1 of 5 | Micaela Diamond and Nicholas Alexander Chavez appear in a scene from "Grotesquerie," airing on Thursday nights. Photo courtesy of FX/Hulu
NEW YORK, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Nicholas Alexander Chavez says it was a fascinating learning experience to work in two back-to-back projects with writer-producer Ryan Murphy -- playing a priest in FX's horror drama Grotesquerie and a parent killer in Netflix's true-crime tale, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
"Ryan is a world builder, and it was interesting because I got to work with him on two very, very different worlds," Chavez told UPI in a recent virtual press conference.
"The Menendez project kind of had a context already set for it where we're telling the story that's based on true events that happened in 1989 and the early '90s, he said.
Grotesquerie "was an entirely new world where the only limitations were our creativity, our imagination. It was interesting to just be thrown into the depths of what Ryan is capable of coming up with ,and it was an honor and a privilege to experience both."
The actor said was no time existed between the two projects for him to decompress.
"One of the nicer parts about playing Father Charlie is that I could really just follow my impulses. I just trusted my instincts, and everyone around me enabled me to make really bold choices," he said.
"With Lyle, there was intensive preparation. This one was more just raw, unbridled impulse."
Airing Wednesdays on FX and streaming Thursdays on Hulu, 0-episode Grotesquerie follows Detective Lois Tryon (Niecy Nash-Betts) and Sister Megan (Micaela Diamond) -- a reporter on a Catholic newspaper -- as they investigate a series of grisly, religious-themed murders.
Father Charlie is one of the people with whom Sister Megan consults on the case.
Murphy described Grotesquerie as "a very personal piece."
"It was a meditation on what I think is going on in the world and what we're all going through and how we're feeling like this existential question: Are these end times? And, if so, what can we do to fight and keep our humanity?" he asked rhetorically.
"Those were the things that I was writing about, and I also wanted to write something very specifically that had a procedural element, which I had not done for a while, specifically a crime procedural."
The ensemble includes Courtney B. Vance as Lois' husband, Marshall, Lesley Manville as the awful Nurse Redd, who cares for him in a nursing home, Raven Goodwin as Lois and Marshall's daughter Merritt, who has a food addiction, and Travis Kelce, whose role has not yet been disclosed.
Murphy said he likes that he, the cast and FX have maintained a veil of secrecy around the project.
"I feel so often in the landscape of television now and entertainment, you are told everything about what you're watching for three, four months [in advance], so by the time you're watching it, you know everything," he said.
"So, I really kept this under lock and key. We didn't share the scripts. There are twists galore every week. That was important to me -- to let people experience the story as it unfolds."
Murphy said Kelce's surprise casting came about because he and the professional football player are mutual fans of each other.
"He said he was interested in getting into acting. We were just talking about that and his future and his interest and what does he want to do during the football season, after football season, and I was just kind of giving him some, I guess, fatherly advice," Murphy said.
"I always have a motto in my world that [goes], 'A star is a star is a star.' It doesn't matter what field you're a star in," he added. "If you have that charisma, you are going to bring it to whatever you do. So, it was a very lovely meeting and it ended with me saying, 'OK, well, I'll keep you in mind and maybe we'll come up with something.'"
But, Murphy said, Kelce had three months off and wanted to start his acting career right away.
"We were just starting to get in the pre-production of Grotesquerie, and I said, 'Well, I have this one part and if you're interested, I will specifically write it and tailor it for you,' and he said, 'I would love that,'" Murphy added. "So, we were off to the races."
Kelce -- who is pop star Taylor Swift's boyfriend in real life -- worked with an acting coach and showed up to the Grotesquerie set knowing all of his lines of dialogue by heart.
"He knew everybody's lines. He was so professional. He was so committed. He kept saying to me, 'I'm real coachable -- coach me, coach me.' So, I did," Murphy said.
"He ended up being a delight and I would love to continue working with him on this and other things. I cannot say enough about him as a leader. He's just the kindest, sweetest [guy]. Everything you think about him is true."
