Javier Bardem makes his TV series regular debut in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” as real-life murder victim José Menendez, whose till-imprisoned sons have accused of horrific, lifelong abuse.
The Oscar winner told TheWrap that he was eager to work with series co-creator Ryan Murphy after watching the first season of “Monster,” which focused on notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and starred Evan Peters.
“He was so loving and so caring and so generous and fun to work with and inspiring,” said Bardem of costarring in Murphy’s 2009 film “Eat, Pray, Love” with Julia Roberts.
“Once I saw ‘Dahmer,’ I said, ‘I want to work with you in one of those.’ He called me to say, ‘OK. I have one for you,” Bardem said of how he came to play the Menendez patriarch at Monday’s Los Angeles premiere of the 9-part series, which premieres Thursday on Netflix.
“I wasn’t familiar with the case, because I was not in the States,” the Spanish-born actor said of the double murder of José and wife Kitty that happened in Los Angeles in 1989.
“But when I started to dig in and informed myself, I was scared, like, ‘Oh, wow. Okay, this is what you want me to do,’” he said of learning of the extent of the alleged sexual abuse.
“I knew that (Murphy) was going to take very good care of it in the sense of quality, at every level,” he continued. “It’s a great show, team. It really speaks about some very important trauma, about how not being able to heal the traumatic events [from] childhood can cause dramatic effect for generations to come.”
Bardem won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing the coldhearted assassin Anton Chigurh in “No Country for Old Men,” but he did have a moment’s pause about playing a man who molested his own sons.
“I guess you just go in and just play it, play it safe. I believe in that,” he said. “I have a family that I go to at the end of the day, and I don’t want to show up being somebody that is not daddy or the husband or the partner. It’s a job. And the more I allow myself to play with imagination, the farther I can go, I think.”
Bardem has been married to actress Penélope Cruz since 2010; they have two children.
“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” premieres Thursday on Netflix.