‘Monsters’ cast respond defensively to subject Erik Menendez’s criticism from prison

"He hasn’t seen the show. He’s Just criticising it and condemning it without ever having seen it"

The cast of the latest iteration of the Monsters television series have defended it from subject Erik Menendez’s criticism.

It comes days after creator Ryan Murphy defended the television show, titled Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story, from subject Erik’s criticism saying, “I know he hasn’t watched the show.” Erik described the show as a “dishonest portrayal”.

The Netflix series, which came out last Thursday (September 19), stars Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch as the Menéndez brothers, who murdered their parents, José and Kitty, with a shotgun at their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989.

In a new interview, Koch, who plays Erik Menendez in the series, said he understood the reaction from the real-life person he plays in the show.

“[Erik’s reaction] definitely affected me and it made me feel things,” he said (via Variety). “I sympathise with him, I empathise with him. I get it. I understand how difficult it would be to have the worst part of your life be televised for millions of people to see. It’s so exposing. I understand how he feels and I stand by him. In terms of approaching him and approaching the part, I just really wanted to do as much research and dig really deep into myself to really portray him with integrity and just be as authentic as possible to support him and also to support his family and all the people who stand with him.”

Nathan Lane meanwhile, who portrays journalist Dominick Dunne in the series, said he was sceptical of Menendez’s reaction considering he hadn’t watched the series, echoing Murphy’s response earlier this week.

Dunne explained: “You know, he hasn’t seen the show. He’s Just criticising it and condemning it without ever having seen it, so one has to take that with a grain of salt. Obviously, to have your life portrayed this way in a Netflix miniseries…he wasn’t one of the producers, so not everything might be flattering or make you happy. But I would say you should probably see it before you speak out again.”

Javier Bardem, meanwhile, who plays the son’s father José in the series, said that while he hadn’t heard Erik’s criticism in full, he thought it was a “logical” response to have.

“I know he has spoken, but I haven’t read it. But of course, it’s absolutely normal, logical and legitimate to say what you think about your own life being on a show. I support that. Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan give different perspectives, different views of the same issue because nothing is set in stone. That also includes the way to perform the character. We have to be open as actors to play and shift from one perspective to the other, depending on who…is telling the story.”

Speaking to E! News this week, Murphy responded to the criticism saying: “I think that’s interesting because I know he hasn’t watched the show. So I find that curious. I hope he does watch it. I think if he did watch it he would be incredibly proud of Cooper Koch who plays him.”

The show also recently attracted more criticism for depicting an incestuous relationship between the brothers, with scenes depicting them kissing. One scene involved their mother, played by Chloë Sevigny, walking in on them kissing in the shower.

During his retrial in 1995, Lyle testified that he had molested Erik while they were children. In the series, the brothers both discuss this as adults with their lawyer Leslie Abramson, (Ari Graynor), while recalling the abuse they suffered at the hands of their father, José.

Speaking about this to E!, Murphy added: “It’s a 35-, 30-year-old case. We show many, many, many perspectives. That’s what the show does in every episode. You are given a new theory based on people who were either involved or covered the case. Some of the controversy seems to be people thinking for example, that the brothers are having an incestuous relationship. There are people who say that never happened. There were people who said it did happen.

“We know how it ended,” Murphy continued. “We know two people were brutally shot. Our view and what we wanted to do was present you all the facts and have you do two things: make up your own mind about who’s innocent, who’s guilty, and who’s the monster, and also have a conversation about something that’s never talked about in our culture, which is male sexual abuse, which we do responsibly.”

“60 to 65 per cent [of the show] centres around Eric and Lyle Menendez talking about their abuse, talking about their victimisation, talking about what it emotionally put them through, those two boys in our show get their moment in court. In fact, we have a 30-minute episode that Cooper Koch [who plays Erik] does so brilliantly. Just Erik’s words about what happened to him and why he did what he did.”

The official synopsis of Monsters says that the show “dives into the historic case that took the world by storm, paved the way for audiences’ modern-day fascination with true crime, and in return asks those audiences: Who are the real monsters?”

Meanwhile, the Menéndez brothers are now involved with a new Netflix documentary on their story which will arrive on the streaming platform on October 7.

For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.