Monsters star Cooper Koch ‘stands with’ Menendez brothers in calls for retrial
The actor who plays one of the Menendez brothers in a Netflix drama about the real-life murder of Jose and Kitty Menendez in 1989 says he “stands with” and “supports” the brothers in their call for a new trial.
Cooper Koch, who plays Erik Menendez in Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story told Sky News: “I totally stand with them, and I support them, and I can only hope that the justice system makes the right decision.”
Cooper Koch plays Erik Menendez, who murdered his parents when he was 18, and serving life. Pic: Netflix
The Menendez brothers’s trial was a media sensation in the US, pictured in 1994. Pic: Getty
The brothers were convicted of shooting their father and mother Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez multiple times at close range in the family mansion in Beverly Hills, California, on 20 August 1989. They were 21 and 18 at the time.
During their trial, the defence claimed the brothers committed the murders in self-defence after many years of alleged physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
The prosecution argued the murders were motivated by greed, and said the brothers killed their parents to avoid disinheritance.
While an initial trial of each brother separately ended in a mistrial, a second joint trial saw them convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The day after the Netflix drama aired, Erik Menendez put out a scathing statement about the show via his wife Tammi, calling it “dishonest” and “inaccurate”.
Responding to his criticism, Koch, who recently visited the brothers with Kim Kardashian, said: “I understand where he’s coming from. It’s very difficult to have your life dramatized and retold in a Hollywood retelling of the biggest trauma of your life. One that has, in a sense, defined you.
“I can only sympathise and empathise with him and stand with him. You know, I get it.”
(L to R) Nicholas Chavez as Lyle, Chloe Sevigny as Kitty, Javier Bardem as Jose and Cooper Koch as Erik. Pic: Netflix
No ‘battle’ with ethical issues
In drawing a line between fact and fiction, the 28-year-old actor said: “I definitely think there’s an ethical thing there for sure. Nothing that I battled with.
“I just made it my priority every day to make sure that I was being authentic to [Erik] and the story and to just work with integrity and make sure that I was always studying and watching testimony and just digging deeper and deeper into, him and his story.”
He said having Erik’s own words from court made his job as an actor easier: “I don’t really have to use a tonne of my imagination. It’s like he’s telling me, and all I have to do is visualise what happened and the stories that he recounts on the stand.
“In that sense, it kind of makes the job… It’s like you have this blueprint already. You don’t have to create from a blank canvas.”
(R-L): Lyle and Erik Menendez are now 56 and 53 years old. Pics: Richard J Donovan Correctional Facility
Erik’s ‘still in prison sadly’
He said one thing that made the job “a little bit more difficult”.
“There is the pressure that he is a real person, and he is still alive. And he is still in prison, sadly. That’s why I made sure that every day I was thinking about him and I made it my utmost priority to just be as authentic as possible.”
Actor Nicholas Alexander Chavez, who plays older brother Lyle in the show, told Sky News there was “an enormous weight involved with playing a real person”.
Chavez said after “extensive research”, and in collaboration with the creative vision of the directors and showrunners, “what ends up on screen is art”.
As for the accuracy of the portrayal, Chavez said: “We all want it to be as respectful as possible.”
Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story. Pic: Netflix
Visiting jail with Kim Kardashian
Koch recently visited the brothers at San Diego County’s Richard J Donovan Correctional Facility, where both brothers are being held, alongside Kim Kardashian.
He called the visit “a very rewarding experience,” and that Kardashian, who has been training to be a lawyer since 2019, was “super passionate” about criminal reform.
Koch said their visit was inspired by Lyle and Erik’s spearheading of a green space project – Greenspace – which aims to improve the appearance of prison yards to assist with rehabilitation.
He explained they hope to “make it feel less grey and cold… and help these incarcerated individuals feel like they can have a purpose and meaning in their life in prison”.
Koch said the experience of working on the Ryan Murphy show had “definitely changed my life”.
Erik (L) left and his brother Lyle (R) in front of their Beverly Hills home in November 1989. Pic: Getty
Possibility of a retrial?
The original trial of the Menendez brothers in 1993 was a media sensation, televised for Court TV, and a talking point across America.
The joint trial two years later, at which evidence of the brothers’ alleged sexual abuse at the hands of their father was ruled inadmissible.
After their sentencing in 1996, the brothers did not see each other for 22 years, serving time in different jails until 2018 when Erik was moved to same facility as Lyle. They are now aged 53 and 56 respectively.
Over the last few years interest in the case has spiked, with a growing TikTok movement to free the brothers.
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The Netflix drama, and a forthcoming documentary coming to the streamer in October, has only added to growing speculation over the case.
Now, recent new evidence, which surfaced in the 2023 documentary Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed has led to calls for a retrial.
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The film featured claims from former Puerto Rican boyband member Roy Rossello, who alleged Jose Menendez sexually assaulted him when he was a teenager.
The brothers’ defence team also say they’ve uncovered a letter that Erik Menendez had written to his cousin that was dated months before the murders, where he talked about what he said was abuse from his father and being afraid of him.
The defence team say this should warrant a new trial because it’s information they didn’t have when the case was first presented to a jury.
The LA county’s district attorney’s office told Sky News’ US partner NBC News they are investigating the claims and will have a response by 26 September.
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
Pic: StudioCanal
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Pic: StudioCanal
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
Jolie at the New York Film Festival in September with three of her children (L-R) Pax, Zahara and Maddox. Pic: AP
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Maria is in cinemas now.
Tom Holland’s dad has confirmed his son’s engagement to Zendaya – revealing how the 28-year-old meticulously planned the proposal.
Zendaya, also 28, sparked engagement rumours when she attended last Sunday’s Golden Globes wearing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Zendaya arrived at the Golden Globes with a noticeable piece of new jewellery. Pic: Invision/AP
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”
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Zendaya rose to fame after landing a role in Disney sitcom Shake It Up, and became a household name after starring in Euphoria.
Holland – who has starred in three Spider-Man films opposite his now-fiancée – made his stage debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008.
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