Anthony Perkins‘ son Osgood Perkins had some choice words for Ryan Murphy‘s Monster: The Ed Gein Story after its onscreen depiction of his late father.
Osgood, 51, told TMZ on Thursday, October 23, that he hadn’t seen season 3 himself and “wouldn’t watch it with a 10-foot pole.” The Longlegs director had concerns about the creative liberties the show was taking when it came to including Anthony (Joey Pollari) and his role in Psycho, which was inspired by Ed Gein‘s crimes.
Osgood addressed how the true crime genre has been turned into “glamorous and meaningful content” while being “reshaped in real time by overlords.” He referred to scripted shows such as Monster as “increasingly devoid of context and that the Netflix-ization of real pain is playing for the wrong team.”
Season 3, which premiered earlier this month, followed how murderer Gein became the jumping off point for movies such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Psycho. The topic of how Gein’s crimes helped true crime evolve into a pop culture phenomenon is addressed throughout the season.
Anthony, meanwhile, is introduced on the show as a closeted actor struggling to top the success of his leading role in Alfred Hitchcock‘s 1960 film Psycho. (While Anthony’s sexuality was discussed posthumously, he was married to Osgood’s mother, Berry Berenson, from 1973 until his death at age 60 in 1992.)
This isn’t the first time that a subject — or their family member — wasn’t thrilled to be depicted in Murphy’s shows, with Monster being his most controversial spinoff. In 2022, the limited series centered on Evan Peters‘ portrayal of Jeffrey Dahmer, which received backlash from the families of the serial killer’s victims.
Murphy, 59, for his part, said he and his team reached out to over 20 of the victims’ families and friends during their three and a half years of research and that “not a single person responded to us in that process.” he elaborated in a November 2022 profile that he took Dahmer’s story on to address the racism and homophobia that defined the case because “it was the biggest thing I’ve ever seen that really sort of examines how easy it is to get away with things with the white privilege aspects. What are the rules now? Should we never do a movie about a tyrant?”
Season 2 faced similar backlash after Erik Menendez slammed Murphy’s portrayal of him and brother Lyle Menendez.
“I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show,” read a statement from Erik, 54, that was shared via Lyle’s Facebook page in September 2024. “I can only believe they were done so on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.”
Murphy, however, stood by his work and even claimed that Monster created renewed support in the Menendez case, which ultimately led to them to be resentenced to 50 years to life and eligible for parole under California’s youthful offender law.
“We gave them their moment in the court of public opinion,” he told Variety in October 2024. “Basically, we did give them a platform.”
Monster is currently streaming on Netflix.
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