Why DAHMER-MONSTER Star Wants to Step Back from ‘Darker Roles and Explore the Light’
By Movieguide® Staff
Actor Evan Peters recently revealed that he plans to step back from “darker” roles after backlash over his latest performance in the TV series about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, DAHMER-MONSTER: THE JEFFREY DAHMER STORY.
Peter’s role as the killer responsible for the deaths of 17 boys and men between 1978 and 1991, “was scary,” Creator Ryan Murphy said.
“Evan would go home, and it wasn’t like he would rock back and forth in his bedroom, which I think people presume. He had a life, however restricted and dedicated,” he told Variety. “It was like running a marathon. If you run a marathon, you eat a certain way. You sleep a certain way. It was a very athletic way of approaching the performance. There were moments I sort of felt like a father who has a child who is in the Olympics. You say, how can I help you?”
Despite working on ten projects with Murphy in the past, Peters said he hesitated at the thought of playing Dahmer.
“It was a real struggle. I was really thinking about it and trying to process it,” he said. “I went back and forth a lot.”
The Netflix series quickly became the X-MEN actor’s most successful project with billions of hours of the show watched during the first 60 days.
However, Peters said that he wants to reign in roles that explore such immorality and focus on “the light.”
“I’m going to take a little break from darker roles and explore the light,” Peters said. “It would be interesting to me to play something that is a little closer to home, a little more mundane and to explore the details of those kinds of experiences.”
Despite its popularity, many victims of Dahmer’s real-life attacks bashed the series after claiming that Murphy never contacted them about the series.
According to Murphy, he reached out to 20 of the families who were directly affected by Dahmer’s attacks but no one responded.
Movieguide® previously reported:
The family of one of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer’s victim’s says the new Netflix show is profiting off their pain and is re-traumatizing those who lived through it.
“It’s sad that they’re just making money off of this tragedy. That’s just greed,” says Rita Isbell, sister of Erroll Lindsey. “The episode with me was the only part I saw. I didn’t watch the whole show. I don’t need to watch it. I lived it. I know exactly what happened.”
DAHMER – MONSTER: THE JEFFREY DAHMER STORY dropped on Netflix earlier this month, and stars Evan Peters in a hyperviolent, hyper grotesque retelling from the hands of AMERICAN HORROR STORY Producer Ryan Murphy.
Murphy is known for taking significant liberties in his productions, using shock to entice viewers.
For the families of Dahmer’s victims, this is unacceptable.
“I’m not telling anyone what to watch, I know true crime media is huge rn, but if you’re actually curious about the victims, my family (the Isbell’s) are pissed about this show,” says Eric Perry, who identifies himself as Lindsey’s cousin. “It’s retraumatizing over and over again, and for what? How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?”
Read More: DAHMER Star Evan Peters Says Dark Roles Are ‘Hurting [His] Soul’
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