Nathan Lane Says Menéndez Brothers 'Deserve' a Retrial Despite Not Giving Monsters '2 Thumbs Up from Prison' (Exclusive) 

• Drama by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menéndez premiered on Netflix on September 19 and drew negative responses from Erik and the Menéndez family
• Nathan Lane, who plays journalist Dominick Dunne on the show, tells PEOPLE of Monsters, “It’s a dramatization, it’s not a documentary.”
• The Emmy-winning actor believes “all the attention” surrounding The Monsters “could work in their favor” to get the brothers another trial

Nathan Lane jokes that he hasn’t heard of the controversy surrounding it Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menéndezin which he plays journalist Dominick Dunne.

“I’m not on social media, you’ll have to tell me,” Lane, 68, jokes to PEOPLE.

Since the show’s release on Netflix on September 19, Erik Menéndez has stated (via his wife Tammi Menendez) that he feels the show’s portrayal of Lyle, played by Nicholas Alexander Chavez, is “rooted in horrible and outright lies,” and his family believes Monsters “phobic, disgusting, anachronistic” and “riddled with falsehoods and outright falsehoods”.

Ryan Murphy thinks the Menéndez family doesn’t ‘get it’ Monstersknocks out their knee jerk reaction (exclusive)

“It’s a dramatization, it’s not a documentary,” says Lane Monsters. “Not everyone will agree with every point of view, but that’s what makes horse racing. I think they must be covering up the fact that they were abused. And just because he’s Dominick Dunn [said] at dinner parties, ‘Maybe this happened’, we shouldn’t all lose our heads. That’s just someone theorizing about the case and that’s not what the show is trying to tell you.”

The actor believes Monsters intends to get to the root of “who are the monsters?” he says.

“That’s it [what] the ultimate question is: did the two boys commit this terrible act or did the parents do it? I personally think, yes, they were sexually abused. I don’t know to what extent, only Erik and Lyle know the real truth. Dominick Dunne had a line that didn’t make the series, arguing with Barbara Walters of all people at that dinner party in episode four, and he said, ‘No matter what, the only two people who know would do anything to avoid the gas chamber, so that you will have to forgive my skepticism.'”

“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story” stars (from left) Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Ari Graynor and Cooper Koch.

Netflix

Monsters tells the story of Erik and Lyle Menéndez, two brothers who shot and killed their parents José and Kitty in 1989 after years of what they claimed was sexual abuse by their father. Police arrested Lyle, now 56, on March 8, 1990, after Erik, now 53, confessed to his therapist that he and his brother had committed the crime; Erik surrendered three days later after returning from a trip to Israel.

Erik and Lyle went to trial twice, the first time in July 1993, which the judge declared a mistrial because the jury could not reach a unanimous decision on whether Erik and Lyle should be convicted of murder or manslaughter. At a trial in October 1995, a jury found Erik and Lyle guilty of first-degree murder, rejecting the brothers’ claims of abuse by their father. Erik and Lyle continue to serve life sentences at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Institution in San Diego.

Nathan lane (left) and Dominick Dunne.

Netflix; Ron Galella/Getty

Lane says he had “no impressions” of the brothers’ case — and the $700,000 spree they embarked on after killing their parents — before starting the job Monstersbut he remembered watching it on Court TV.

“It was two young, handsome, rich kids who killed their parents, seemingly for money, that’s what everyone was saying,” says Lane. “Because they lied about everything, and they went shopping. It didn’t look good.”

Monsters Star Cooper Koch says he hugged the Menendez brothers during a prison visit

The Emmy winner believes that while “they are guilty,” he thinks “there were mitigating circumstances in what happened to them from an early age — fear and physical and emotional abuse” that could cause today’s jury to reach a different conclusion in the Menéndez case.

“They served 35 years. All the attention it gets can go to their advantage,” says Lane. “They might not like how they’re portrayed, it might actually help. We didn’t get two thumbs up from prison, but they could retry. I think they deserve it.”

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Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menéndez currently streaming on Netflix.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the crisis line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education