Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is the latest season of the Netflix anthology series produced by the prolific producer extraordinaire Ryan Murphy– with Ian Brennan. Centered on the true-life murders of José and Kitty Menendez, who their sons murdered. The story unfolds through multiple perspectives using the Rashomon effect to illustrate that there are many aspects to this case. To bring out those complex vibes, the producers brought on composers Thomas Newman and Julia Newman, who have risen to the task and created a subtle and concurrently powerful score that underscores the themes of this weighty material.
Part of an incredible family lineage, starting with Alfred Newman, Thomas Newman has a resume of dozens of iconic and memorable scores, including The Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty, and WALL-E, to name a few. His daughter Julia Newman has become a rising star in the field, working on short films, documentaries, web series, and games. She composed the music for Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, with Thomas doing the main there. This project marks their first full collaboration. Thomas and Julia Newman spoke to Immersive about this special collaboration.
[This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.]
Let’s talk about Erik and Lyle Menendez… How did you first get approached about this project, and what were your thoughts when you both started?
Thomas Newman: We had worked with Alexis Martin Woodall at Ryan Murphy Productions on Feud: Capote vs. The Swans. We had a great time, and she and Ryan offered us this as a follow-up, and we gladly took it on. I had just written the main title for Feud, and Julia had handled all of the music throughout the eight episodes. This one, we worked, uh, side by side.
Despite his numerous productions, I’ve heard Ryan Murphy is very hands-on with his projects…
Julia Newman: It started with a Zoom call to establish how they wanted to approach the show. This story is enmeshed in Los Angeles history, and both my dad and I are Angelenos. I tried to get a sense of how this wasn’t just a true crime story but a story of exploring different perspectives to leave the audience feeling ill at ease. Each time, they were introduced to a new perspective.
Thomas Newman: Ryan Murphy’s idea was to show all these different angles of the same story, which kind of confused your sense of what to believe and what was true and what was false. Ultimately, you didn’t know that there was an issue of questioning the truth.
It humanizes the brothers in a way that no dramatization of these events has done before. It does not let them ‘off the hook’ for their crimes but shows the complexity of their motives. Talk about how that translated into the complexity of music.
Julia Newman: I think we decided to approach the score early on with a sense of neutrality. We didn’t wanna say the boys are bad or the boys are good. We wanted to tap into the feeling of hunger that both Eric and Lyle Menendez clearly had. So whether they’re killing their parents out of the sense of justice and catharsis, or whether they’re killing their parents from a place of genuine evil within their souls, really wasn’t for us to comment on. What we did tap into was something pulsating within their souls, urging them forward in doing this.
Thomas Newman: I think we just wanted to advance the story. The notion of what’s compelling. I guess you’re right insofar as saying too much, I think, would make the story less compelling. It was a way of saying, how do we walk a line – a razor’s edge so that you’re on the edge of your seat regarding what’s gonna happen next.
Absolutely. The score certainly contrasts with some of the era’s pop music, which also plays in the episodes. Did any of that music figure in?
Julia Newman: I think we understood that’s a part of the history and palette of the Menendez Brothers story. So it was more a matter of looking at the role that that played and how score married itself to that. We decided to go in the approach of working in contrast to that style of music. However, our approach to the score should not abandon a sense of style and era. In the Hotel Bel-Air scenes here, we used the alto flute – tapping into some of the vibes of that time but allowing the music of that era to speak for itself because that’s the most definable kind of sonic moniker of that time.
In episode two, this is after the crime, and you have this sense of dread. You see them lining things up for themselves, going on a spending spree. Were any scenes more challenging than others?
Thomas Newman: I guess the notion is how much fun are you allowed to have on behalf of these characters? Not on behalf of composers, what could outgoing music be without being utterly inappropriate? I think it’s the A to Z of style. How dark is it on the one hand, and how light and funny can it afford to be on the other?
I love it when composers use voices as instruments. Talk about Hum, I found that cue compelling.
Thomas Newman: Julia had come in with this lovely idea that she’d used her voice – she’d overdubbed herself. It was a charming motif ahead of a relatively complex bit of piano. I just suggested we repeat that motif because it was so compelling. We put it up against the second episode’s opening and were taken by it. It’s always lovely when you’re surprised by ideas you have that were not intended for the places you put them.
It works well. Julia talk a bit about creating that hum, and the emotion behind it?
Julia Newman: I think we had seen the first episode, and I was perplexed about what this show was about. What did it mean to play into the creepiness? It wasn’t just about murder. I started with these two low fifths and piano and thought, there’s a mic and me in this studio. Why not record it? I had done one huge Pro Tools session of improvising these different little vocal bits. The fun thing was that we weren’t even on episode two yet. That’s what made the whole thing so approachable. There was no requirement for it. It was just something that we had stumbled upon.
Thomas Newman: It’s probably the most fun part of the process—anything goes until nothing goes until you share ideas, and the ideas are either accepted or rejected. As composers, you want to be able to express the best of yourself before you start having to hone it down to what’s necessary.
Julia Newman: It was a fantastic moment. As a young composer working with a veteran composer, I think it was one of the most amazing learning experiences ever getting to work with my dad. I’d sat behind him for many years, taking notes and getting a sense of how everything worked. I think to be in the present tense, throwing ideas around was pretty amazing.
I think this is an amazing partnership. It’s a lineage. Can you talk a little bit about the genesis of the idea of working together?
Thomas Newman: Alexis loved the idea of us working together, starting on Feud. She was just interested in having us stick around and do more work. I have never actually done co-composition before. This was my first experience, but it was quite natural and simple.
Julia Newman: There was never this idea of me coming in as a composer. I graduated from USC quite a few years ago, but I never planned to be a composer. It’s just the enjoyment that we both take out of it. I have such a respect for what my dad does. What he’s achieved is excellent, but sometimes people don’t understand how brilliant he is moment-to-moment and how he crafts his scores. So, sitting with him next to him during that process was so exciting and fun. My dad offered me a real opportunity to stretch my creative muscles. He really challenged me.
How do you start a score?
Thomas Newman: I think attaching any kind of civilized approach is just wrong. It’s just chaos. It’s just, here’s an idea. What do you think? We would gather ideas and just put them everywhere; then, we can sit more passively back and ask ourselves what works and doesn’t.
Julia Newman: I think we’re always looking for a foothold, and there’s a million different ways to approach that. I believe in having an idea that doesn’t require too much to get to and then being able to sit back and say, what do you think about this? What is the notion of being scary in a murder show but one that takes place in the 1980s and is so iconic?
Thomas Newman: It was complex on that level. I think you just reach out and try stuff, and I hope you have enough confidence in who you are creatively. If you don’t like something, you could admit it, do something better, and keep working.
It’s quicker to cycle ideas now; you can just click delete instead of destroying tapes. Do you have any favorite themes or moments?
Thomas Newman: Probably the two we’ve described. The scenes with the two brothers on a spending spree and drug binge… This notion of emotional emptiness and hunger, and you get out of that vocal thing initially.
Julia Newman: There’s sort of this empty liberation that you see throughout episode two that was interesting to explore psychologically. Allowing for those characters to speak to themselves. Then, we asked ourselves what it meant to be the heartbeat underneath what was happening. Some of that was style. Some of that was the hum motif and tapping into a real sense of profound yearning on behalf of these two boys.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is available to stream on Netflix.
