Dennis Quaid‘s role as convicted killer Keith Hunter Jesperson is very different from The Parent Trap‘s Nick Parker — yet somehow the movie might have scored him his Happy Face gig.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Quaid, 70, was asked about his time playing Nick Parker in the iconic 1998 film, to which he said, “I think that’s why they hired me [on Happy Face] to tell you the truth. I tried to catch the truth of this guy but it’s not a pretty truth.”
Quaid broke down his approach to playing Jesperson, 69, which involved not getting too close to the material.
“I didn’t meet him on purpose because [Jesperson’s daughter] Melissa [Moore] wrote this book [that inspired the show]. I think that she knows him better than he knows himself,” the actor said. “Because I think he’s lied to himself a lot. That’s the only way you can do those things. Rationalization. Serial killers have no feelings. Otherwise, how do they do what they do?”
Happy Face is largely inspired by Moore’s “Happy Face” podcast and her 2009 autobiography, Shattered Silence. Moore has addressed being Jesperson’s daughter as he continues to serve his sentence after he murdered at least eight women during the early 1990s.
Before joining the show, Quaid was already a true crime fan. “What I love about the show is it’s authentic. That’s what it has going for it,” he shared with Us. “I fall asleep to Dateline all the time — in a good way. But if you love true crime, you’re going to be addicted to this.”
Quaid acknowledged that even though he didn’t reach out to Jesperson, the inmate could still have his thoughts on the series.
“I don’t care what he thinks about it, to tell you the truth,” he explained. “I hope he doesn’t get to see the show because I’m sure he would be interested to see the show. He gets bored in prison.”
The actor continued: “He’s in a hole in a prison, which is exactly where he should be. I didn’t want to give him any kind of satisfaction or excitement. In this tale, it’s really from his daughter’s point of view.”
Despite not looking for Jesperson’s opinion, Quaid preferred bringing a real person to life.
“I like playing real people because true stories are stranger than fiction,” Quaid told Us. “You can’t make this stuff up. But usually I like to meet the real-life person if they’re alive because I want to play it from their point of view. But with this, I didn’t want to meet him.”
New episodes of Happy Face stream Thursdays on Paramount+.
With reporting by Travis Cronin and Antonio Ferme
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