Ella Beatty did not swing a real axe at anyone while filming Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story. The young actress recently shared how the show’s crew pulled off the violent murder scenes using a clever and somewhat unusual prop: a magnet attached to her chest.
Beatty, who plays Lizzie Borden in the fourth season of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Netflix anthology, spoke about the experience on Emmy-winning entertainment reporter Jake Hamilton’s podcast Jake’s Takes. She explained that during the axe murder scene, the crew placed a magnet on her chest so the axe would appear to drive into the victim’s body without actually making contact.
“Oh, it [the chest magnet] was epic. It was epic. Yes. The crew on this show — and you know what was pulled off visually on camera — is so incredible, and everyone was working at such a high level. I had forgotten about the chest magnet axe but that is everything”.
How The Chest Magnet Worked On Set
The chest magnet was a practical filmmaking tool. Instead of having an actor realistically swing a heavy axe at another performer, the crew attached a magnet to Beatty’s chest. When she brought the axe down toward Rebecca Hall, who plays Lizzie’s stepmother Abby Borden, the blade would stick to the magnet. This gave the camera the illusion that the axe had struck the body.
The technique kept the actors safe while still letting the scene look brutal on screen. Beatty admitted she was more worried about accidentally hurting Hall than anything else during the shoot.
Hall, a seasoned actress known for Christine and Passing, was on the receiving end of the axe in those scenes. Her character, Abby Borden, was struck 19 times in the head with a hatchet-like weapon upstairs in the Borden home. Lizzie’s father, Andrew Borden (played by Charlie Hunnam), was struck 10 or 11 times in the face while resting on a downstairs sofa. That brings the total count to roughly 30 blows.
Fake Blood And Blood Rigs On The Monster Set
The chest magnet was not the only trick the production used to bring the 1892 murders to life. Beatty told Netflix’s Tudum that the crew also used a tool called a blood ring and something called a blood rig to splatter fake blood during the axe scenes.
“Sometimes the blood on my face was hand-painted with makeup brushes. Sometimes it was literally poured onto me. Sometimes it came from what’s called a blood rig, so every time I would slam an axe onto the blood rig, fake blood would shoot out”.
The blood rig worked like a pressurized system. When Beatty slammed the axe down onto it, the rig released fake blood in a splatter pattern that matched the force of the swing. The result is the haunting image of a blood-soaked Lizzie Borden that has appeared in the show’s trailers.
Beatty also picked up a practical skill during filming. By the time production wrapped, she had learned that shaving cream works well for removing fake blood from her hands.
What The Show Is About And Who Else Stars In It
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is an eight-episode limited series that premieres on Netflix on September 17, 2026 in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, India, and worldwide.
The season centers on Lizzie Borden, a Sunday school teacher who was tried and acquitted in 1893 for the axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. An all-male jury deliberated for just over an hour before deciding that a woman could not have committed such a violent crime.
The cast includes Ella Beatty as Lizzie Borden, Charlie Hunnam as Andrew Borden, Rebecca Hall as Abby Borden, Vicky Krieps as Bridget Sullivan (the Borden family’s maid), Billie Lourd as Emma Borden, Jessica Barden as Nance O’Neill, Joey Pollari as John Morse, and Sarah Paulson as Aileen Wuornos.
Series co-creator Ian Brennan told Vanity Fair that the season explores how gender shaped the case.
“They literally thought that a woman was too weak to pick up an axe. To be a woman in that period was to be almost a completely different species. You were treated like you were incapable of not only actions, but the thoughts that a man was capable of”.
Ella Beatty On Playing The First Female Monster
Beatty, the daughter of Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, makes her lead debut in the anthology. She told E! News that her parents gave her one key piece of advice: listen.
“Listening. As an actor in a scene—always being more curious about what the other person is doing. Get interested rather than be interesting, but also to listen and observe and watch more generally. You never want to be the smartest person in the room”.
She also told Vanity Fair that she connected with the role right away.
“I read the audition sides and had a very instinctive connection to them, which doesn’t happen all the time”.
The actress described the difference between playing a male monster and the show’s first female monster. “Even by nature of her being the first female monster, I felt the difference there,” she told E! News.
Ryan Murphy On Why He Took On The Lizzie Borden Case
Series co-creator Ryan Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter that his connection to the story goes back to childhood.
“When I was in kindergarten, I won first place singing the Lizzie Borden nursery rhyme in a choral competition, if you can believe that. That was the first thing I ever won”.
Murphy said the case still matters because it raises questions about how society treats women.
“I like investigating that story because, in many ways, you can look at what it deals with women and society and it’s very about today. It’s a very modern story”.
The show’s official synopsis describes Lizzie as “the repressed daughter of a wealthy New England family” who, along with her rebellious maid, finds herself “trapped in a house built on humiliation and cruelty.” The two escape into “a fantasy of sex, power and revenge,” and the murders that follow “give birth to an icon who refuses to live imprisoned in a cage”.
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When And Where To Watch
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story releases all eight episodes on Netflix on September 17, 2026. The series will be available to stream in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, India, and all other Netflix regions worldwide.
Also Read: “Blood Is Freedom” – New Trailer Reveals How Netflix’s Monster Explores the Making of Lizzie Borden
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