People have been left shocked after discovering who the Richard Speck actor in Netflix‘s Ed Gein series actually is.
Netflix’s latest installment in Ryan Murphy’s Monster franchise, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, has captivated audiences with its chilling portrayal of one of America‘s most notorious killers.
But it’s not just the main character that’s turning heads. The series features a particularly shocking appearance by Richard Speck, also known as ‘The Birdman,’ a mass murderer who killed eight student nurses in Chicago in 1966.
In the eighth episode, titled ‘The Godfather,’ viewers are introduced to Speck behind bars at Stateville Prison, where he’s depicted post-transition, sporting women’s breasts and lingerie.
The character is shown selling s** and making drug deals while boasting about his pen pal relationship with his hero, Ed Gein.
The portrayal is unsettling and visceral, with the actor completely disappearing into the role through extensive makeup and character work.
The series takes creative liberties with history, suggesting that Speck and other serial killers like Ted Bundy were influenced by Gein’s horrific crimes.
While there’s no evidence that Speck actually wrote to Gein in real life, the show uses this fictional element to explore how Gein’s actions became embedded in the American psyche.
The historical Speck was indeed a brutal killer. In 1966, he broke into a dormitory and murdered eight student nurses, the Express reports.
A ninth potential victim survived by hiding and later served as a witness against him.
Initially sentenced to death, Speck’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment when Illinois abolished the death penalty.
Speck died from a heart attack in prison in 1991, just one day before his 50th birthday.
Five years later, a videotape surfaced showing him in prison with no remorse for his crimes, wearing women’s undergarments and appearing to have undergone hormonal changes, details that the Netflix series incorporates into its depiction.
But what’s most surprising to fans isn’t the character or his disturbing appearance – it’s who’s behind the transformative performance.
The actor playing Richard Speck is someone many viewers grew up watching in a beloved Halloween classic, though they might not recognize him under all that makeup and character work.
The actor revealed that he was initially drawn to the role because of the unique challenge of portraying Speck post-transition in prison.
Filming at the actual Stateville Prison, where both Speck and John Wayne Gacy were incarcerated, added another layer of authenticity to the production.
The actor behind this chilling portrayal is none other than Tobias Jelinek, or as you may know him, Jay from Hocus Pocus.
For fans of the 1993 Halloween comedy, this revelation comes as a complete shock.
Jelinek played Salem’s resident bully who, along with his buddy Ice, spent the movie antagonizing Max and eventually getting trapped in cages by the Sanderson Sisters.
With his leather jacket and long hair, Jay was a harmless, low-threat foil in what’s become an October mainstay for millions of viewers.
Hocus Pocus was Jelinek’s first film role, and he’s since built a steady career in television, appearing in shows like Stranger Things, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., This Is Us, and Mayfair Witches. But this latest role represents his most dramatic transformation yet.
Reflecting on the contrast between his two most notable roles, Jelinek noted with dark humor to Remind Magazine: “Monster is much scarier and spookier territory than my beloved October mainstay, Hocus Pocus. Although, then again, I played a character locked in a cage, so maybe there is a thread. But I don’t think Jay would last long at Stateville, even with the help of Ice and hormones.”
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