Cooper Koch reveals he didn’t use a prosthetic penis in ‘Monsters’ shower scene
Cooper Koch has revealed that he didn’t use a prosthetic penis in a widely discussed prison shower scene in Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story.
The actor, who plays Erik Menendez in Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix series, appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen yesterday (October 14) to discuss the show. In reference to the full-frontal nudity in the prison shower scene, Cohen counted down the top five most iconic full frontal moments in film and TV over the years.
One of these was Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights, in which Cohen mentioned that the actor used a “prosthetic dick,” Koch added: “Also just to say mine was not a prosthetic.”
“Well that was going to be my next question,” Cohen replied. “Congratulations to you, Cooper. You’re very blessed, aren’t you.”
“Well hung,” Koch quipped.
Later, Koch was asked what the scariest thing about showing full front nudity on camera was.
“It’s not scary, I would say it’s just more uncomfortable at first and it’s very cold, especially in the shower,” he said, adding that the water was “warm in the beginning.”
He also said meeting the real Menendez brothers was “not super intimidating. I would say just like more nerve-wracking ‘cause I’ve known about them for so long and care so much about them.”
“It was just like nervous but then when I got there it was all great,” he added.
Koch did, however, say that auditioning for Monsters was “scary”.
“Nicholas [Alexander Chavez] broke a chair, Ryan Murphy was there, scary,” he added.
Koch stars opposite Chavez as the Menéndez brothers, who murdered their parents, José and Kitty, with a shotgun at their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989.
Both the cast and Murphy have defended the show from criticism by its subjects. The brothers have since been in a Netflix documentary telling their story after Erik said that he believes “Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent”.
In response, Murphy told E! News: “I think that’s interesting because I know he hasn’t watched the show. So I find that curious. I hope he does watch it. I think if he did watch it he would be incredibly proud of Cooper Koch who plays him.”
Koch added (via Variety): “[Erik’s reaction] definitely affected me and it made me feel things. I sympathise with him, I empathise with him. I get it. I understand how difficult it would be to have the worst part of your life be televised for millions of people to see. It’s so exposing. I understand how he feels and I stand by him. In terms of approaching him and approaching the part, I just really wanted to do as much research and dig really deep into myself to really portray him with integrity and just be as authentic as possible to support him and also to support his family and all the people who stand with him.”
The show also recently attracted more criticism for depicting an incestuous relationship between the brothers, with scenes depicting them kissing. One scene involved their mother, played by Chloë Sevigny, walking in on them kissing in the shower.
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Emma Wilkes
NME
