When Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story debuted in September 2024, it was clear right away that Episode 5 would be a standout of the season that would be talked about for a long time. 

Clocking in at 33 minutes, “The Hurt Man,” written by co-creator Brennan, is noticeably shorter than the eight other episodes, and remarkably, it’s all shot in one take without any cuts or creative editing. It consists of one intimate conversation between Erik Menendez (Cooper Koch) and his defense attorney, Leslie Abramson (Ari Graynor), as he details the alleged abuse he suffered at the hands of his parents, José and Kitty (played by Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny), before he and his brother Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) brutally murdered them.

In an interview with Tudum in September, just a week after Monsters debuted on Netflix, co-creator Murphy said, “It’s already a very famous episode in my career.” The reason the entire episode was filmed in one shot — with Koch facing the camera and Graynor only seen from behind — was to get the audience to pay full attention to Erik’s story. “When Ian and I were working on it, the goal of that episode was to give Erik Menendez, basically, his day in court, to talk about what had happened to him uninterrupted with no bias.” 

Filming the episode was an emotionally arduous process. After just a single rehearsal, Koch and Graynor filmed eight episode-long takes over two days — tears were shed, breakdowns were had. The power of the final result comes in large part from the mutual support and true connection formed by Koch and Graynor, which you can feel in the following conversation.  Watch the video above and read on to learn how the two actors brought out the best in each other, and what surprising role sushi and wine played in the heart-wrenching episode.

On reading the script for “The Hurt Man,” Koch and Graynor instantly knew that the episode was special and would involve unique challenges, but that it was also an incredible opportunity.

Ari Graynor: I was completely overwhelmed and really in awe of [Ian and Ryan’s writing] and their incredibly strong point of view on this story, moving right into the hardest conversation to have and with such sensitivity and depth, and it went to such surprising places. I read it, and then I had to put it down for a minute. It just really rocked me.

Cooper Koch: Where were you when you read it first?

Graynor: I was at my house, and I read [Episodes 4 and 5] back-to-back. It was really intense, and it physically rocked me. I needed to take a breath. And then, I sort of put it down and, as you know, didn’t really look at it until we had a date to shoot it, which I know is so different from how you were approaching it … But what a gift. Also, I think, as an actor, it was a gift for both of us. We knew right away. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tell a story like that on-screen.

Koch: He gave us a play.

Graynor: He gave us a play, and [and we knew] that it was just going to be the two of us because that one shot was written into the script. The script didn’t change over the course of a year.

Koch: It never changed.

Before shooting the episode, the actors had only a few conversations — with each other, with Brennan and Murphy, with director Michael Uppendahl, and with director of photography Jason McCormick — before rehearsing the whole scene just once.

Koch: We just had that one rehearsal, with Ian and Michael and us, and we did it one time in the room, in the space, and it went so well. I felt like we were so prepared and we were ready. And then basically they were just like, “OK, let’s shoot it.”

Graynor: Before we entered [the scene], I asked, “How do I correctly hold this space? How much am I pushing him, how much am I lawyer-ing, how much am I mothering, how much am I sharing?”

Koch: You crafted such a balance between all of those roles. You weren’t just the lawyer — you became his mother, you became his friend. And the gentle way that you held the space for him and guided him through his telling of his story was so beautiful. What’s crazy is, I was the only one that got to really watch your performance.

Graynor: A performance for one.

Koch: I’m so lucky. I’m so, so grateful. It was a really incredible performance.

Graynor: There are not enough words in the world to talk about what you did. And you know it.

Miles Crist/Netflix

The rehearsal was almost effortless. But when the cameras started rolling for Episode 5, the first two episode-long takes were much more challenging — until a major breakthrough happened between Koch and Uppendahl.

Graynor: Our rehearsal was sort of one where you go, “Magic happened.”

Koch: [Sighs] Why weren’t the cameras rolling?

Graynor: Then we came into [the first shoot day] and sort of everybody around set was like, “Big day, you guys.” Like, wow. Episode 5, you ready? I mean, we’re all here, everyone’s here. We’re really excited, and the adrenaline was going. Even though I knew we weren’t doing what we did at the rehearsal, everything was still so honest. You just allowed it to be. You were present, and you didn’t push anything, and you just were like, “Here’s what’s coming, here’s what’s not.” I think it’s one of the most brave and important things as an actor to just allow yourself to be where you are in the moment, and see what happens. It was beautiful and honest.

Koch: I was so hard on myself after the first two takes. And then we went to lunch, right? And then we were in my trailer. I was so upset.

Graynor: We had a cry.

Koch: And we had a cry. You held me, and you were so supportive. Then we went back in for the third one, and I was like, “Michael, I need help. I need something.” And he said, “Dude, you’re chasing the dragon. You’re chasing the dragon of that first rehearsal. You need to just go in and be really open to her to try and defend your parents at every inch of the moment and find light in the dark.” And then that third take was so explosive and beautiful and amazing — they didn’t use that one.

After the rehearsal, the crew filmed eight continuous 36-minute-long takes over just two shoot days. The take that we can now see is the eighth and final one that was filmed, and much of the success was due to the genuine connection between the actors.

Koch: I remember after the last take, Sarah Brandes, our first AC, who was in the room with us pulling focus, she came up above her little monitor and was like [motions rock hands with tongue out], and she told me after, “They’re going to choose that one.” And she was right.

Graynor: [The final take] was different. I mean, there was such fluidity … I mean, we had become so close at this point.

Koch: We have to talk about the porch.

Graynor: We have to talk about the porch. The third character in this scene is really my former porch. I was renting a house in Silver Lake five minutes from where you were living, and it had this — ugh, what a gorgeous porch. I mean, it just really was a porch for the ages. It had beautiful fruit trees and the light was gorgeous. Almost every day after work, you would come over, and we would sit on the porch.

Koch: That’s where we also read the episode together for the first time. We just did it ...

Graynor: We came back there both days [after filming Episode 5].

Koch: First time we had Thai food, wine, and we were smoking. And then second time, wine, sushi … Even before we did the episode, we were hanging out at the porch all the time.

Graynor: The second I got to LA, the first person I spoke to was —

Koch: Was me.

Graynor: Was you.

Koch: And that’s always how I like to work, especially if something is so close.

Graynor: I mean, I’ve been incredibly lucky that I feel like there’s not really been a bad egg among the people I’ve worked with. But you know, you hear stories.

Koch: Yeah. So we were so lucky.

Graynor: We were very lucky.

Koch: Still are.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Watch Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story now.

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