‘Monsters’ Star Cooper Koch Talks “Rewarding” Meeting With Erik Menendez In Prison: “I Just Care So Much For Him”

Cooper Koch has developed a profound sense of care for the Menéndez brothers since telling their story on screen.

After portraying him in the Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story, the actor told Deadline at Saturday’s Academy Museum Gala that he was “super grateful” he got to meet Erik Menéndez in prison after the show’s debut last month on Netflix.

“Preparing to play him was, in a way, preparing to meet him at the same time,” he explained. “Because in preparing to play him, I developed such a care and true — I just care so much for him. I believe him, I think he’s an amazing human being. And so, after playing him, getting to meet him was so rewarding and special and one of the most amazing experiences I think I’ll ever have in my life.”

After Erik slammed the Ryan Murphy series as a “dishonest portrayal,” Koch and fellow Murphy star Kim Kardashian paid a visit to San Diego County’s Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, where they met with 40 inmates, including the Menéndez brothers.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has since said he doesn’t “think they deserve to be in prison until they die,” as a new hearing for the brothers is set for Nov. 26 with new-ish evidence of the abuse music executive José inflicted on his sons and others.

Koch also revealed his initial reaction to episode five of Monsters, which consists of a 35-minute single shot of Erik detailing the abuse he and brother Lyle allegedly suffered at the hands of their father José and mother Kitty Menéndez before killing both parents in 1989.

“I cried,” said Koch. “Ryan told me that I got the job, and then on the same day, he told me that I was gonna have that episode. And it was always planned to be that way, it was always one scene and one shot, and it didn’t really change. The script didn’t really change at all from the first time that I read it.”

According to the show’s official Netflix logline, Monsters “dives into the historic case that took the world by storm, paved the way for audiences’ modern-day fascination with true crime, and in return asks those audiences: Who are the real monsters?”