Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story star Nicholas Alexander Chavez has addressed Lyle’s hair loss and use of a toupée, explaining how it impacted him and its historical importance. Monsters focuses on the story behind how and why Lyle and Erik killed their parents, with part of Lyle’s backstory involving his father, José (Javier Bardem) forcing him to wear a wig after he started going bald. The series doesn’t directly address why Lyle needs a wig. However, it still becomes a key part of the story as tensions rise and the case is analyzed.

Speaking with Deadline, Chavez explained how he saw Lyle’s wig in Monsters as “a mask” to hide his subconscious feelings and ideas, becoming a core part of his character. The actor also believed his hair loss was due to the stress of his home life, trying to hold onto an external version of normalcy with his toupée. He also confessed that, during production, he never wore a wig, instead having his real hair stylized to look like one, using a bald cap in scenes where it had to come off. Check out what Chavez had to say below:

I really saw this wig as mask of sorts. It’s not one that he imposes on himself. It’s imposed by his father and the perfectionist standard that Lyle has to live up to. It’s a mask that hides a deeply, deeply wounded inner child who surfaces in episodes four.

When you’re working on a project about the Menéndez brothers, especially living in Los Angeles where they lived, you meet a great many people who are one degree or two degrees of separation away from others who directly interfaced with them. It was interesting because several of the people who I met with told me that they could tell that Lyle was wearing a piece. And when you wear a piece, there is certain behavior that goes along with that. You sort of angle your head in a very, very specific way, maybe even subconsciously, to try to keep distance between it and the person that you’re talking to.

I can only imagine it must have been such an anxiety-inducing experience. When aspects of the way you present yourself start to fall apart … when you don’t have these external validators of your identity to lean on … it really brings out nasty realities that might be living inside you. So I felt like maybe subconsciously, when the mask of who he pretended to be started to slip, the child underneath started to come through more and more.

They used my real hair for almost the entire production, but styled it to look like it was a toupée by teasing it. The only time where it’s not my real hair is if there’s a gag. So if the wig comes off, like the scene at the dinner table, or the scene where it gets snatched off while I’m in the prison showers, they would put the bald cap on.

What Chavez’s Analysis Of Lyle’s Wig Says About Monsters

The History’s Meaning Is Deepened By Different Perspective

During the brother’s real-life court case, Lyle testified about going bald, citing one incident where his mother, Kitty, ripped off his toupée at the dinner table while the family were having an argument. As seen in both the Netflix series and real life, the incident made Erik feel more comfortable confiding in his brother afterward, confessing to the alleged sexual abuse their father had been inflicting upon him. This event, therefore, was a key moment in the events leading up to them murdering their parents, acting as core justification in their eyes for their actions.

Chavez’s analysis of Lyle’s hairpiece offers a unique perspective on the murderer, who no doubt had his own demons to wrestle with while growing up in an abusive household. By the end of Monsters, though, the series doesn’t draw any conclusions about justifying his actions, instead leaving it up to interpretation. The actor’s analysis, therefore, is perfect insight into how much of the case had to be interpreted though the lens of killers, with psychological impacts and environmental effects playing a core role into what made the brothers commit their crime.

Our Take On Lyle Menendez’s Toupée In Monsters

It’s An Important Element Of How He Justified Murder

Custom Image by Grant Hermanns
While it may seem like a small detail, Lyle’s toupée was an intricate part of why he and his brother decided to plot the murder of their parents. Although it doesn’t justify their actions, Monsters still presents the wig as a crucial part of how they decided to kill their family, being one of the last straws before their plot finally went into effect. Chavez’s interpretation highlights how much of the case is still contested, showing how the actor needed to interpret elements of the killer in order to faithfully portray him.