How Evan Peters Came Out Of Going Method On Dahmer

Most people are vaguely familiar with the concept of "method acting," but unless you actually do it for a living, most people may not be aware of how deep that rabbit hole goes. It's an official system called The Method, which was created by Lee Strasberg in the early 1900s. It's all about getting deep into a role in order to portray it in the most accurate way possible. Lots of famous actors are method actors, including Hollywood icons like Daniel Day-Lewis and Johnny Depp. Sometimes — like in the case of Daniel Day-Lewis — method acting can result in Oscar-worthy performances that audiences can't get enough of.

Unfortunately, method acting can sometimes result in tragedy. The most infamous example of this in modern times is when Heath Ledger played the Joker in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight." He pushed himself so far with isolation and sleep deprivation in order to prepare for the role that he ended up accidentally overdosing on sleep medication and passing away before the movie was released. Actors like Evan Peters have to keep tragedies like these in mind when they use method acting to prepare for serious roles like playing real-life serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in the recently released Netflix mini-series "Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story." At a recent presser, Peters discussed what he did to get as deep into the role as possible — and the light-hearted way he pulled himself back to reality.

Looper recently attended a press junket for "Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story," where the cast answered reporters' questions about their experience on the project. Peters used some pretty extreme methods to prepare, from wearing lead weights around his arms and stuffing lifts in his shoes to reading and educating himself about Dahmer's psyche. "I wanted to dive into the psychology of that extreme side of human behavior, so I read as many books as I could, psychology reports, confessions, timelines, all in an attempt to try and understand why he did what he did." At the same presser, his co-star Niecy Nash confessed that she was keeping him in her prayers because he was so deep in the role that she was worried about his emotional well-being.

Getting out of that dark headspace was actually relatively simple for Peters, thankfully. Once filming had finished and he was free to release the negativity he had absorbed in order to play Dahmer to the best of his ability, he turned to romantic comedies and family to cheer him back up. "Now it's time to bring in the joy and the lightness and watch some comedies and romances and go back to St. Louis and see my family and friends and...you know, watch 'Step Brothers,'" is what he told himself, which prompted Nash to make a funny quip about Peters starring in the next big Hollywood romantic comedy. It got a big laugh out from everyone present, which begs the question: which Hollywood studio will be brave enough to make that movie happen? Only time will tell.