Courtney Love Tapped for Menendez Brothers Lifetime Movie
Courtney Love will star in a new Lifetime movie about the Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik, who notoriously murdered their parents in 1989, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Love will play Mary “Kitty” Menendez, mother of Lyle and Erik. Casting is still underway for the brothers, while no announcement has been made yet about who will play the father, Jose, a successful entertainment executive.
The movie has yet to be given a title but will delve into the lives of the Menendez family and explore the “extreme abuse the brothers endured at their father’s hands, while their mother looked away.” The film will also chronicle the aftermath of the murders, as Lyle and Erik burned through their inheritance money and attracted the attention of the authorities.
Eventually, Erik confessed to the murders and the ensuing trial became a national sensation as the brothers testified about their father’s history of sexual abuse. After a deadlocked jury and mistrial, the Menendez brothers were retried and convicted on two counts of first-degree murder. In 1996, they were sentenced to life without parole and are serving time in separate prisons.
Earlier this month, Lyle Menendez spoke about the murders for the first time in 20 years on an ABC News special, Truth and Lies: The Menendez Brothers – American Sons, American Murders. “I am the kid that did kill his parents, and no river of tears has changed that and no amount of regret has changed it,” he said. “I accept that.”
Production on the Lifetime movie is set to begin February in Vancouver. Meanwhile, Law & Order creator Dick Wolf is working on a true crime spin-off of his hit series that will debut with an eight-episode first season about the Menendez brothers.
As for Love, the rocker has appeared in numerous films and TV shows throughout her career including, Sid and Nancy, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Sons of Anarchy and Revenge. Along with the Menendez brothers movie, Love will star in another upcoming Lifetime project, A Mid Summer’s Nightmare, an anthology series based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.