The American Horror Story Role That Broke Evan Peters' Heart
By Rachel Davis
"American Horror Story: Cult" was a daunting and ambitious project for Evan Peters. Not only does the actor portray fictional cult leader Kai, but he is also tasked with exemplifying many real-life personas who used charisma and fear to run their cults. Jim Jones is perhaps the most notorious cult leader that Evans is trusted with portraying. To give his best performance, the actor dove into research into the infamous religious leader. The Jonestown cult proved to be a difficult subject matter when taking into account its violent end. Along with reading books like "Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor's Story of Life and Death in the People's Temple" by Deborah Layton, Peters also listened to the tape Jones recorded of the final moments before over 900 members of the cult died.
"I listened to the final death tape," Evans explained to The Hollywood Reporter, "where he talks to the followers and persuades them through a lot of the tactics that I learned about with mind control, how to get his followers to drink this poison and to kill themselves. It was heartbreaking. I'm more scared of cults now." The events of that day are often more devastating than some may realize, and there are many survivors still dealing with the trauma and loss caused by Jones and the People's Temple (via Time). Though Evans put on the performance of a lifetime, there is no doubt that it took on an emotional toll.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
