Evan Peters Stayed in Character as Jeffrey Dahmer for Months While Shooting Netflix Show

Hollywood’s constant deluge of serial killer content stems from fascination: How could anyone drug, strangle, dismember, and cannibalize a fellow human being? That’s why when Evan Peters finally wrapped his head around it as he prepared to portray Jeffrey Dahmer in Ryan Murphy’s Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, he stayed in that place, remaining in character during the Netflix show’s six-month shoot.

Peters and Murphy discussed the process of making the Milwaukee Monster biopic at a recent panel, Variety reports. After Murphy proclaimed that Peters “basically stayed in this character, as difficult as it was, for months,” the actor explained that he wore lead weights around his arms and lifts in his shoes to get Dahmer’s strangely proper physicality down. “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. 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 said.

Peters also turned to old Dahmer interviews to dial into his speaking patterns and analyze his own reasoning for his killing spree. “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,” he said. “The way that he spoke, it was very distinct and he had a dialect. 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.”

Peters’ costar Niecy Nash recalled meeting Peters at the beginning of shooting and, after realizing he was “in his process,” said she backed off to “keep him there.” Nash — who plays Dahmer’s real-life neighbor Glenda Cleveland, who was ignored by police when she tried to alert them of Dahmer’s activities  — said she even prayed for Peters during his method approach.

“I prayed for you a lot, for real, because this is weighty,” Nash said. “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.’”

Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is now streaming on Netflix.

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