Featured Image Credit: Imagespace / Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Crime, Film and TV, Netflix
Jake Massey
Topics: Crime, Film and TV, Netflix
Evan Peters has explained how he returned to normality after he spent months method acting for Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
The 35-year-old has been hailed as 'one of the most talented actors of our generation' following his performance in the controversial Netflix series - but it took a hell of a lot of commitment on his part.
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?
Advert
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.
"I wanted to give it 120 percent the whole way through, so I brought in a lot of darkness and negativity," he said. "And so really, it was just having that end goal in sight. You know, knowing when we were going to wrap.
"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.
Peters told the panel, as per Variety: "He [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."
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.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677