Menendez Brothers Participating in Netflix Doc After Slamming ...

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The Menendez Brothers are now getting the documentary treatment on Netflix, the news coming as their story is currently streaming in scripted form on the streamer.

On Monday, Netflix announced a new documentary titled The Menendez Brothers will hit the streamer on Oct. 7. The project, directed by Argentinian director Alejandro Hartmann (Carmel: Who Killed Maria Marta?, The Photographer: Murder in Pinamar) will “offer new insight and a fresh perspective on a case that people only think they know,” per Netflix.

Here is the description: “In 1996, Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted for the murders of their parents in what became one of the most famous criminal cases of the late 20th century. For the first time in 30 years, and in their own words, both brothers revisit the trial that shocked the nation. Through extensive audio interviews with Lyle and Erik, lawyers involved in the trial, journalists who covered it, jurors, family, and other informed observers, acclaimed Argentinian director Alejandro Hartmann offers new insight and a fresh perspective on a case that people only think they know.”

The news comes as Ryan Murphy’s true-crime drama series about the brothers, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, is currently the No. 1 show on Netflix in the U.S. The series chronicles the case of the real-life brothers who were convicted in 1996 for the murders of their parents, José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez.

After Monsters released last week on Thursday, Erik Menendez slammed both Monsters and Netflix over the scripted series, which has been criticized by viewers for the way some scenes have portrayed an incestuous relationship between the adult brothers (some of the sexualized interactions include the brothers kissing on the lips; in one scene, their mother, played by Chloë Sevigny, walks 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 each discuss this as adults with their attorney, Leslie Abramson, played by Ari Graynor, while they recount the abuse they suffered at the hands of their father, José.

Erik had said in his statement, which was posted by wife Tammi Menendez on social media, “I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant likes rampant in the show. I can only believe they were done so 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.”

He continued, “It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward — back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women. Those awful lies have been disrupted and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades who have broken through their personal shame and bravely spoken out. So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander.”

The Netflix projects are the latest to capture the Menendez Brothers’ story for the screen. Fox and CBS aired TV movies about the murders in 1994, Lifetime ran Menendez: Blood Brothers in 2017 and Law & Order: True Crime on NBC also focused on the case, with Edie Falco starring as Abramson. Peacock’s 2023 doc Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed featured Roy Rosselló, a former member of boy band Menudo, claiming José Menendez sexually assaulted him when he was a teenager.

The Menendez Brothers is produced by Campfire Studios. Ross M. Dinerstein and Rebecca Evans are producers. Ross Girard and Mark McCune executive producers; with Dani Sloane, Gina Scarlata, Cecilia Salguero, Will Mavronicolas and JP Quicquaro as co-executive producers.

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