Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is the first season of the true crime anthology series, Monster, created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. It was released on September 21, 2022, on Netflix. The season showcases the life of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Oscar-nominated actor Richard Jenkins played Dahmer's father Lionel; actress Molly Ringwald played Dahmer's stepmother Shari and Niecy Nash plays suspiscious neighbor Glenda.
Audiences around the world were both enthralled and disturbed by actor Evan Peters portrayal of the sadistic killer. Peters has opened up about his preparation to play Dahmer in a new interview. Serial killer and cannibal, Dahmer, took the lives of 17 men and boys between the years 1978 and 1991. He them kept the skeletons of his victims and even ate some of them.
Peters admitted that he was “terrified” to play Dahmer and went to some extreme lengths to inhabit the serial killer. “Doing the role, I wanted to give it 120 per cent the whole way through, so I brought in a lot of darkness and negativity,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. Peters described how, alongside doing extensive research and dialect work in preparation, he even wore Dahmer’s shoes, jeans and glasses for months before filming.
Peters stayed in character throughout the whole six-month shoot. His co-star Niecy Nash, who played Dahmer’s neighbour Glenda Cleveland, confirmed that Peters got deep into his character during filming. “People will say, ‘What is Evan like?’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know that man,’” she joked. When filming was over, how did Dahmer ease out of the mind-draining role?
Evan Peters Listened Jeffrey Dahmer's Voice 'Every Day'
35-year-old actor Evan Peters spent months preparing to play evil killer Jeffrey Dahmer. He even created an audio composite to get his voice down. Peters revealed during a Netflix Q&A the role involved, "four months of prep and six months of shooting.''
"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," Peters said. "I wore the character's shoes with lifts in it, his jeans, his glasses, I had a cigarette in my hand at all times," Peters added. "I wanted all this stuff, these external things, to be second nature when we were shooting, so I watched a lot of footage."
The American Horror Story star added that he also worked with a dialect coach to nail his voice since Dahmer had a very "distinct" way of speaking. "I also went off and created this 45-minute audio composite which was very helpful. I listened to that every day," he added. He said the audio composite was both to learn his speech patterns but also to, "get into his mindset."
"Yeah it was an exhaustive search, trying to find private moments, things where he didn't seem self-conscious," Peters continued. He said he wanted to get a glimpse into how he behaved before the interviews, and before he went to prison.
Evan Peters Watched 'Stepbrothers' To Get Out Of Jeffrey Dahmer's Mindset
Evan Peters dedication to playing serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, led to the series becoming one of Netflix's biggest and most-watched series. Signing on to play an evil killer was a very difficult decision for Peters.
When asked how he managed to deprogram his mind after such an intense shoot, Peters revealed he went home to see his family and friends. He also revealed he kicked back with Will Ferrell and watched Stepbrothers to find joy and laugh again.
"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 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.'"
Creator Ryan Murphy Of 'Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story' Was Condemned By Victims Families
Family members of Dahmer’s victims – including the mother of Tony Hughes, one of the men killed – have condemned the Netflix series. However, creator Ryan Murphy has defended his decision to go ahead with the project. Murphy claimed that he reached out to the families of 20 of Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims before making the show, and “not a single person responded."
“We reached out to 20, around 20 of the victims’ families and friends trying to get input, trying to talk to people and not a single person responded to us in that process,” he said. “So we relied very, very heavily on our incredible group of researchers who… I don’t even know how they found a lot of this stuff. But it was just like a night and day effort to us trying to uncover the truth of these people.”
Murphy said he would be “happy” to pay for a memorial for Dahmer’s victims and claimed that he has been trying to “get a hold of people” to discuss the idea. The finished project of the three-year-long research turned out to be a huge success for streaming giant Netflix. Within three weeks of its release, the show was watched a whopping 701.37 million hours. Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is now the second most-viewed English Netflix series of all time.
