NICHOLAS ALEXANDER CHAVEZ HAS ENTERED THE ZEITGEIST GUNS BLAZING — BUT ENOUGH ABOUT HIS ARMS. FROM TINY RED SPEEDOS TO LEATHER CHAPS, THE YOUNG ACTOR HAS MADE HIMSELF A MODERN SEX SYMBOL. THIS WAS, OF COURSE, NOT HIS INTENTION— IT’S JUST WHAT HE DESCRIBES AS A “FUN” BONUS. CHAVEZ IS INCREDIBLY SERIOUS ABOUT HIS CRAFT, BUT THERE’S NO WAY HE COULDN’T BE. TASKED WITH PLAYING HALF OF THE INFAMOUS DUO IN MONSTERS: THE LYLE AND ERIK MENENDEZ STORY, HIS PERFORMANCE DELIVERS AN INCREDIBLY NUANCED PORTRAYAL OF AN EQUALLY COMPLEX PERSON. THAT IS HOW NICHOLAS LOOKS AT LYLE: NOT AS A CHARACTER, BUT AS A HUMAN BEING HE HAD TO UNDERSTAND BEFORE PORTRAYING. FORTUNATELY, THE ACTOR HAD THE ADVANTAGE OF A FRESH PERSPECTIVE—HE ONLY LEARNED ABOUT THE CASE WHEN HE FIRST AUDITIONED FOR WHAT HAS BECOME THE SHOW OF THE SEASON. THE ONLY COMPETITION THE SERIES FACES IS IN A PROJECT THAT, COINCIDENTALLY, IS ALSO DIRECTED BY RYAN MURPHY AND FEATURES CHAVEZ. IN GROTESQUERIE, THE ACTOR HAS THE FREEDOM TO EXPLORE THE RELIGIOUS UNCANNY VALLEY OF MIDDLE AMERICA. UNSURPRISINGLY, HIS PORTRAYAL THREADS THE FINE LINE BETWEEN TERRIFYING AND COMEDICALLY UNPREDICTABLE. PLUS, HE PLAYS A HOT PRIEST. NO, NOT IN THE PG FLEABAG WAY, IN THE HELLFIRE-BURNING, LEATHER CHAP-WEARING WAY — IT’S CHAVEZ’S WORLD, WE’RE JUST HAPPY TO WATCH.

Left Top **Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello**, coat **Emporio Armani**
Right Coat **Brunello Cucinelli**, tank top stylist’s own, pants **Fendi**, boots **Dolce&Gabbana**, belt **Tom Ford**, gloves and sunglasses **Lanvin**

Hi! How are you?

I’m good!

You look better than good. I wish I was in a hammock in the sun right now.

Yeah, I had the choice between taking this call sitting at a desk, or laying outside. I think I made the right one.

Left Tank top stylist’s own, pants **Fendi**, belt **Tom Ford**, gloves **Lanvin**
Right Jacket **Fendi**, turtleneck and boots **Tom Ford**, pants **Brunello Cucinelli**

.I would agree. I wish I could do the same… If I lay outside, I’d freeze.

You’re based in London, right? I’ve been a few times but mostly did super touristy things. I definitely need to go back.

I’ll give you some pointers when you come. But before I do, I want to congratulate you on Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, it’s been such a success. I find that the Menendez brothers' story can be so polarizing. When were you first made aware of it?

Right after I got the audition. It seemed like such an interesting project and I’ve been wanting to work with Ryan Murphy for a long time. He’s incredibly creative. But as soon as I got it, I researched the brothers and what they went through. I had to familiarize myself with the culture of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. I watched everything I could and that continued through until we finished the project.

Top **Dolce&Gabbana**, leather coat, boots, jewellery **Celine Homme**

I get that, it feels like a character that would require constant attention. How do you prepare yourself for something like that?

For anything you’re tackling with a real human being, research is necessary. But then, at the same time, as an actor, you’re led first and foremost by the script and the story you’re being asked to portray. There’s an aspect of dramaturgy to it. But even then, it was important to me to distil the core truths of this character and make sure I was empathizing with him rather than judging him. Even though I was tasked with playing someone whose presence in this series can be erratic or impulsive at times, I knew that underneath all of it was a core pain that came from a dark and hurt place. They say anger is a secondary emotion, it’s usually there to cover up hurt.

Right Coat **Brunello Cucinelli**, tank top stylist’s own, pants **Fendi**, boots **Dolce&Gabbana**, belt **Tom Ford**, gloves and sunglasses **Lanvin**

I’ve heard you in an interview talk about how playing a character is about finding the Venn diagram intersection between their emotional spectrum and yours. How do you go about protecting your mental well-being while committing to your technique?

