‘Monsters’: Nathan Lane Cast As Dominick Dunne In Netflix Series, Reuniting With Ryan Murphy

Nellie Andreeva
·2 min read
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Emmy winner Nathan Lane has joined Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the second installment of Ryan Murphy’s true-crime anthology series for Netflix.

Lane will play writer and investigative journalist Dominick Dunne who covered the Menendez brothers trial for Vanity Fair. Dunne is also known for his coverage of the O.J. Simpsons trial, which was the subject of Murphy’s Emmy-winning The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Lane played “Dream Team” member F. Lee Bailey in the series, making this a return to the true-crime anthology genre and a reunion with Murphy.

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On Monsters, Lane joins Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch, who play Lyle and Erik, respectively, as well as Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny, who portray their parents.

It was in 1989 that Lyle and Erik Menendez murdered parents Jose and Kitty in their L.A.-area home. Although not initially looked at as prime suspects, they came under investigation in the months following and eventually confessed to parricide, at the same time claiming that their actions stemmed from years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of their father.

Their first of two trials, broadcast on Court TV, had the nation in its grip, much like the 1994 trial of O.J. Simpson, and is believed to have played a part in the modern-day fascination with true crime. The prosecution argued that the pair were in fact seeking to inherit their father’s multimillion-dollar estate, and the Menendez brothers were convicted in 1996 and sentenced to life imprisonment, without the possibility of parole.

The first installment of the anthology, created by Murphy and Ian Brennan, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, starred Evan Peters as the notorious serial killer. It debuted in September 2022 and became one of Netflix’s most popular English-language series ever, leading to Netflix’s green light of two follow-up installments, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story being the first.

Lane is a three-time Tony winner and eight-time Emmy nominee, winning for his fan favorite recurring role on Hulu’s Only Murders In the Building. Lane, who also has been recurring on HBO’s period drama The Gilded Age and recently starred in Dicks: The Musical, is repped by CAA and Anonymous Content.

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