Ryan Murphy Says Menéndez Brothers Should Thank Him For The Renewed Attention Following Biographical Crime Series
Ryan Murphy isn’t too worried about Lyle and Erik Menéndez’s feelings toward his new series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story. In fact, the 58-year-old co-creator thinks the infamous brothers should be grateful.
“The Menéndez brothers should be sending me flowers,” Ryan told The Hollywood Reporter on October 1. Expressing how much attention the show has brought to their lives, he added, “They haven’t had this much attention in 30 years. It’s gotten the world talking about their case again.”
Ryan added that since the show’s release, many people have even offered to help the Menéndez brothers due to the renewed interest.
The series, which premiered in September, takes a deep dive into the 1989 murders of Kitty and José Menéndez, the brothers’ parents. Lyle and Erik were convicted of the crime in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. The show revisits their trials and explores the complex relationship between the family members.
But while Ryan believes the series covers sensitive issues like male sexual abuse “responsibly,” Erik, now 53, isn’t so convinced.
In a statement tweeted by his wife, Tammi Menéndez, on September 19, Erik expressed his dissatisfaction. “I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show,” he said, referring to his brother’s depiction in the show.
“I can only believe these were done on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.”
Ryan, however, stands by the show’s creative direction. “The thing that the Menéndez brothers and their people neglect is that we were telling a story that was a very broad canvas. We were telling the story of Dominick Dunne [played by Nathan Lane], of Leslie Abramson [played by Ari Graynor],” he explained, adding, “We were also telling the story of the parents [José and Kitty Menéndez, played by Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny], who they blew their heads off; we were also telling their story. We had an obligation to so many people, not just to Erik and Lyle.”
He went on to say that he found it frustrating that the brothers were “playing the victim card” at this point, especially given the gravity of their crime.
The co-creator emphasized that the show wasn’t meant to simplify their story. “Two things can be true at the same time. They could have killed their parents and also had been abused. They could have been of ambiguous moral character as young people, and be rehabilitated now. So I think that story is complicated.”
For him, the real success lies in the portrayal of Lyle and Erik by actors Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch. He praised them for bringing empathy and nuance to the roles, even if he himself has mixed feelings about the brothers’ past.
