Evan Peters admits he went to some dark places playing Dahmer

Evan Peters has admitted that he went to some 'dark places' while playing notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in the new Netflix hit series.

The actor, 35, plays the killer in a ten-part series that documents Dahmer's crimes which not only involved murder, but cannabilism and necrophilia.

In an interview about his role in Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Peters said he knew before filming that it would be one of the 'hardest things' he'd have to do in his life.

He said: "Honestly, I was very scared about all of the things that he did, and diving into that and trying to commit to that was absolutely going to be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life, because I wanted it to be very authentic, but in order to do that, I was going to have to go to really dark places and stay there for an extended period of time."

Peters added that the support of everyone else on set was what helped him play the killer, who famously kept a number of his victims' skulls after killing and dismembering them.

The actor also opened up about why the series wasn't told from the killer's point of view.

"So, we had one rule going into this from Ryan that it would never be told from Dahmer's point of view," Peters said.

"As an audience, you're not really sympathising with him, you're not really getting into his plight, you're sort of watching it from the outside.

"It's called the Jeffrey Dahmer Story, but it's not just him and his backstory. It's the repercussions. It's how society and our system failed to stop him multiple times, because of racism, homophobia... it's just a tragic story.

"Everybody gets their side of the story told."

Netflix

It was these failings that saw Dahmer's crimes go undiscovered for years and enabled him to keep on killing until he was eventually stopped in 1991.

While he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1992, he was bludgeoned to death by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver two years later.

His son opened up about the crime in a 2014 CNN interview.

"When I was young, I didn't know what it meant, obviously. But that name has been around me for my whole life," he said.

He was then asked what he thought of the rumours that his father was set up by prison guards when it came to Dahmer's murder.

"I think about that all the time," he admitted. "It makes me wonder if he even did it."

Topics: True Crime, Netflix

Emma Guinness