I think that’s the job. In some ways, there’s no getting around that. Ultimately, only you the actor need to know what the crossover is between you and the character. How you’re empathizing with the character—how you find your way in as an actor— is an incredibly personal thing. That introspective process can sometimes be enlightening in ways you didn’t expect it to be. I certainly surprised myself several times throughout this process, both in good and bad ways. But you can’t play a character as complex as this without learning a few things about yourself along the way.

Tank top stylist’s own, pants **Fendi**, belt **Tom Ford**, gloves **Lanvin**

Your co-star Cooper Koch recently spoke to us about a visit he paid to Erik Menendez. Would you like to do something similar or do you find that you need some separation as an actor?

I think that art is inherently political. It’s always been and it always will be. But the political commentary that I have to make is in the art itself. And so, any contribution that I could make to the conversation I’ve already made.

Is that also your stance when it comes to the conversation that’s spawned from the airing of Monsters?

My performance is one aspect of the whole. This show is the culmination of a lot of different artistic perspectives. We are also portraying so many different points of view. We are telling the parent’s side of the story, and the brothers’, and Dominick’s, and everyone else’s. It’s impossible to say that my point of view of who I perceived Lyle to be as a human being is portrayed within the show. What I can tell you is that I’ve developed a strong point of view of who I perceived Lyle to be while still working within the limitations of the script that I was given. But I definitely tried to bring as much truth and humanity as I possibly could to the role. And, more than anything, I view Lyle Menendez as a deeply wounded human being.

Jacket, shirts, tie, pants and bel **Prada**, boots **Celine Homme**, glasses stylist’s own

On this project, you’re acting with juggernauts. What did working with Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny so closely teach you?

I think the most important takeaway for me is to lead with kindness in all things. I thought that Javier and Chloë displayed exemplary leadership. Throughout the entire project, they were warm and incredibly professional but still brought a sense of play. When you’re a younger actor, you want to be looking towards the veterans to see how to do it. They set an incredible example for both Cooper and myself. It was so inspiring to be around people who are both serious and dropped in while on camera and such warm human beings when the cameras are off.

You’re also participating in another exciting Ryan Murphy project, Grotesquerie. How does your approach differ from playing a real character and a fictional one?

Well, with Monsters, you have a set context. You’re covering the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and it covers something that’s based on real-life events—you have a prescribed context. With Grotesquerie, there’s nothing of the sort. The sky's the limit, the only boundaries you have are set by Ryan Murphy’s imagination, which is boundless. You are free to explore anything. You can afford to be an incredibly impulsive actor in a story that has looser parameters. It can be an incredibly specific world but everything is up to interpretation because it explores a setting of hell. I got to exercise my interpretation of hell in this project.

You’re playing an objectively sexy priest— an incredibly popular trope online. How have you found the perception of the character?

For me, it’s honestly all about the work. But it’s fun. Occasionally I’ll get sent a tweet by a friend of mine. I’ll laugh about it. More than anything, I’m just glad people are enjoying the show and that people like it. TV is such a fun medium because everyone gets to decide their way to enjoy it. But I feel like number one, it’s impossible to listen to all of it, and, number two, if you tried to listen to all of it, you’d probably drive yourself crazy at the end of the day. I think it’s important to have the confidence and discipline to stand by your artistic decisions and ethics. The reception will be what the reception will be. Valuing your artistic perspective and point of view enough to not depend on what other people are saying to validate it. Of course, I want it to be entertaining and received positively but, at the end of the day, it’s a feeling that comes from inside, and if you don’t have it, no amount of validation is ever going to be able to compensate for it.

You’ve mentioned the joys of working with Ryan Murphy. How has collaborating with him changed your perception of the industry?

Ryan is always learning. I think that’s the most impressive thing about him. He’s constantly educating himself and finding new things to be obsessed with. He operates with such tenacious curiosity and you can’t help but admire it and want to emulate it. I think that has to be the quality of Ryan’s that I want to take with me in the future, that of always remaining a student.

What’s interesting in both of these roles is that they’re darker than some of your previous work. Is that a path you think you’d like to keep trailing?

I think the world is a lot more dynamic than just light and dark. There are a lot of different shades and palettes to play in. I’m deeply fascinated by both. I think there’s comedy in tragedy and tragedy in comedy. The idea of doing complex projects that have both feels more honest to me because my life has both. The truest projects feel like some kind of hybrid.