by Evan Peters had to go to a dark place to play the infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, and he needed a little help from one of his Netflix co-stars to get back into “the light.”
In an interview with the cast shared by the streaming service on Monday, the star of Ryan Murphy’s controversial “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” revealed how difficult it was to get into character and “get rid of everything.”
“I put so much negativity and darkness into portraying the character that I thought, ‘Okay, once this is done, all of that goes away and I have to go back to the light and start filling myself up with comedy and romance and that kind of thing.’” Peters said Monday.
One such comedy was the 2008 film “Step Brothers,” starring none other than his “Dahmer” co-star Richard Jenkins.
In preparation for his role in “Dahmer,” Peters, 35, said he “observed everything he could” of the notorious killer, including courtroom footage.
“He has such a distinct voice and dialect,” Peters said. “I worked with dialect coaches and then created this 45-minute audio composition that I listened to every day to keep the accent going, but also to really get into the mindset of the day and all the scenes we were shooting.”
The series became one of Netflix’s most-watched series since its debut in late September, drawing both praise and criticism for its accuracy. The real-life Dahmer, known as the “Milwaukee cannibal”, murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991, mostly black and gay, and ate some of their corpses. He died in 1994 after being beaten in prison.
Jerod Harris via Getty Images
“I tried to try to understand what he was thinking and what he was going through,” Peters said during the conversation with the cast. “I just tried to stay in it because it was too hard to get in and out of.”
Peters added that he “studied how he moved” and that Dahmer “didn’t move his arms when he walked.” The actor noted the killer’s “very straight back” and used weights in his hands to try to recreate his gait, to “understand” Dahmer.
“It was important for me to understand how he felt,” Peters said. “While we were filming, I let it slide. At first she wore wardrobe shoes, jeans and glasses. He had a cigarette in his hand at all times, just trying to get all these external, second nature stuff. [things]so I wasn’t thinking about that when we were filming.”
Murphy previously said she created the 10-episode series to “highlight the untold stories of Dahmer’s victims,” but has since been criticized by some of their families for exploiting their trauma. Even Simone Biles, the star gymnast, urged people not to glorify the serial killer.
The series drew further backlash for being listed in Netflix’s LGBTQ category.
