Remarkably, Cooper Koch held back any emotion when Ryan Murphy first told him that he got the part as Erik Menéndez in Netflix’s Monsters.
But when Murphy revealed that Koch would have an entire episode to himself that would involve 34 pages of dialogue and one continuous shot, that’s when the actor said he broke down in tears.
“I grew up doing theater and I love plays. The fact that I was getting the opportunity to do a play in television form was just so full circle for me,” Koch tells Deadline. “I was so excited and happy that [my character] was going to get that amount of time to unveil his truth and his perspective and on what happened to him. I just felt so grateful.”
Here, Koch — who’s previous experience includes small roles in Power Book II: Ghost and the 2019 TV Movie Less Than Zero — talks about what it was like to shoot the scene for the Michael Uppendahl-directed episode titled “The Hurt Man.”
DEADLINE How many times did you rehearse the scene for episode 5?
KOCH We actually only did one rehearsal. Ari Graymor, who plays Leslie Abramson, along with myself, Michael Uppendahl and [writer] Ian Brennan got into that room on the stages and we went through it once. At the end everybody was very moved and everyone was crying, including myself and including Ari. Michael just looked to us and said,’ I don’t want to touch it. I just want to shoot it.’
DEADLINE Didn’t it scare the crap out of you to do it?
KOCH Oh, it definitely scared the crap out of me. I was so nervous and scared, but I knew that with the experience I had, having done a two-person play where it was just sort of monologuing a lot of the time, I would be able to execute it. But it was still super nerve-wracking.
DEADLINE So what happened during the actual shoot?
KOCH It was shot over two days. There were 10 takes total, two of those having a stop and start because of camera technicalities. The first day we did four full takes. The second day we did four full takes, and they ended up choosing the very last take.
DEADLINE Four times in one day must have been exhausting.
KOCH I was definitely exhausted. But I learned a really great lesson from another fellow actor on the show … Dallas Roberts, who plays Dr. Oziel. He said someone once told him that the best acting comes from when you’re too tired to lie. So in some ways, the more tired I got, and the more I did it, the more truthful I became. The only thing I could do was just be present and try to experience this conversation in a new way each time.
DEADLINE Did you tear up every time?
KOCH The first two takes were dry as a fricking desert, partly because Ryan Murphy was there so I was extra nervous. But he came in after the first take and was like, ‘great, keep going.’ He was super supportive and gracious with me, and he knew that I could do it. I was really hard on myself after the first two takes because I knew I wasn’t getting to where I wanted to be. I said to Michael ‘I need help. I’m not getting there, and I don’t know what to do.’ And he was like, ‘dude, you’re chasing the dragon of that first rehearsal, which was perfect, and you’re trying to chase what you did before, but this is a new day. This is a new conversation altogether. So go back in there, be open to Leslie and just try to defend your parents and try and find light in every place that you can.’ Having that direction really helped me open up and find new things in every take. And yeah, they were different every time. Different memories hit me in different ways. It was really just an exploration, and Ari was so generous and kind, and her performance really pulled my performance out. I could not have done it without her in the slightest. She is absolutely incredible.
Ronald L. Soble/Los Angeles Times/Miles Crist/Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection
DEADLINE That’s nice that you say that because we only see the back of her head the whole time.
KOCH Any other actor would’ve maybe come in and fought for their face to be on screen or said, ‘oh, well, I’m not even going to quote unquote act because I’m not on camera, so I can just fake it.’ And she did not do that. She performed in every take as if the camera was in a closeup on her face as well. I think it just shows the quality of her work ethic and who she is as a human and also as an actor.
DEADLINE Have you gone back and watched that scene?
KOCH I’ve watched it a good number of times with different people. The last time I watched it was on the Thursday when the show came out. I watched it with my family and some of my friends. At the very end when Erik starts getting really frustrated and saying, ‘I’m not a real person. I’m not a real person,’ and Leslie’s like ‘you are,’ there’s this hum that’s happening, or this buzzing sort of vibrating noise that they added underneath the dialogue. It brought such a cool intensity. And then when it cuts out and he says that he’s the hurt man, that was really cool and fun to see.
DEADLINE Why did you think it was important to shoot the scene in one take?
KOCH The viewer can’t escape. I think in editing, you can sort of be taken out of the reality of what’s happening, and you remember that, ‘okay, this is a TV show.’ With this episode, you have to stay with Erik the whole time, and in fact, you’re getting closer and closer to him and deeper and deeper inside his trauma and his past. I think it just allows the viewer to not escape what he’s been through. That’s what makes it so impactful.
DEADLINE Your co-star Nicholas Chavez, who plays Lyle, has his own scene where he reveals how his dad abused him, but he didn’t get the continuous shot like you did. Was he a little jealous?
KOCH I mean, I know I would’ve been if the roles were reversed! But I think he definitely had his moment to showcase what happened to Lyle as well in episode four. And then, of course, in episode seven when he’s on the stand. So yes, this is a very special episode and I’m so grateful for it, but he definitely got his moments to shine, and he took advantage of those moments.
