Cooper Koch's Emmy nomination earned him a surprise prison call

Cooper Koch’s Emmy nomination interviews included his chat withVariety being interrupted by a call from California’s Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. On the other end of the line sat Lyle Menendez, who was calling to offer his congratulations on Koch’s nomination as Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series or Movie for playing Lyle’s brother, Erik, in Ryan Murphy’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

“He was jealous that I was at Wimbledon this weekend,” Koch told Entertainment Weekly later, still laughing at the surreal timing. “He called to send his congrats and was very, very sweet.”

The nomination for Monsters puts the 28-year-old into heavyweight company with the likes of Colin Farrell (The Penguin), Stephen Graham (Adolescence), and Jake Gyllenhaal (Presumed Innocent), and Brian Tyree Henry (Dope Thief) but Koch’s focus remains on the real-life brothers who inspired the limited series.

In May, a judge resentenced the brothers to life in prison with the possibility of parole, and they’ll plead their cases before the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s parole board in August.

“This is sort of like the end of an era with it,” said Koch in his EW interview. “What a great way to put it to bed. Hopefully that will also go with the brothers getting released by the end of the summer.”

If the Menendez hearings go their way, Koch’s first order of business is a long-teased tennis match against Lyle, who bragged about his skills during that prison call with Variety.

Although Koch received a nod for his role as Erik, Nicholas Alexander Chavez who played Erik’s brother Lyle, did not. His omission, alongside Ari Graynor, who starred as defense attorney Leslie Abramson, left Koch feeling “devastated,” according to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Apart from Koch’s Lead Actor nod, the show did go on to grab another 10 nominations, including Supporting Actor and Actress for Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny as the Menendez parents, as well as Outstanding Casting, Picture Editing, Sound Mixing, Hairstyling, Period Costumes, Makeup, Music Composition, and Outstanding Limited Or Anthology Series.

Tune into the awards on September 14 on CBS to see who wins!