After breaking viewing records with Netflix’s miniseries Dahmer, Ryan Murphy’s signature crime anthology series had a new addition with Monsters, based on the true story of the Menendez brothers, who were arrested for murdering their parents in cold blood. The case seemed open and shut, but claims of sexual, mental, and physical abuse from the convicts towards the victims gave it a whole new dynamic.
Ari Graynor portrayed the attorney Leslie Abramson, who handled this complicated case but didn’t approach her in real life. “I knew that she had made it pretty clear that she never wanted to speak about any of her cases,” Graynor told Variety. She added that despite being part of a sensational case, Abramson never gave interviews and statements related to it to the press because the case was “painful” for her.
Nonetheless, she never minced her words while talking about “the media and its effects on things,” according to Graynor. The only publicity Abramson had partaken in was releasing her memoir The Defense Is Ready: Life in the Trenches of Criminal Law in 1997. Now, at 80, she’s retired and rarely makes public appearances.
Although The Sopranos actress did not interact with the attorney in real life, she developed a distant connection and admiration through the course of filming the series. “I feel so deeply connected to her, and feel like I’ve fallen in love with her from afar,” the actress said of the defense attorney. “So much of this journey for me was wanting to do her justice.”
Graynor revealed that she has tried reaching out to her through email and people who might have a connection so that she could acknowledge her and “and to tell her what I saw in her and if she ever wants to talk.”
According to the actress, the Menendez brothers’ case should be retried in an attempt to free them from prison. She thinks that if given a second chance, they would “make their lives meaningful and contribute beautifully to society.” While constantly proclaiming them as amazing human beings, Graynor mentioned that she would love to hug the brothers one day.
