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30th Sep 2022

People are calling Evan Peters one of the most ‘talented actors of our generation’

Steve Hopkins

‘I don’t know what to think of Dahmer. Evan Peters is one of the most talented actors of our generation’

Netflix viewers have moved from commenting about the horror of watching Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer and warning each other not to romaticise the lead, Evan Peters, to noticing just how good the actor is.

Since dropping on September 21, the series chronicling Dahmer’s killing spree across America’s midwest from 1987 to 1991, hasn’t stopped making headlines.

Dahmer was was convicted of murdering 15 men and boys between 1978 and 1991 and sentenced to serve 15 consecutive life sentences in February 1992. During a 13-year period, Dahmer murdered at least 17 men, most young, gay African Americans who he lured back to his home by promising to pay them to pose nude for photographs. He then drugged and strangled them and generally mutilated and ocassionally cannibalised their bodies. He was arrested in July 22, 1991 and entered a plea of guilty but insane in 15 of the 17 murders he confessed to. Two years after being jailed, Dahmer, then aged 34, was killed by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver.

Peters’ portrayal of the serial killer adds to his already impressive Hollywood resumé – which includes American Horror story and X-Men – and that’s led to fans making some bold calls about his acting chops.

One social media user wrote: “I don’t know what to think of Dahmer. Evan Peters is one of the most talented actors of our generation. I keep having to stop every half an hour because it’s too much.”

Another wrote: “Evan Peters is one of the most talented actors of our generation. But even I will need to have a break in between episodes. The multitude of layers of homophobia and racism meant the real-life Jeffrey Dahmer got away with it for years. It’s devastating to watch.”

While Peters has appeared in a number of blockbusters, he’s made a real name for himself by being Ryan Murphy’s top pick for his American Horror Story franchise.

The actor has appeared in Murder House, Asylum, Coven, Freak Show, Hotel, Roanoke, Cult, Apocalypse and Double Feature and in each project he’s played an odd or depraved character.

The roles would have taken a lot of work to develop, but Peters has said taking on the role of Dahmer has been the most difficult to date: “I was very scared about all of the things that Dahmer did, and diving into that and trying to commit to [playing this character] 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.”

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Evan told Netflix. “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 continued: “I have to say that the crew was instrumental in keeping me on the guard rails, I cannot thank them enough and I could not have done any of this role with them…It was a challenge to try to have this person who was seemingly so normal but underneath all of it, had this entire world that he was keeping secret from everybody.”

He added: “It was so jaw-dropping that it all really happened. “It felt important to be respectful to the victims and to the victims’ families to try to tell the story as authentically as we could.”

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