Ella Beatty On Playing A Notorious Murder Suspect

Ella Beatty as Lizzie Borden in ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’ on Netflix.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NETFLIX

Portraying accused killer Lizzie Borden might just be Ella Beatty’s greatest acting challenge yet. The role demanded that she explore the full gamut of human emotion while portraying a woman whose name has become synonymous with one of America’s most infamous unsolved murder cases.

The eight-episode season is the fourth installment of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Monster anthology series, following seasons about Jeffrey Dahmer, Lyle and Erik Menendez, and Ed Gein. Brennan created and wrote the Lizzie Borden season, which revisits the notorious 1892 murders and the woman at the center of the case.

The opening sequence of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story shows Lizzie murdering her stepmother, Abby Borden, and then her father, Andrew Borden, with an ax. Filming the sequence took several days and was both emotionally and physically challenging for the cast and crew.

For Beatty, preparing to play Lizzie meant finding a way into the psychology of a woman accused of such brutal violence. “Empathizing with her circumstance wasn’t hard. I found it really available to me to get inside of her psychology and her mind and her heart and her spirit,” Beatty said in an interview ahead of the September 17 premiere.

Beatty does a terrific job bringing Lizzie Borden to life, capturing both the woman behind the legend and the darkness surrounding her story. She immersed herself in Lizzie’s life and history, studying everything she could find about the case to better understand her before filming began. “But I’m a big scaredy-cat and also a very sensitive person, so anything that has to do with violence can be kind of hard.”

Despite the intensity of the material, Beatty also found parts of the experience enjoyable, particularly working with the stunt team, who taught her how to wield an ax. But the physical preparation was only part of the challenge. She also had to tap into the emotional forces driving the character.

“It was about filling myself up with the kind of female rage and repression that I know Ian and Ryan were really interested in exploring in the show,” she added.

Lizzie Borden was 32 when she was accused of killing her father and stepmother with an ax inside their Fall River, Massachusetts home on August 4, 1892. The series portrays Lizzie as a repressed daughter of a wealthy New England family, trapped in a household where she was subjected to ridicule and abuse by her stepmother while her father failed to protect her. The arrival of a new maid, Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan, helped awaken Lizzie’s rebellious side.

Lizzie was arrested and charged with the murders, sparking widespread fascination and a sensational trial. The case would become one of the most notorious murder trials in American history. At her 1893 trial, prosecutors argued that she had both the motive and opportunity to kill her father and stepmother, but the evidence against her was largely circumstantial.

The jury deliberated for only 90 minutes before acquitting Lizzie. No one else was ever convicted of the murders, leaving the case officially unsolved to this day. Lizzie remained in Fall River, and later lived with her sister, Emma, until her death in 1927 at age 66.

For Beatty, understanding Lizzie meant looking beyond the brutality of the crimes and considering the circumstances surrounding her. She also viewed Lizzie through the broader constraints placed on women during the era, when sexism and limited economic and social independence often left women with few choices outside the home or marriage.

“I loved her. I felt like my job as the actress is to love her and to be her advocate. That’s my job. So I felt very connected to the woman in the material that I saw right away.”

That connection began even before Beatty knew she had landed the role.

“I had no idea I would get the job, but I felt very connected to her right away. Once I found out I had gotten the part, I read and watched everything that I could find. Then I tried to combine my imagination with what I saw on the page and what I knew about her.”

Beatty also had the support of her parents, Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, who offered advice as she took on this incredibly demanding role. At the time of the interview, they had not yet seen the episodes, choosing to wait until the premiere.

“I’m the luckiest lady. I really am. My parents are incredible artists. They’re really generous human beings. My whole family has been really supportive and wonderful,” she said, before sharing their advice: “Take it a day at a time and listen.”

Directed by Max Winkler and Sarah Adina Smith, Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story also stars Charlie Hunnam as Lizzie’s father, Andrew, and Rebecca Hall as her stepmother, Abby.

The cast includes Vicky Krieps as the Bordens’ eccentric live-in maid, Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan; Billie Lourd as Lizzie’s older sister, Emma Borden; Jessica Barden as Lizzie’s actor friend, Nance O’Neil; Sarah Paulson as Aileen Wuornos, who appears in scenes set decades later; and Joey Pollari as Lizzie’s uncle, John Vinnicum Morse.

While the case has captivated generations, portraying Lizzie gave Beatty a lasting personal connection to the woman behind the infamous case.

“I think I’ll always hold a part of that closeness, and I hope I’ll have that feeling forever just tucked away.”