Biopic about notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer's teen years includes Louisville actors

After debuting at the Tribeca Film festival and winning accolades around the country, "My Friend Dahmer," which features several Louisville actors including a senior from Assumption High School, is now in Louisville theaters. 

The biopic tells the story of 17-year-old Jeffrey Dahmer's senior year of high school in Akron, Ohio. The time essentially sets the stage for the evolution of a psychopath.

"It's the story before the story," said co-producer Milan Chakraborty. "We didn't want to do anything to glamorize a monster."  

Later in life, Dahmer went on to murder 17 men and boys in Wisconsin and Ohio and confessed to having sex with corpses, keeping some of the body parts and engaging in cannibalism. After he was tried and convicted of the murders, Dahmer was murdered at a Wisconsin prison in 1994.       

The movie script, written by Marc Meyers, is based on the 2012 graphic novel of the same name by cartoonist John "Derf" Backderf, who had been friends with Dahmer in high school in the 1970s. Meyers also directed the film. 

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The film crew shot on location in Akron and the movie includes scenes involving Dahmer’s home life firmed in the actual house where he grew up and murdered his first victim.   

Sydney Meyer, a senior at Louisville's Assumption High School, plays Dahmer’s prom date in the film.  

Chakraborty will attend the screenings at 7:10 p.m. Friday and 4:15 p.m. Sunday at Village 8 Theaters, 4014 Dutchmans Lane, in Louisville.

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"We premiered last weekend in Los Angeles and New York and were only supposed to expand to 15 cities," Chakraborty said. "Based on the great performance, 40 cities were added and I fought for Louisville because I have so many friends here and I know the independent film community and the demand for independent films keeps growing and growing."

In 2013, Chakraborty produced "Where Hope Grows" in Louisville and says he comes back three or four times a year to see friends he made during that film and to attend the Kentucky Derby.

"My Friend Dahmer" stars Ross Lynch (Disney's “Austin & Ally” and the “Teen Beach Movie” series), Anne Heche, Dallas Roberts, Alex Wolff, and Vincent Kartheiser. Local actors Tom Luce, Nick Hulstine, and CJ Rush also had small parts in the movie.   

The film is set to run from Friday through Nov. 16 in Louisville.

Read USA TODAY's review here.  

Reach Kirby Adams at kadams@courier-journal.com