‘Unethical’: ‘Monsters’ bad boy Cooper Koch possibly starring in an adaptation of the decade’s most controversial book is terrifying readers

Monsters breakout star Cooper Koch could be starring in the screen adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara’s hard-hitting 2015 novel A Little Life. The explosive combination of the actor’s controversial filmography and the book’s equally polarizing reputation have readers worried this could go very wrong.

In October, Koch told Harper’s Bazaar that he had sent a letter to Yanagihara to discuss bringing A Little Life to the screen. The novel, which depicts the tragic life of a sexual and physical abuse victim and has been accused of reveling in the character’s misery, is “at the top of [the actor’s] list.” Koch seems determined to make it an adaptation happen. “I would really like to get that made… So I need to go to a good studio that’s gonna trust her and me and would be able to make it happen,” he explained. The actor also told Drew Barrymore on her talk show that he had heard a television series based on the book was in the early stages of development.

On Wednesday, the official Instagram page for the book shared a photo of the 28-year-old smiling brightly while holding a copy of the book. The caption simply read “alittlelifebook x #cooperkoch.” Hardly an official announcement, it is definitely… something. A promise of a future collaboration, perhaps?

“I genuinely think a screen adaptation of this would be unethical,” one person argued. “A Little Life is the most egregious form of trauma porn I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading. It has no business being a book, let alone a film. Don’t ever let that come to pass,” another pleaded.

Though A Little Life has been met with fierce backlash for the sheer abundance of tragedy and pain found within its pages, those who love, love it. Yanagihara has a talent for poignant prose that is matched by few, and fans of the book have praised it for its unabashed, thorough representation of trauma and the healing power of the unconditional love that Jude finds later in life in a group of college friends.

It’s easy to understand, then, why Koch would be nervous about finding the right hands and minds to take over this project. It should be handled with the sensitivity it warrants, and its subject is as hard to commercialize as they come — a goldmine in book form, to be sure, but it’s hard to picture any major Hollywood studio heads going anywhere near it. Except for one person.

People are fearing Koch might bring along Monsters showrunner and mastermind, Ryan Murphy, who has made a career out of racy, boundary-pushing media. His most recent work, the Netflix true crime anthology series that began with a season about Jeffrey Dahmer, has turned public opinion against him for sensationalizing real people’s trauma. Themes of sex, abuse, and homosexuality — three tenets of A Little Life — feature heavily in Murphy’s filmography, though his approach to all three has been met with much of the same criticism as Yanagihara.

Koch is no stranger to controversy or complicated stories involving sexual abuse. He’s gotten plenty of practice dealing with both after starring as Erik Menendez in Monsters‘ second season, based on the murders of José and Kitty Menendez at the hands of their two sons, Erik and Lyle, who claimed they had been sexually abused by their father for years. Though the show empathizes with their plight, it’s also been criticized for framing them as “monsters” in its title and sexualizing them by implying they had an incestuous relationship.

Koch was at the receiving end of some of the heat after callously boasting about his member while promoting a series that deals with such heavy, life-altering events. While discussing Mark Wahlberg’s nude scenes in Boogie Nights on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, the actor bragged that he had not used prosthetics for his Monsters nudity, remaking that he was “well hung.”

For all these reasons, Koch, Yanagihara, and possibly even Murphy seem like a match made in heaven to take on A Little Life – even if for all the worst reasons.