Dennis Quaid Was Hesitant to Play ‘Happy Face’ Serial Killer in New Drama as Real Man Serves Life Sentence: ‘I Didn’t Want Him to Feel Any Kind of Glory’

variety.com:

Selome Hailu Dennis Quaid is used to playing beloved characters, but that’s not the reason playing a serial killer made him feel hesitant. “Happy Face,” Paramount+’s upcoming drama series based on the real story of Melissa G.

Moore, daughter of Keith Jesperson aka the Happy Face Killer, Quaid portrays the infamous murderer of at least eight women in the early ’90s. (In real life, Jesperson actually claims to have murdered many more).

At the SXSW world premiere of “Happy Face,” Quaid shared why he had reservations before saying yes to the role. “I really had to think about this one for a long time, simply because I didn’t want him to feel any kind of glory about himself being out there, which is exactly what he wants,” Quaid said of Jesperson, who is serving four consecutive life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary. “It’s entertaining for him, I think.

But to play somebody like this has an effect on you. It has to if you have to approach these places, to figure out these people.