The stars of “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” Cooper Koch and Nicholas Chavez, have responded to criticism from the real-life Erik Menendez, who criticized the Ryan Murphy-created miniseries as a “naive and inaccurate” portrayal of him and his brother. The series dramatizes the lives of Erik and Lyle, who say they were abused by their parents during their childhood. The brothers murdered their mother and father in 1989. After two criminal trials – the first of which was televised, bringing the case to national attention – the siblings were both sentenced to life in prison in 1996.
Koch, who plays Erik Menendez in the series, said he has sympathy for his real-life counterpart.
“(Erik’s reaction) definitely touched me and made me feel something,” he said. “I empathize with him, I feel for him. I understand him. I understand how difficult it is when the worst part of your life is televised and millions of people are watching it. It’s so revealing. I understand how he feels and I stand behind him. As far as approaching him and the role, I just wanted to do as much research and really dig deep within myself to really portray him with integrity and be as authentic as possible to support him and also his family and all the people that stand by him.”
Nathan Lane, who plays journalist Dominick Dunne in the series, was skeptical of Menendez’s reaction because he had not seen the series.
“You know, he hasn’t seen the show,” he said. “He’s just criticizing and condemning it without ever having seen it, so you have to take that with a grain of salt. Of course, having your life portrayed that way in a Netflix miniseries is… he wasn’t one of the producers, so not everything is flattering or makes you happy. But I would say you should probably watch it before you speak out again.”
Javier Bardem, who plays family patriarch José Menéndez in the series, said that although he had not read Erik Menendez’s review in full, he considered it a logical consequence of the show.
“I know he spoke, but I didn’t read it,” he said. “But of course it’s absolutely normal, logical and legitimate to say what you think about your own life on a show. I support that. (Series creators) Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan give different perspectives, different views of the same subject, because nothing is set in stone. That also applies to the way we portray the character. We have to be open as actors to play and switch from one perspective to another depending on who or who is telling the story.”
The series’ co-creator, Murphy, had already rejected Erik Menendez’s criticism on Tuesday, saying that the series “takes a ‘Rashomon’ approach, where four people are involved. … Two of them are dead. What about the parents? As storytellers, we had an obligation to also try to bring in their perspective based on our research, which we did.”
“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” has proven controversial since its release on Netflix in mid-September. The series received mixed reviews, with diversity Chief TV critic Aramide Tinubu wrote that the series “has no idea what it wants to be. So it simply dissolves into a retelling of unspeakable abuse and gruesome crimes.”
