How Nathan Lane Navigated Playing His Friend Griffin Dunne’s Dad in ‘Monsters’

Portraying a real person in a controversial TV show or film is already a challenge, but what if you’re friends with your character’s kid? That’s exactly what happened to one of the stars of Monsters. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Direct from Hollywood with Ryan Seacrest.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Nathan Lane plays the late real life journalists activist Dominic
Dunn in the new crime drama Monsters, based on the
infamous Menendez Brothers nineteen ninety six murder trial of their
own parents. It's already a sensitive story to tell, but
Nathan had a particularly personal connection to the role because
he's actually friends with Dominic's son, actor and writer Griffin Dunn,
and rather than ignore the awkwardness, Nathan opted to speak

(00:23):
about the role. He tells Variety, I asked Griffin, how
you'd like to see your father portrayed. He said he'd
like people to know what a passionate advocate he was
for victims and how that trial changed his life professionally
and personally. So when I started reading the script, I
thought he'd be very happy because that was a through
line for the entire character. That's Nathan Lane. I'm portraying
Dominic Dunn in Monsters, which is on Netflix.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Oh, that's direct from Hollywood