- Evan Peters' performance as Jeffrey Dahmer in the Netflix series is considered one of the best parts of the show.
- Peters captures the small details of Dahmer's life that other shows might overlook.
- He makes the viewer feel sympathy for his character, even while witnessing his monstrous deeds.
There’s hardly a name that evokes more intense adverse reactions than “Jeffrey Dahmer.” One of history’s most despicable serial killers, Dahmer’s story has been widely reported over the years – from his troubled upbringing to the sinister details of his gruesome crimes. It was only a matter of time before Netflix would jump on the trend with its own version of the Dahmer story. Netflix’s Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (starring Evan Peters) aims to shine a new light into Dahmer’s perverse machinations – this time, with Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan at the helm.
The creative team behind American Horror Story and – unexpectedly – Glee is responsible for bringing this harrowingly dark tale to life. However, at the centre of it all is actor Evan Peters – who most people might know as Pietro Maximoff, aka Quicksilver in the X-Men films, and various characters from AHS – as Jeffrey Dahmer.
His acting in Dahmer might easily be one of the best parts of the show: more than just Dahmer as a killer, Evan Peters captures the small details of Dahmer’s life that most other shows might overlook or forget. But beyond that, he makes the viewer feel sympathy for his character even while seeing his monstrous deeds – up to a certain point, of course.
As Derf Backderf – one of Dahmer’s closest “friends” at Revere High School – puts it in the preface to My Friend Dahmer, any sympathy for him ends when “[…] Dahmer kills.”
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Still, the 35-year-old actor went above and beyond what anyone could’ve expected for a show that seemingly came out of nowhere. His interpretation is nothing short of mesmerizing, and I’m probably not the first to say that it marks a turning point for his acting career. After his role in Dahmer, Evan Peters might have finally found his acting niche – and it certainly wasn’t an easy process for him.
For an actor, it’s never an easy task when you’re told you’ll be playing one of history’s most despised characters – let alone someone as notoriously evil as Jeffrey Dahmer. For Evan Peters, this meant going into “dark places” of his psyche to understand why someone like Dahmer does what he does.
Granted, no one can really say they understand what goes in the head of someone like Dahmer, but doing so can bring a whole set of issues for any sane individual. It wouldn’t be the first time a method actor ends up with psychological trauma after playing a part, and Peters might have come dangerously close to that extreme.
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The results, however, speak for themselves: Evan Peters’ Dahmer is one of the greatest interpretations of the character in any form of media. With a harrowing performance, Peters makes the audience understand that Dahmer’s story has many monsters – human and otherwise. How did such a notorious cannibal evade capture for so long, and what were the authorities and institutions doing wrong?
One thing is for sure: Dahmer has elevated Evan Peters’ career to a place it has never been before. It was a risky role to play – one that could have as easily turned him into yet another Hollywood typecast – but Peters made it work. Peters’ proved he has the acting chops, and now, all that’s left is to see where else he can take his career from here.