The producing team behind Netflix’s new documentary on the Menendez brothers began working on their project four years ago. What began with a letter turned into a phone call from Lyle Menendez, which would kickstart both his and brother Erik’s eventual participation in The Menendez Brothers , which is now streaming.
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In the lead up to the two-hour documentary’s Monday premiere, Ross Dinerstein and Rebecca Evans of Campfire Studios spoke with The Hollywood Reporter last week , where they weighed in on the recent developments in the case, following the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office reviewing new evidence , as well as the cultural movement pushing for the release of the brothers (also thanks to Netflix’s hit Monsters series ) who were convicted of killing their parents, José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, and sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without parole.
Now that the documentary is out, featuring rare phone interviews with Erik and Lyle — and with a companion podcast due to release three episodes of more audio on Wednesday — below is more of THR ‘s conversation with Dinerstein and Evans, including their hopes to continue interviewing the brothers, their correspondence with attorney Leslie Abramson and their response to criticism about the doc focusing on the defense.
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So, are there plans for you to keep the cameras rolling? Do you want to keep following the story?
ROSS DINERSTEIN We would love to keep going. The podcast covers a lot of it. But we believe this story is far from over and we would want to keep going.
Do you think Erik and Lyle would be available for new interviews, if you kept going?
DINERSTEIN Yes, we do. The trust has already built between us and them and their families.
REBECCA EVANS They would absolutely speak to us about what’s been happening.
Their habeas petition now under review could pave the way for the brothers to be retried, resentenced to a lesser term or released. Do you think they could withstand going through another trial at this point in their lives?
EVANS It’s hard to say, not being them. But I know they have had a lot of time to think on what happened, and rehabilitate and find themselves. So I’m sure they would be in a different head space, but you’d have to ask them I guess.
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You include an emailed statement from defense attorney Leslie Abramson in the end title cards. I’m curious about the correspondence you had with her, or the correspondence Erik and Lyle have had with her, and why she hasn’t said much publicly about the case.
EVANS I definitely can’t speak for her, only because she’s just such a strong and brave woman for what she took on, in terms of the case at that time. I’m very excited for her to watch it. I hope she watches this. She has notoriously never spoken out since the case. She said it was a valiant effort on my part to reach out to her ( laughs ) and praised me for it, but ultimately, no. So I wish I could speak for her, but she’s a tough one.
The prosecutor from the first trial in 1993, Pamela Bozanich, participates in your documentary and she presents a contrary point of view when she says, “That whole defense was fabricated, and it was done artfully, but it was fabricated.” What would you say to critiques that this doc is one-sided or too focused on the defense?
EVANS It’s always important for us to get multiple sides, and I think that’s why Pamela didn’t really hesitate when she came on board. As documentarians, we have to provide all the sides so audiences can then walk away with their own thoughts, ideas and questions. There are other people in the documentary who feel more similarly to Pam, and then there are more people who feel more similarly to Leslie, for example. I think it was really important for us to get all sides. I hope that comes out. And because of that, it really wasn’t a problem getting Pam.
DINERSTEIN And we’re known for that. If you’ve seen our Laci Peterson doc [ American Murder: Laci Peterson ], we interviewed Scott Peterson’s family as well.
What do you hope for Erik and Lyle now, with what is coming next for them? [ A hearing has been set for Nov. 29 .]
EVANS In the same way that I feel for all our interview subjects, I just hope they feel that we told their story in an honest and just way. That goes for Pam, that goes for Erik, that goes for Lyle. I hope everyone feels that our intentions from the beginning were honest and that what they had to say came through.
DINERSTEIN One of the things I’m so proud of is that when [ American Murder: Laci Petersen ] came out, we got the nicest note from Laci’s mom. We said we were going to do something, and we did it. We were transparent with her about who our story was going to be and who was going to be involved, and she thanked us.
The Menendez Brothers documentary is now streaming on Netflix.
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