Monsters star Javier Bardem reveals he does not want to meet the Menendez brothers

While extensive research was done into the Menendez family and the case prior to filming, Bardem and his co-stars didn't reach out to the brothers - who are currently serving life sentences in prison - or their family before or during the shoot.

"I didn't want to," Bardem told Variety. "First of all, I didn't know much or more basically anything about the story when Ryan Murphy talked to me, because it wasn't that big in Spain.

"And then once I dig in, I was like, 'Wow, this is really, really sensitive material.' But then I tried to read and search for material where I could see or understand more of him [José], but there wasn't any. He was only based on what people were saying about him, especially his children.

"I knew I had to trust the research Ryan and Ian Brennan did. It was all there in the writing. So I said, 'I don't need to talk to anybody.' And also I was very, very… the word is not scared, but I never felt for a second that I would be able to sit down with the murderers."

In the weeks that followed the release of Monsters, a Los Angeles County district attorney recommended that the brothers be resentenced by a judge as new evidence warranted a review.

"I believe the brothers were subject to a tremendous amount of dysfunction in their home and molestation," said George Gascón, LA County's top prosecutor, on Thursday 24th October.

He added that: "I believe they have paid their debt to society."

Cooper Koch, who portrayed Erik in the series, has since visited the brothers in prison and also had a phone call with the real-life Erik the night before the series premiered on Netflix.

"I got to have a really good conversation with him and tell him that I believe him and I did everything I could as an actor to advocate for him and portray him as authentically as possible, and that I think the show does a really good job of representing him," Koch told Variety.

"We had a really nice conversation. We talked about other things like [how] I went to Calabasas High School, which is where he went when he first moved to California.

"My father graduated Beverly Hills High School the year before Erik got there. We have all of these weird parallels."

Nicholas Chavez, who played Lyle Menendez, however, was "not made aware" of visiting the brothers, but told Vanity Fair that he wouldn't have gone had the invite been extended.

"A big part of being an artist, at least in my view, is having the grace to go into a character or go into a role and then also release it when you're done with it," he told the publication.

"I think a big part of the next phase of my artistry is recognising when it's time to release the role, and my decision to not want to make those visits is part of that."

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is now streaming on Netflix – sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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