Revisiting the Menendez murders
Actress is moved by people who struggle to get by
Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders Airs Tuesdays, NBC/Global
You may think you know why brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their wealthy parents back in 1989, and the nitty gritty of the much-publicized trial that followed in 1994: Ruthless, spoiled kids seek a fat inheritance, case closed. But actress Edie Falco, who plays their lawyer Leslie Abramson in the eight-part series about the trial, dares you to take another look.
Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders builds on the uptick of true-crime shows — Making a Murderer on Netflix, and The People v. O.J. Simpson on FX among them — proven successful with audiences.
Aiming to dissect all the personalities, media circus and behind-the-scenes drama that surrounded the real-life case, it’s the first edition of an anthology series that airs under the Law & Order banner.
Falco spoke about revisiting the notorious case, finding the humanity in Abramson, and donning that unmistakable curly wig.
Q What were your feelings about the Menendez case back when it was happening in 1994?
A I was only peripherally aware of it, so I didn’t attach much emotion to it. It just seemed pretty clear that two bratty kids who wanted the money killed their parents.
But in revisiting it, I found out how much was going on that the public was not made aware of. What went on with these boys when they were young that made murder seem like an option to them.
Q How did you approach taking on a quote-unquote unlikeable character like Leslie Abramson, who was criticized for defending the brothers?
A You got to find out what they love, what is it that makes this woman tick. She loved her work, which I can totally relate to. She was passionate about what she did, about seeing her clients as humans, and seeing to it that the people judging them saw them as humans, too. To give them a shot at some justice.
Q Appearance-wise, you’re totally transformed with that curly wig. Has it become a key part of becoming Leslie for you?
A It sure is helpful because I don’t look like myself anymore. But my mother back in that time had that exact hair, but red. A giant curly perm, and I loved it. I look very much like my mother, so more than me thinking I look like Leslie Abramson, I’m thinking I’ve turned into my mother.
Q When the show was announced, there were comparisons to The People v. O.J. Simpson — how do you think this show has differentiated itself ?
A Certainly there are a lot of similarities, but it is part of the Law & Order franchise, so it’s got the Dick Wolf stamp on it. I had watched the eight-part O.J. show and realized the appeal of relooking at something you think you know, and then seeing all the things you didn’t know, and then allowing opinions inside yourself to shift. Revisiting an old crime story with new details in eight parts, it was a perfect time frame to really get into stuff deeply.
Q Some of your most memorable roles have been flawed characters like Leslie — for example, Jackie Peyton on Nurse Jackie, who had a drug habit, and Carmela Soprano on The Sopranos, a mob wife.
A Everyone I know is a flawed character. That does not make them unlovable — it makes them more complicated to love. The audience these days seems to want to see those people portrayed so they can say, “I’m like that, or I know a person like that.” Those are the characters who move me most — those that are struggling with the day-todayness of it all, of how to be a good person.
Q Are there any cases you’d like to see made into a show?
A It takes a certain stomach to get into the nuts and bolts of those sorts of things. Like the horrible case of the woman who drowned her two kids because her boyfriend didn’t want kids. You want to know how that could have ever made sense to that woman. But everything changes when you have kids, and it has weakened my appetite for a lot of those things.