Javier Bardem, Nathan Lane respond to Erik Menéndez's criticism of “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”

"It's absolutely normal, logical, and legitimate to say what you think about your own life being on a show," Bardem said. "I support that."

Some of the stars of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story are responding to Erik Menéndez's criticism of the true-crime drama.

Menéndez, who is currently serving a life sentence after his 1996 conviction in the 1989 killing of his parents, José and Kitty Menéndez, recently slammed the Netflix series for its "horrible narrative" full of "vile and appalling character portrayals" of him and his brother, Lyle Menéndez.

Javier Bardem, who portrays José Menéndez in Monsters, told Variety that he understands Erik Menéndez's frustration with the series. "I know he has spoken, but I haven't read it," the actor said. "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. [Series creators] 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."

Related: Monsters star Nicholas Alexander Chavez hadn't heard of Menéndez brothers until auditioning for part of Lyle

Cooper Koch, who plays Erik Menéndez, said that his real-life counterpart's response "definitely affected me and it made me feel things." He added, "I sympathize with him, I empathize 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, who plays journalist Dominick Dunne, questioned whether Erik Menéndez had actually watched Monsters. "You know, he hasn't seen the show," he said. "He's just criticizing 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."

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Murphy previously responded to Menéndez's critiques with a similar sentiment. "I think it’s interesting that he's issued a statement without having seen the show," he told Entertainment Tonight. "The thing that I find interesting that he doesn’t mention in his quote is if you watch the show, I would say 60 to 65% of our show in the scripts center around the abuse and what they claim happened to them."

Murphy noted that since the show takes a "Rashomon kind of approach" to the central murders, he felt a responsibility to include the points of view of the Menéndez parents. "We had an obligation as storytellers to also try and put in their perspective based on our research, which we did," he said.

He also defended the series' controversial decision to suggest the possibility of an incestuous relationship between the brothers. "Dominick Dunne wrote several articles talking about that theory," Murphy said. "We are presenting his point of view. And we had an obligation to show all of that and we did."

Related: The ethics of true-crime TV: What Ron Goldman's sister wants Dahmer viewers to know

Monsters premiered Sept. 19 on Netflix. The series is the second installment in Murphy's Monster anthology, following 2022's Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. The show also stars Nicholas Alexander Chavez as Lyle Menéndez, Chloë Sevigny as Kitty Menéndez, and Ari Graynor as attorney Leslie Abramson. The next iteration of the show will see Charlie Hunnam play killer Ed Gein.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.