Cooper Koch on ‘Inspiring’ Menendez Brothers Prison Visit with Kim Kardashian (Exclusive)

Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez are playing Lyle and Erik Menendez in the much talked-about series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”

They sat down with “Extra” to talk about the show, Cooper’s visit with the real Menendez brothers in prison, and Erik’s criticism of the series as a “dishonest portrayal.”

In 1996, the Menendez brothers were convicted of the 1989 murders of their parents and were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Cooper, who plays Erik, recently went along with Kim Kardashian to meet Lyle and Erik.

He said, “Kim and Scott Budnick do a lot of prison reform work and she had seen the show. She called me and told me she loved it and, you know, she feels for them, and they had a trip planned to go down there to talk about this Green Space Project that Erik and Lyle are spearheading. They’ve been working on it for a long time. And she invited me to go with them.

“We went down and we went to this gymnasium where we sat around with 30 or so incarcerated individuals, who all shared their stories and it was very emotional and inspiring,” Cooper added. “I got to meet both of them and just tell I believe them and I support them and I did everything I could to portray them authentically.”

As for how his meeting with them affected his portrayal, Koch explained, “Having these conversations, in fact, it made my beliefs about them stronger. They’re so kind, they’re such amazing people. They’ve done so much good in prison. They just graduated from UC Irvine. They are doing this Green Space Project, as I said. Erik teaches mediation and speech classes. They’re very involved, and they’re really wonderful people.”

Erik issued a statement criticizing the “horrible and blatant lies” in the show, and Cooper said he supports Erik.

He commented, “I understand how he feels and I get how difficult it would be to have the worst part of your life be televised in a dramatized way for millions of people to see, and so I just support him. I understand how that must feel.”

Cooper and Nicholas portrayed Lyle and Erik in a different way than often seen. Nicholas said, “We were tasked with sharing these characters and these real people from several different perspectives. I was trying to assimilate a wide variety of different materials from the scripts to everything that I had researched, the trial footage, and ultimately you come away with an interpretation that shows this story from many different perspectives and sides.”

The show has everyone talking by introducing a kiss between Lyle and Erik, an insinuation of an incestuous relationship.

Cooper shared, “I think it really all comes from this one perspective, which is the Dominick Dunne theory. Honestly, I don’t think it’s true. It’s just his point of view, his perspective.”

Cooper noted, “The cool thing about that scene in Episode 7 where he’s talking about it and explaining the theory, you know, at the end of that scene, it cuts to a shot from behind him and all of the friends that are sitting at the table are now gone, and I think that’s sort like the mise-en-scène way of saying that his point of view is kind of not very favorable. I don’t think anything like that happened. I think it was just we’re showing all the perspectives in this show so that the audience can act like the jury did and give their opinion at the end of the series.”

Nicholas also discussed the pressures of playing real people who are still alive, saying “You try to handle it as diligently as you possibly can while keeping in mind that there are a very wide variety of creative demands being put on you. You have the creative demands that you put on yourself, but then there are also creative demands from all the other people who are involved, such as screenwriters and directors.”

Cooper and Erik opened up about acting opposite powerhouses Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny, who play José and Kitty Menendez.

Cooper praised Javier, saying, “I think he really does such a brilliant job of — he’s obviously terrifying — but he has this charm and this sort of bravado that kind of pulls you in. And I think that’s really nuanced in how he approached the character because that’s kind of how a person like that is — quite frankly, a narcissist. They draw you in and they charm you and pull you in and make you feel like you’re important and seen and loved before they then turn and become this dark, evil monster.”

Nicholas said of the intense scenes with Javier, “It’s really harshly juxtaposed, the violence with the love, which made it very impactful and definitely had a profound effect on me as an actor.”