Evan Peters takes on the challenging and disturbing role of the notorious serial killer in Netflix’s latest true-crime series, DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. The limited series hit the streaming platform on September 21 and broke the record for most watched show with 96.2 million hours watched in the first week of its release. However, the dramatized portrayal of the chilling true events has sparked controversy with Netflix’s queer audience, as well as the families of Dahmer’s victims.
In a recent interview with Netflix, Evan opened up about tapping into Dahmer’s fascinating but terrifying psyche. The serial killer was convicted on 15 murder charges and sentenced to 957 years in prison after murdering and dismembering 17 men between 1978 and 1991. To prepare for the role, co-creator Ryan Murphy directed Evan to watch Stone Phillips’ interview with Dahmer. Evan also studied Dahmer’s past by listening to recordings of Dahmer’s conversations with psychologists and detectives, reading biographies, and analyzing the 1992 police report containing the killer’s confession.
Netflix
“It was so amazing that everything really happened that it was important to be respectful to the victims and the victims’ families and try to tell the story as authentically as possible,” Evan told Netflix.
He described the process of filming the series as one of the “hardest things” he’s had to do in his career, saying he’s “very scared” by Dahmer’s actions and “immerses himself in them.” “Trying to get into that was absolutely one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life because I wanted it to be very authentic,” Evan said, before crediting the show’s crew for welcoming him on Set had kept on the ground. The 35-year-old actor also explained that in order to tap into Dahmer’s mindset, he “had to go to really dark places and stay there for a long time.”
For more behind-the-scenes secrets of the show, check out Evan’s full interview with Netflix below.
Sam is an editorial assistant at Seventeen, covering pop culture, celebrity news, health and beauty. When she’s not draping her cheeks in red, you can probably find her live-tweeting awards shows or creating SwiftToks.