March 4 (UPI) — Paramount+ is previewing its crime series Happy Face, starring Dennis Quaid as serial killer Keith Jesperson.
A preview released Tuesday shows Jesperson talking to his daughter, Melissa, portrayed by Annaleigh Ashford, in jail, trying to convince her that she is not that different than he is.
“You think that you’re so much better than me,” he says. “You don’t see how we’re the same.”
“You’re just like your old man,” he says.
She looks him in the eyes and responds, softly, “I’m not like you at all.”
In real life, Jesperson was a trucker who killed several women and was arrested in 1995. His daughter, Melissa Moore, who wrote the 2009 autobiography Shattered Silence, learned his secret when she was 15.
Jesperson was known as “the happy face killer,” because when he wrote about his crimes, he often used a smiley face instead of his signature to sign off.
Moore’s book, podcast, and her story collectively form the inspiration for the series, a press release states.
“After decades of no contact, he finally finds a way to force himself back into his daughter’s life,” an official synopsis reads. “In a race against the clock, Melissa must find out if an innocent man is going to be put to death for a crime her father committed.”
Happy Face begins streaming the first pair of episodes beginning March 20 on Paramount+.
James Wolk, Tamera Tomakili, Khiyla Aynne and Benjamin Mackey will also star.
