Might be very difficult for us to unsee Dahmer
Evan Peters – best known for playing some of the darkest roles in modern TV including starring in Dahmer – has said he’d like to feature in romantic comedy.
Dahmer has been trending on social media ever since Netflix dropped their latest series, ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’, a dramatisation of his life and crimes which stars Evan Peters as Dahmer.
The series is directed by Ryan Murphy who sought to give victims a voice and highlight the systemic racism, white privilege and homophobia that contributed to Dahmer avoiding arrest for so long.
Also known as the ‘Milwaukee Cannibal’ or the ‘Milwaukee Monster’, Dahmer killed and dismembered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. He also reportedly ate parts of his victims, who he would lure back to his apartment before killing them.
Dahmer was sentenced to back-to-back terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, which amounted to a total of 941 years in prison.
In short, the televised version that Peters plays is pretty dark, considering.
But it seems as though playing these sinister roles has taken its toll on the actor, who apparently wanted to give the evil characters a bit of a break.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, American Horror Story and Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story creator Ryan Murphy said that before landing the Dahmer role, Peters had said he was keen to play someone ‘normal’.
However, things didn’t quite turn out that way – and after auditioning 100 people, Murphy sent the script to Peters who seemingly couldn’t turn it down.
Murphy revealed: “He called me the next day, and he said, ‘It’s so challenging. It’s so difficult that I kind of have to say yes to it, even though I’m terrified of it.’”
Peters told the publication that he focused heavily himself in Dahmer’s life by reading books and articles about the killer as well as psychological reports and his confessions.
He added: “Then the physicality of it, which I know was going to be so hard. He has a lot of external things from the way that he walks, he doesn’t move his arms when he walks and talks.
“And so I did a lot of research on watching him and seeing how he moved and working with weights on my arms, wearing wardrobe, all sorts of things that I would carry with me throughout the day to try to stay in it so it would be second nature.
“And then I created a 45-minute audio composite, which I listened to every day to try to get his dialect and how he spoke and really try to understand why he did what he did or what his mindset was.”
After all that, it might be difficult to see Peters playing a Prince Charming.
Thanks to the success of the release of Ryan Murphy’s series, Netflix is dropped another series about Dahmer, Conversations With a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes, on 7 October.
Related links:
- Dahmer viewers say ‘heart-wrenching’ Tony Hughes ‘Silenced’ episode should get awards
- Netflix removes LGBTQ tag on Jeffrey Dahmer series following backlash
- Jeffrey Dahmer’s dad thinks he knows what’s to blame for son becoming a serial killer
