Evan Peters, who played Jeffrey Dahmer in Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, has opened up about what helped him overcome the darkness of playing the role.
During a Q&A panel for the true crime series, Peters discussed his role as the serial killer.
But before we dive straight into that story, let’s take a look at why the Dahmer series was a hit among the masses…
The story is about one of the world’s most notorious serial killers, called Jeffrey Dahmer, and is told from the perspective of his victims.
In the series, Dahmer is played by actor Evan Peters. It is a 10-part series exploring the serial killer’s brutal wrongdoings of murder, cannibalism, and alcoholism.
Many viewers praised Peters for his amazing portrayal of Dahmer.
So much so, that people have found it “creepy as hell,” and others have called it “bone-chilling.”
While people find Peters’ portrayal of Dahmer creepy…
Some became wary of glamorizing the serial killer because of Peters’ portrayal.
One user took to social media and said: “Dahmer is out, let’s not romanticize Jeffrey Dahmer just because he is played by Evan Peters. Remember the victims.”
Another added: “It’s okay to praise Evan Peters for his performance, he is a brilliant actor. But do not romanticize him in the role as Jeffrey Dahmer.”
Following the series’ release on September 21, many have called it one of the scariest shows ever!
Alberto Carlos for Espinof said: “A remarkable example of true crime that is as forceful as it is truly absorbing and disturbing in its merciless portrayal of the killer.”
While Ed Power from the Daily Telegraph called it, “A competent and earnest character study that goes out of its way to make the viewer’s insides lurch, their skin crawl.”
Many want to know more about what Peters went through to get into the mind of his character…
In an interview about his role in the series, Peters said he knew before filming that it would be one of the “hardest things” he’d have to do in his life.
He even spoke about the depth of his character’s mentality and how scared he was to do all the things which in real life Dahmer actually did…
“Honestly, I was very scared about all of the things that he did, and diving into that and trying to commit to that was absolutely going to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life, because I wanted it to be very authentic, but in order to do that, I was going to have to go to really dark places and stay there for an extended period of time,” he said.
Peters also said it was everyone else on set that helped him play the killer.
“So, we had one rule going into this from Ryan that it would never be told from Dahmer’s point of view.
“As an audience, you’re not really sympathizing with him, you’re not really getting into his plight, you’re sort of watching it from the outside. It’s called The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, but it’s not just him and his backstory. It’s the repercussions. It’s how society and our system failed to stop him multiple times, because of racism, homophobia… it’s just a tragic story,” Peters said.
“Everybody gets their side of the story told,” he added.
Although the actor seemed to have gotten fully into the shoes of his character, previous reports suggested that the Netflix series would have scenes of Dahmer’s neighbor, Glenda, suspecting him of being a psychopath.
However, that was proved to be false…
As she was never listened to by the authorities, which extended Dahmer’s years of getting away with murder.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Glenda didn’t live near Dahmer…
But her daughter reported that her mother lived down the road from Dahmer.
One incident that occurred in Dahmer’s apartment was the death of Konerak Sinthasomphone.
Glenda called the authorities after her daughter spotted a person running out of Dahmer’s apartment naked and drenched in blood.
When 2 police officers arrived, Dahmer was able to trick the police officers and said that the teenager was his adult lover, and they believed him.
The cops then allowed Sinthasomphone to go back inside with Dahmer.
Glenda called the police yet again and urged them to do something…
But the police denied her claims.
Sadly, Sinthasomphone became the thirteenth victim of Dahmer.
Ten months into Dahmer’s prison sentence, his father, Lionel Dahmer, wrote a letter to Judge William Gardner in 1990 pleading for some sort of help or intervention before his son was released.
“I have reservations regarding Jeff’s chances when he hits the streets. I have experienced an extremely frustrating time trying to urge initiation of some type of treatment,” Lionel said.
“I sincerely hope that you might intervene in some way to help my son, who I love very much and for whom I want a better life. I do feel, though, that this may be our last chance to initiate something lasting and that you can hold the key.”
But that’s not all…
The eighty-six-year-old told CNN’s Larry King Live back in 2020 that he missed an early sign of deviant behavior in his son
According to reports, Lionel said Dahmer would ride around rural roads to collect dead animals when he was between twelve-fourteen-years-old.
It was there Lionel offered advice to other parents.
“I really want to tell parents about what I think they should look for in rearing their children,” he began.
“One of the things I’d like to tell parents is don’t disregard shyness. Talk deeply and intensely.”
Lionel also spoke to Oprah Winfrey back in 1994, just before Dahmer was killed.
He discussed how his relationship with his son changed after his incarceration.
