1996.
"I wasn't familiar with anything. I actually had not heard of the Menendez Brothers."
The actor mentioned that the 1989 crime took place a decade before his birth:
"I wasn't even alive when this happened. As soo as I got the audition, I immediately called the people who I knew and loved who were alive during that time, and I asked them what they knew about it and what their impressions of it were, and that was actually really interesting information to get."
The series which was released on Netflix on September 19, is a drama based on the real-life story of Lyle and Erik Menendez who were convicted in 1996 for killing their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in August 1989 in their Beverly Hills mansion.
Erik's lawyer Leslie Abramson argued at the time that the brothers acted in self-defense amidst s*xual abuse by their father and their mother's alcoholism and drug abuse issues.
"I had to do an extensive amount of research" - Nicholas Alexander Chavez about playing Lyle Menendez
While talking about how he prepared for his role, Nicholas Alexander Chavez went on to mention that he had to do extensive research since he wanted to be thorough:
"I had to do an extensive amount of research. This guy is really compelling and complicated character, and I wanted to be thorough. He has left such a strong impression on me, and I'm very glad that there are so many materials out there that I could read."
Chavez also went on to add that he watched the clips from the court to understand and get a "glimpse into what happened."
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The talented actor also talked about a memorable scene, where Lyle Menendez gets his wig fitted since he used to wear hairpieces and noted that the scene in a way "represented the cover he wears, or the mask that he puts on."
After the series debuted on Netflix, the real-life Erik Menendez shared a statement on his brother Lyle's Facebook page calling the series "naive" and a "dishonest portrayal" of the crime.
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