When Nicholas Alexander Chavez began researching the role of Lyle Menendez in Monsters, he paid special attention to the “mask” that Lyle’s father, Jose, forced him to wear when he started losing his hair. .
The “mask” was Chavez’s reference to Lyle’s infamous wig, which former Vanity Fair reporter Dominic Dunne once described as “a state-of-the-art hairpiece, toupee, wig, or The gun, variously referred to as a replacement and his very expensive rug, later became a constant prop at the trial, along with the two missing Mossberg 12-gauge shotguns the brothers used to blow up their parents. almost as important.”
“I really thought of this wig as some kind of mask,” Chavez told Deadline. “It’s not something he imposes on himself. It’s imposed by his father and the standards of perfection that Lyle has to live up to. It’s a mask that hides the deeply wounded inner child that comes to the surface in episode four. .”
Before embarking on the role of a lifetime, Chavez says she devoured books about the Menendez family while doing her own small ministry in Los Angeles.
“When you’re working on a project about the Menendez brothers, especially living in Los Angeles, where they lived, you meet so many people who are a degree or two away from other people who interacted directly with them. ” Chavez tells Deadline. “It was interesting because some people I met said they could see Lyle wearing clothes. And when you put on a piece, there’s a certain behavior that goes with it. You , you tilt your head in a very, very specific way, perhaps unconsciously, to maintain distance from the person you’re talking to.”
Episode 4 of Monsters, titled “Kill or Be Killed,” attempts to provide some answers as to what’s causing the (embarrassing) toupee. Lyle reveals to his lawyer that he was sexually abused by his father (Javier Bardem), and the episode shows Lyle noticing that his hair is falling out while in the shower. So Jose takes him to a professional to have a hairpiece fitted.
In the episode, Jose says to Lyle, “You look great in that.” “Do you want to be successful in business? Do you want to go into politics? Then you need to have good hair.”
“What if I don’t want to wear a wig?” Lyle says.
“We can discuss this at home,” Jose replied sternly. “You’re wearing a wig. That’s what happens.”
Although it is never explicitly stated in the limited series, Chavez admits that the hair loss was probably caused by the severe stress Lyle was under. “I can only imagine that it must have been such an anxiety-inducing experience. When aspects of how you express yourself start to crumble… when you don’t have an external validator of your identity to fall back on… It really brings out the troubling reality that he may be in. So, perhaps subconsciously, I feel that as the mask he pretends to be begins to peel away, the child underneath becomes more and more visible. It was.”
While filming the limited series, Chavez admitted that she had never actually worn a wig. “They used my real hair for almost the entire movie, but they styled it to look like a wig by teasing it. The only time it’s not my real hair is when I have a gag. So if the wig comes off, like the dinner table scene or the scene where they get snatched in the prison shower, they’ll put on a bald hat.”
And yes, the moment when Kitty snatches the wig is based on a real event. In fact, Lyle Menendez testified in court, “She reached over and grabbed my hairpiece and just ripped it off.” At that moment, my younger brother Eric learned the cruel truth.
He “didn’t know I was wearing a hairpiece and was completely embarrassed in front of my brother,” the witness said.
In Monsters, Kitty rips off Lyle’s wig during a family argument at the dinner table. The brothers then admitted to each other that they had been abused by their father, which led them to decide to shoot their parents.
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