Lyle and Erik Menendez’s Casting Compared to the Real People They Play

It’s been 35 years since Jose and Kitty Menendez were killed in their California home in 1989 by their sons Lyle, then 21, and Erik, then 18.

While there have been fictionalized adaptations of the case over the years — most recently the 2017 miniseries “Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders” — the most recent came from Netflix, whose “Monster” series hit it big with “The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” in 2022. “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” premieres Sept. 19.

Here’s a list of the real and fictional people behind the new adaptation, based on Robert Rand’s book “The Menendez Murders,” the inspiration for the series.

Nicolas Alexander Chavez as Lyle Menendez

Where did you see Nicolas Alexander Chavez: “General Hospital” (2021-24), “Crushed” (2022)

Who does he play with: Lyle Menendez, the eldest of the two Menendez brothers, born in 1968. At the time of the murder, Lyle Menendez was suspended from Princeton for a year after being accused of plagiarizing a paper, which he denied doing. He and his younger brother were tennis players.

The night Jose and Kitty were murdered, Lyle Menendez called police. “Someone killed my parents,” he told the dispatcher, according to a transcript of the call.

The brothers were charged with first-degree murder of their parents. They ultimately received two trials. The first, a media sensation, was held before two juries; the second was held behind closed doors and before a single jury.

At their first trial, the defense argued that the brothers killed their parents because of their father’s sexual abuse and fear that he would kill them if they spoke out. The prosecution argued that the brothers killed their father for financial reasons: they had inherited an estate estimated at between $8 million and $14 million, according to “The Menendez Murders.”

Their first trial ended in two deadlocked juries. In the second trial, which was held before a single jury and without television cameras, the allegations of abuse were ruled inadmissible.

Erik and Lyle Menendez were eventually convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in March 1996. The brothers were sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, according to the Associated Press.

Cooper Koch (Erik Menendez)

Where did you see Cooper Koch: “They/Them” (2022), “Swallowed” (2022), “Power Book II: Ghost” (2020), “A Christmas Wedding in New York” (2020), “Less Than Zero” (2019)

Who does he play with: Born in 1970, Erik Galen Menendez is the younger of two brothers. At the time of the murder, Erik Menendez was preparing to attend the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and leave his family’s Beverly Hills home. After his parents were killed, he hired a full-time tennis coach and competed in tournaments. He was in Israel, competing, when police ordered his surrender, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time.

Javier Bardem (Jose Menendez)

Where did you see Javier Bardem: “Dune” (parts 1 and 2) (2021-24); “Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge” (2017); “Skyfall” (2012); “No Country for Old Men” (2007); “The Sea Inside” (2004)

Who does he play with: José Menendez, the father of the Menendez brothers. José Menendez fled Cuba to a rural Pennsylvania town as a teenager when dictator Fidel Castro came to power. He met his future wife, Kitty Anderson, at Southern Illinois University, where he had a scholarship. They married in 1983 and moved to New York, where he earned an accounting degree from Queens College. Hen later headed RCA-Ariola’s record division and other business ventures.

To the outside world, he was known for encouraging his sons to play sports and study. The brothers say their California home was even darker.

At their first trial, the brothers recounted sexual abuse by their father. Lyle Menendez testified that he confronted his father about the ongoing abuse Erik Menendez suffered in the days leading up to the double murder. He threatened to report the incident to the police, then feared his father would retaliate. “I thought we were in danger,” he testified. “I felt like he had no choice. He was going to kill us.”

Years later, in 2024, a member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo came forward to say he was sexually assaulted by José Menendez in the 2024 Peacock documentary “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.” Peacock is owned by NBCUniversal, TODAY’s parent company.

Chloé Sevigny (Mary Louise ‘Kitty; Menendez)

Where did you see Chloë Sevigny: “Feud” (2024); “Poker Face” (2023); “Russian Doll” (2019-22); “American Horror Story” (2012-16); “Big Love” (2006-11); “Kids” (1995)

Who does she play: Mary Louise Anderson, known as Kitty, was the mother of Lyle and Erik Menendez. She was from Wateska, Illinois, where her parents were divorced. She was a “quiet rebel,” according to the LA Times.

Lyle Menendez testified that he told his mother about his father’s abuse. “She told me to stop, that I was overreacting and that my father should punish me when I did things wrong,” he said.

He also said Kitty Menendez “beat and kicked” him and his brother and once chased him with a kitchen knife, according to the book “The Menendez Murders.”

Nathan Lane (Dominick Dunne)

Where did you see Nathan Lane: “The Golden Age” (2022-23); “Only Murders Are in the Building” (2021-22); “Modern Family” (2010-19); “The Good Wife” (2012-14); “The Producers” (2005); “The Lion King” (1994)

Who is he playing?:Dominick Dunne was a writer, journalist and producer who worked on films such as “The Boys in the Band” (1970) and “The Panic in Needle Park” (1971). After his daughter’s murder in 1982, he began writing about wealth and the justice system, often writing for Vanity Fair. He wrote extensively about the Menendez trial. Dunne died in 2009.

Ari Graynor (Leslie Abramson)

Where did you see Ari Graynor: “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” (2023); “Mrs. America” (2020); “The Disaster Artist” (2017); “Bad Teacher” (2014); “Fringe” (2009-10); “The Sopranos” (2001)

Who plays Ari Graynor: Graynor is Leslie Abramson, Erik Menendez’s defense attorney at both trials. Her argument at the first trial focused on the abuse she said the brothers had suffered. “Abramson was small in stature but a giant in the courtroom,” Rand writes in “The Menendez Murders.” She was considered one of California’s best defense attorneys and was known for keeping her clients off death row.

After the brothers were convicted, she said the case would “never be over” for her, “because I will never cut my ties with Erik Menendez or Lyle Menendez or their family,” according to “The Menendez Murders.”

Dallas Roberts (Jerome Oziel)

Where did you see Dallas Roberts: “Glass Onion” (2022); “Insatiable” (2018-19); “The Good Wife” (2010-16); “Unforgettable” (2013-15); “The Walking Dead” (2012-13); “The L Word” (2006-09)

Who is he playing: Jerome Oziel, the psychiatrist to whom Erik Menendez confessed the murders in 1981. Oziel later provided police with the evidence needed to arrest Erik and Lyle for the murders of their parents after judges ordered him to do so.

Leslie Grossman (Judalon Smyth)

Where did you see Leslie Grossman: “American Horror Story” (2017-24); “Love, Victor” (2020-22); “Santa, Inc.” (2021); “The Good Place” (2017-18)

Who does she play: Judalon Smyth, a former client of Jerome Oziel who became his lover. Smyth eventually informed police of the existence of the tapes of Erik Menendez’s confession that Oziel possessed.

Jason Butler Harner (Les Zoeller)

Where did you see Jason Butler Harner:“Sugar” (2024); “Next” (2020); “Ozark” (2017-18)

Who does he play with: Zoeller was a detective with the Beverly Hills Police Department from 1972 to 2002 and worked on cases including the Billionaire Boys Club Ponzi scheme, among others, the Los Angeles Times reported in 1996. Zoeller died in 2021.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com