For the series “Dahmer” on Netflix, the father of the serial killer, Lionel Dahmer, has not been contacted. Creator Ryan Murphy explains.
It took more than three years for Ryan Murphy and his team to prepare the Dahmer series. Significant documentation work has been carried out and more than twenty people involved in the true story have been contacted.
This preparation upstream did not prevent the series from attracting the ire of the families of the victims who reproach Netflix for capitalizing on the drama.
During this pre-production stage, one person was consciously ignored: Lionel Dahmer, the serial killer’s father. He also intends to sue the American platform for two programs: Ryan Murphy’s fiction and the documentary Conversations With A Killer, which used recordings of his voice without his permission.
Creator Ryan Murphy did not wish to contact him. He explains : “I’ve done a lot of biopics. It’s like a journalist’s job. I always try to maintain neutrality. Here we tell a specific story. Lionel Dahmer has already told his story in his book, but the series does not tell this story.”
Actor Richard Jenkins, who plays Lionel Dahmer on screen, reveals that his character is the most complete role he has played in his career: “The project immediately interested me because, as a father, I find that they wrote an incredibly complex human being.”
Recently, Dahmer surpassed one billion hours watched on Netflix. It thus becomes one of the most watched series on the platform. Evan Peters, Richard Jenkins and Niecy Nash, who plays neighbor Glenda Cleveland, have all been nominated for the Golden Globes ceremony, which will be held on January 11.
Dahmer is available on Netflix.