\n\tHunnam himself says that in the months leading up to filming, he\u2019d been noticing felled trees on the side of the road while driving through Los Angeles. He took to chopping them up and throwing them into the back of his pickup truck.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI ended up with probably about 10 tons of wood and bought some great axes and started becoming quite the axeman,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve been really, really wanting these beautiful Scandinavian axes. When I got this, because Andrew Borden\u2019s an ax collector, I said, \u2018Well, it\u2019s for the work. I\u2019ve got to have these axes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tCharlie Hunnam as Andrew Borden in \u201cMonster\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Netflix<\/p>\n
\n\tThe conversation mirrors the surprising, irreverent tone of this season of \u201cMonster.\u201d A complete turn from the darkness of \u201cThe Ed Gein Story,\u201d in which Hunnam starred as the titular killer, there is a lightness, beauty and levity to Lizzie\u2019s story \u2014\u00a0even when she grabs an ax and takes some whacks.<\/p>\n
\n\tThis fourth season stars Ella Beatty as the naive, curious title character, whose world brightens when a new housemaid, Bridget Sullivan (Vicky Krieps), arrives and introduces Lizzie to daring literature and kinky sex. Yet her awakening is dampened by her depressed father and cruel stepmother Abby (Rebecca Hall).<\/p>\n
\n\tDespite Lizzie committing such a legendary crime, Beatty was able to find a kindred spirit in the character, a very complicated young woman.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI felt very connected to the character immediately,\u201d she says. \u201cI remember making the audition tape and thinking, \u2018I understand this person.\u2019 When I found out that I had gotten the part, I was over the moon and also really scared. I felt a huge responsibility to the part, to the anthology, to the real person. I think immediately I just wanted to start working on it. How does she move? How does she dream? How does she think? How does she speak? How does she blink?\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tRebecca Hall as Abby Borden and Ella Beatty as Lizzie Borden<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Netflix<\/p>\n
\n\tHall, whose character says some jaw-droppingly mean things to her stepdaughter, was thrilled to unwrap a deliciously cruel antagonist.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve never played a true out-and-out villain,\u201d she says. \u201cI just loved on the page how funny she was. It just felt like such an opportunity to be both funny and scary at the same time, which is an interesting tonal challenge. I loved [writer] Ian Brennan\u2019s take on this character, which felt like it was a creation of Ian Brennan and [executive producer] Ryan Murphy and had nothing to do with history really, as much as it gave me license to create this unique character.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tDespite Abby\u2019s savagery, Hall saw a unique reflection of the character and the title killers in the series. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cNothing in this \u2018Monster\u2019 world is straightforward,\u201d she says. \u201cThe exercise of the show is really about how monsters aren\u2019t born, they\u2019re created. So even Abby Borden has that as well. There\u2019s reason behind it. She\u2019s also in a pressure cooker, and she\u2019s become an alcoholic over time. I sort of loved the character. There\u2019s a lot of fun to be had, and there\u2019s something very interesting about playing someone who\u2019s keeping up appearances, who wants to appear posh and together and is just a complete and utter mess \u2014 and a sadistic one to boot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThis season is a star-making moment for Beatty, whose parents, Annette Bening and Warren Beatty, are legends in their own right. Yet she\u2019s found her way to \u201cMonster\u201d through plenty of time on stage as well as smaller parts in movies such as \u201cIf I Had Legs I\u2019d Kick You\u201d and the 2024 Murphy-verse series \u201cFeud: Capote vs. the Swans.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAs the central figure on the show, Beatty says she definitely had nerves but was fascinated to get on the series\u2019 unique wavelength.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI knew that they were interested in exploring an almost farcical tone,\u201d she says. \u201cWe all just continued to discover it together. It felt a lot more available on set than you might initially think. I was constantly surprised by the ability of comedy and really intense sadness or drama to be in the show. I felt like we discovered it together the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tDespite its 19th-century trappings, there is a universality to the story and its outrageousness that Hunnam is excited for audiences to engage with.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt felt like there was much more license for a bonkers absurdity that felt like it was on the page and that I was surprised by and really excited about,\u201d he says. \u201cI thought there was a complexity and a tragedy and a nastiness and a vulnerability and all of the things that you look for that are true of all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWatch a trailer for \u201cMonster: The Lizzie Borden Story\u201d below.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cDon\u2019t you worry: I look after my axes,\u201d Charlie Hunnam says proudly with an impish grin. At the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,359800,206],"class_list":["post-851641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-monster-the-lizzie-borden-story","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}