Osgood Perkins Critiques Ryan Murphy’s “Monster: Ed Gein,” Son of Anthony Perkins Speaks Out
Osgood Perkins, the son of Anthony Perkins, had some strong opinions regarding Ryan Murphy‘s Monster: The Ed Gein Story, particularly concerning its portrayal of his late father.
Osgood, 51, told TMZ on Thursday, October 23, that he hasn’t watched season 3 and “wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole.” The director of Longlegs expressed concerns about the creative liberties the series took when depicting Anthony (Joey Pollari) and his connection to Psycho, which drew inspiration from Ed Gein‘s crimes.
Osgood criticized the true crime genre for being transformed into “glamorous and meaningful content” that’s “reshaped in real time by overlords.” He described scripted shows like Monster as “increasingly lacking context,” arguing that the “Netflix-ization of real pain” is on the wrong side.
Season 3, which debuted earlier this month, explored how murderer Gein became a catalyst for films such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Psycho. The season touches on how Gein’s criminal history contributed to the evolution of true crime into a pop culture phenomenon.
In the series, Anthony is depicted as a closeted actor grappling with the pressure of his success from Alfred Hitchcock‘s 1960 film Psycho. (Although discussions of Anthony’s sexuality arose posthumously, he was married to Osgood’s mother, Berry Berenson, from 1973 until his death at 60 in 1992.)
This is not the first instance where a subject or their relatives expressed dissatisfaction with their portrayal in Murphy’s productions, with Monster being particularly controversial. In 2022, the limited series focusing on Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer was criticized by the families of his victims.
Murphy, 59, stated that he and his team reached out to over 20 families of the victims during their extensive research, noting that “not a single person responded to us during that process.” He elaborated in a November 2022 piece, stating that he took on Dahmer’s narrative to confront the racism and homophobia that characterized the case, emphasizing that “it was the biggest thing I’ve ever seen that truly explores how easy it is to evade justice due to white privilege. What are the current rules? Should we never create a film about a tyrant?”
Season 2 received similar criticism after Erik Menendez condemned Murphy’s interpretation of him and his brother, Lyle Menendez.
“I thought we had moved beyond the lies and damaging portrayals of Lyle, which turned him into a caricature based on egregious inaccuracies in the show,” read a statement from Erik, 54, shared via Lyle’s Facebook page in September 2024. “I can only assume these choices were made with intent. It saddens me to say that I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about our realities without malicious intent.”
Despite the criticism, Murphy defended his work, claiming that Monster revived support for the Menendez brothers, contributing to their subsequent resentencing to 50 years to life under California’s youthful offender law.
“We provided them a platform in the court of public opinion,” he told Variety in October 2024. “In essence, we created their moment.”
Monster is currently available for streaming on Netflix.
