'It was incredibly dark': Evan Peters reveals he went to extreme lengths to transform into Jeffrey Dahmer
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Evan Peters went method to transform into the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in the Netflix series, ‘Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’. The actor dished about the preparation for the job that he was assigned by Director Ryan Murphy on Saturday, October 29.
During a Q&A session, the 35-year-old actor revealed that he wore Dahmer's actual clothing and accessories, including his glasses, shoes, and jeans. However, that was not all that it took to completely embody the mind of the killer. Peters confirmed that he was hesitant before accepting the role, saying, "I really went back and forth on whether I should do it or not. I knew it was going to be incredibly dark and an incredible challenge."
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Evan Peters who starred in Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story explained how he got away once he shooting wrapped for the Netflix series pic.twitter.com/03vzuEINeY
— Nick Hamilton (@NickHamilton213) October 30, 2022
Peters added he watched Dahmer’s 1994 interview on 'Dateline' to dive deeper into the "psychology of that extreme side of human behavior," as per Fox News.
The segment also featured filmmaker Ryan Murphy and co-stars Niecy Nash and Richard Jenkins. Murphy revealed his lead actor wore lead weights around his arms and lifts in his shoes for the four months of preparation and six months of filming to imitate Dahmer’s physical characteristics. The director acknowledged that though it was hard to maintain the character, Peters successfully nailed it.
"Dahmer 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," Peters continued. "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, it was very distinct and he had a dialect," the actor said about trying to perfect Dahmer.
"So I also went off and created this 45-minute audio composite, which was very helpful. I listened to that every day, in hopes of learning his speech patterns, but really, in an attempt to try to get into his mindset and understand that each day that we were shooting. It was an exhaustive search, trying to find private moments, times where he didn’t seem self-conscious, so you could get a glimpse into how he behaved prior to these interviews and being in prison," he continued.
Peters' co-star Niecy Nash recalled the day they met on sets. When she went over to greet the actor, she found him still "in the process." "I wanted to respect that and I wanted to keep him there. I prayed for you a lot, for real, because this is weighty. And when you stay in it, and you’re tethered to the material, like bone to marrow, your soul is troubled at some point. And I could see him getting tired. I just said, 'Well, I’m just gonna make sure I keep him in my prayers, because this is a lot and he wants to do it justice," she said.