Evan Peters explains what he did to escape the Jeffrey Dahmer role after months of method acting

Evan Peters has explained how he returned to normality after he spent months method acting for Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.

The show's creator, Ryan Murphy, revealed that Peters ‘basically stayed in this character, as difficult as it was, for months'.

So, how does one snap out of cannibalistic killer mode after shooting wraps up?

Watch Peters talk about what he did post-filming here:

Speaking on a panel alongside co-stars and creators from the show on Saturday (29 October), Peters credited the Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly comedy Step Brothers with helping him to readjust.

"And finally being able to breathe and let go and say 'okay, 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 just watch Step Brothers.'”

During the four months of preparation and six months of shooting, American Horror Story actor Peters fitted lead weights around his arms and had lifts in his shoes to precisely convey Dahmer's physicality.

"I wore the character shoes with lifts in them, his jeans, his glasses, I had a cigarette in my hand at all times."

The actor even went as far as listening to 45-minute audio composites from the serial killer on a daily basis to get his speech patterns nailed down, on top of working with a dialect coach.

Peters added: "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."

Dahmer became known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, after he killed 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991.

His murders also involved necrophilia, cannibalism and the preservation of body parts.

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