According to reports, Lionel said their relationship grew closer, and he would often visit Dahmer once a month…
And would even speak to him on the phone at least once a week.
Even so, Dahmer’s mother told The Washington Post, that her son “always said that, if he could be of any help, he wanted to do whatever he could,” which inspired her to want to donate his brain after his remains were cremated.
Reportedly, she believed that it would be helpful to see if there were any biological factors that may have played a role in the heinous killings Dahmer committed.
Though the story of Dahmer is something that catches people’s attention, not everyone was impressed by the series…
The family of one of Dahmer’s victims has opened up about it…
As reported by UNILAD, they said they weren’t informed that a series about a man who scarred their family for life was being made.
Rashad Robinson, the president of nonprofit civil rights advocacy organization Color of Change, told Tudum that the series tried to offer a way to “understand and see the humanity of those who were murdered by Jeffrey Dahmer.”
However, Rita Isbell, a sister of one of Dahmer’s victims, said she didn’t know anything about this and didn’t have a say.
Isbell’s brother, Errol Lindsey, lost his life to Dahmer.
According to Insider, Isbell said she was “never contacted about the show.”
“I feel like Netflix should’ve asked if we mind or how we felt about making it,” she said.
“They didn’t ask me anything. They just did it.
“But I’m not money hungry, and that’s what this show is about, Netflix trying to get paid,” she added.
Another of Lindsey’s relatives, Eric Perry, also spoke out about the show.
He shared a post on Twitter that included a clip of the new series and described it as “retraumatizing.”
“I’m not telling anyone what to watch, I know true crime media is huge rn, but if you’re actually curious about the victims, my family (the Isbell’s) are p*ssed about this show. It’s retraumatizing over and over again, and for what? How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?” he wrote.
Perry then went on to shame Netflix, talking about the utter failure of reaching out to the family prior to making the series.
According to Perry, he only found out about it when everyone else did.
“It’s all public record, so they don’t have to notify (or pay!) anyone. My family found out when everyone else did. So when they say they’re doing this ‘with respect to the victims’ or ‘honoring the dignity of the families’, no one contacts them.
“My cousins wake up every few months at this point with a bunch of calls and messages and they know there’s another Dahmer show.
“It’s cruel,” Perry wrote.
But despite the negative feedback the series received…
It didn’t put people off from watching it.
In fact, the series became Netflix’s most-watched.
According to Variety, the show had over 496.1 million hours of watch time, with 56 million households watching to the end.
And that was just in the 2 weeks it was out!
In its first week, it became the second most watched series in the English-speaking TV chart, coming just behind Stranger Things 4.
However, it has since flown past the Sci-Fi series in viewer numbers and has now taken the top spot.
Following the huge success of the series, Peters has opened up about playing the role of Dahmer.
During a Q&A panel, the thirty-five-year-old actor admitted that he went to extreme lengths to ensure he was able to embody the killer.
While prepping to get into the character of the notorious serial killer…
Peters revealed that he would wear the actual clothes of Dahmer ahead of filming a scene.
Not only that, but he’d wear his accessories as well, including his glasses, shoes, and jeans, for months.
During the panel, Peters also said that he was going “back and forth” with the idea of whether or not he should take on the role because he knew it was going incredibly dark.
He further explained that when he retrieved the script, he watched Dahmer’s 1994 interview so that he could “dive into the psychology of that extreme side of human behavior.”
The director of the miniseries jumped in and said that Peters would “stay in character” for months by wearing weights around his arms and lifts in his shoes to imitate Dahmer’s physical body.
“He has a very straight back. He doesn’t move his arms when he walks, so I put weights on my arms to see what that felt like. I wore the character shoes with lifts in them, his jeans, his glasses; I had a cigarette in my hand at all times.
“I wanted all this stuff, these external things, to be second nature when we were shooting, so I watched a lot of footage, and I also worked with a dialect coach to get down his voice. The way that he spoke, was very distinct, and he had a dialect,” said Peters.
“Doing the role, I wanted to give it 120 percent the whole way through, so I brought in a lot of darkness and negativity,” he added.
Even his colleague and co-star, Niecy Nash, joked about how well Peters got into his character’s skin.
“People will say, ‘What is Evan like?’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know that man,'” Nash said.
Peters confessed that he focused on the finished product to encourage him to push through the challenges of starring in such a complex series.
“It was just having that end goal in sight, knowing when we were going to wrap and finally being able to breathe and let it go,” he said.
The actor also revealed the one comedy he used to help him readjust to everyday life once the series wrapped.
“And say, ‘OK, now it’s time to bring in the joy and the lightness and watch comedies and romances and go back to St. Louis and see my family and friends and yeah, watch Step Brothers,” he concluded.
What a classic!