Ryan Murphy has built a career on finding the humanity, and the horror, inside America’s most infamous stories.
With Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, he has found an unexpected lead in Ella Beatty. After attending the premiere of the first episode, The Knockturnal can say her performance is remarkable, intelligent, and impossible to look away from.
Murphy himself describes the opening episode as “pretty fun if you can make it past the first ten minutes.” It is a fair warning and a fair promise. The series brings viewers into Lizzie’s world quickly, but never abruptly, and settles into a tone that is funny, chilling, and intriguing all at once.
For the fourth season audience follow Lizzie Borden; the anthology’s first female perpetrator.
Borden was born in 1860 in Fall River, Massachusetts. She was arrested and tried in 1893 for the murders of her father and stepmother, drew enormous public attention in part because she was a woman, and was acquitted for lack of conclusive evidence. The case has haunted American culture ever since, appearing in folk rhymes, radio shows, and now television. Borden lived the rest of her life in Fall River and died in 1927, and no one has ever been convicted of the killings. Beatty’s Lizzie is a young woman ahead of her time, constrained by her stepmother and ignored by her father.
Beatty’s casting has a story of its own. Murphy has known her for decades. She was his neighbor’s daughter, and after interviewing hundreds of actors for the role, he realized the talent he needed was right in his backyard. This is her second television role, following a supporting part in Murphy’s Feud: Capote vs. The Swans. Playing the lead in a Murphy production is a significant step, and Beatty carries it with intelligence and ease.
Murphy’s longtime creative partner, Brennan is also back by his side. Brennan is credited as the creator of the Monster anthology. He also co-created Glee and Scream Queens alongside Murphy and Brad Falchuk. Together, the two have shaped the anthology into one of Netflix’s most talked-about true-crime series.
It also stars Vicky Krieps, Charlie Hunnam, Rebecca Hall, Jessica Barden, Joey Pollari, Billie Lourd, and Sarah Paulson. Earlier seasons explored the stories of Jeffrey Dahmer, Erik and Lyle Menendez, and Ed Gein. All eight episodes arrived on Netflix on
Sept. 17.
If the first episode is any indication, Beatty is not just stepping into a legendary role. She is making it her own.
