Courtney Love to Play Murder Victim in Menendez Brothers TV Movie
Courtney Love has just secured her next film role. The Hole frontwoman will star in a Lifetime movie about the 1989 murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez by their sons, Lyle and Erik.
Love, who will play Kitty Menendez, is one of the few musicians who was successfully able to transition into a critically acclaimed actor. She’s best known for her performance in The People vs. Larry Flint, winning many critics circle awards and even receiving a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama.
The Lifetime film’s goal is to reveal the “extreme abuse the brothers endured at their father’s hands, while their mother looked the other way.” An official description reads:
In the months that followed the murders, Lyle and Erik spent their inheritance lavishly, adding to investigators suspicions that they were involved in the parents’ deaths. After months of guilt consumed Erik, he confessed to the murders to his psychologist, leading to the eventual arrests of him and older brother Lyle. Their trial became a national sensation as the public devoured court testimony and the brothers testified that the murders were driven by a lifetime of sexual abuse by their father. After a mistrial and deadlocked jury, the brothers were later retried and convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. Erik and Lyle remain in prison today, where they are serving their time in separate prisons, nearly 30 years since murdering their parents.
Casting is currently underway for the parts of Lyle and Erik. Production on the film is scheduled to begin this month in Vancouver.
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