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

The actor, who plays journalist Dominick Dunne in 'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story', tells PEOPLE viewers "shouldn't all lose our heads" over the series

• Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan's drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story premiered on Netflix Sept. 19 and elicited negative responses from Erik and the Menéndez family

• Nathan Lane, who portrays journalist Dominick Dunne in the series, tells PEOPLE of Monsters, "It's a dramatization, it's not a documentary"

• The Emmy-winning actor believes that "all of the attention" around Monsters "may work in their favor" to get the brothers another trial

Nathan Lane jokes that he hasn’t heard about the controversy surrounding Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story, in which he plays journalist Dominick Dunne.

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

Since the show’s release on Netflix on Sept. 19, Erik Menéndez has stated (via his wife Tammi Menendez) that he found the show‘s portrayal of Lyle, played by Nicholas Alexander Chavez, to be “rooted in horrible and blatant lies,” and his family deemed Monsters “phobic, gross, anachronistic” and “riddled with mistruths and outright falsehoods.”

Related: Ryan Murphy Thinks Menéndez Family Doesn't 'Understand' Monsters, Knocks Their 'Knee-Jerk' Reaction (Exclusive)

“It's a dramatization, it's not a documentary,” Lane says of Monsters. “Not everyone is going to agree with every single point of view, but that's what makes horse races. I think they certainly cover the fact that they were abused. And just because Dominick Dunn [said] at dinner parties, ‘Maybe this is what happened,’ we shouldn't all lose our heads. That's just somebody theorizing about the case and it'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 [what] the ultimate question is: was it the two boys who committed this horrific act, or was it the parents? I personally feel, 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 show, he was arguing with Barbara Walters of all people at that dinner party in the fourth episode, and he said, ‘No matter what, the only two people alive who know would do anything to avoid the gas chamber, so you'll have to forgive my skepticism.’"

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

Erik and Lyle stood trial twice, first in July 1993, which the judge declared a mistrial since the jury couldn’t come to a unanimous decision about whether Erik and Lyle should be convicted of murder or manslaughter. In their October 1995 trial, the jury found Erik and Lyle guilty of first-degree murder dismissing the brothers’ claims about their father’s abuse. Erik and Lyle continue to serve a life sentence at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.

Lane says he “didn't have any impressions” about the brothers’ case — and the $700,000 spending spree they went on after killing their parents — before working on Monsters, but he remembered watching it on Court TV.

“They were two young, handsome, rich kids who had murdered their parents, seemingly for the money, that's what everyone said,” Lane says. “Because they had lied about everything, and they went on a shopping spree. It didn't look good.”

Related: Monsters Star Cooper Koch Says He Hugged Menendez Brothers During Prison Visit

The Emmy winner believes that, while “they're guilty,” he thinks “there were extenuating circumstances in what was happening to them from a very early age — fear and physical and emotional abuse” that may cause a present-day jury to come to a different conclusion in the Menéndez case.

“They've served 35 years. All of the attention it’s getting may work in their favor,” Lane says. “They may not like how they were portrayed, it may actually help. We didn't get two thumbs up from prison, but they may revisit the trial. I think they deserve that.”

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Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story is streaming now 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 toll-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 Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

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