Evan Peters Cast In Netflix’s ‘Dahmer’ After Expressing His Desire To Play Someone ‘Normal’
Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story has dominated Netflix since its arrival earlier this year. However, star Evan Peters originally wanted to play a "normal" role before signing up for the series.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ryan Murphy and Peters sat down to detail the role and how the show came about.
Peters expressed his desire to play a "normal" character after several demanding roles, Murphy explained. While he would audition 100 people for the part of Jeffrey Dahmer, he ultimately went to Peters with the script for the show.
"He called me the next day, and he said, ‘It’s so challenging. It’s so difficult that I kind of have to say yes to it, even though I’m terrified of it.'" said Murphy.
Peters would go on to detail the process of what it was like to become Dahmer, saying he read books and articles about the killer. He chose the role "in an attempt to try to understand why he did what he did, and the struggle that he had with it."
"Then the physicality of it, which I know was going to be so hard. He has a lot of external things from the way that he walks, he doesn’t move his arms when he walks and talks. And so I did a lot of research on watching him and seeing how he moved and working with weights on my arms, wearing wardrobe, all sorts of things that I would carry with me throughout the day to try to stay in it so it would be second nature," he said.
"And then I created a 45-minute audio composite, which I listened to every day to try to get his dialect and how he spoke and really try to understand why he did what he did or what his mindset was," he continued.
Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story saw massive success on Netflix, where Murphy said the show is nearing 1 billion hours streamed.