Dennis Quaid made a name for himself by playing the father figure — and he'll be turning that archetype upside down in an upcoming series.
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Quaid, ("The Rookie," "Lawmen: Bass Reeves") will play the notorious "Happy Face" killer in "Happy Face," which also stars Analeigh Ashford ("Bad Education," "B Positive"). The series is based on the true-crime podcast of the same name about Melissa Moore, the daughter of Keith Hunter Jesperson, a Canadian-American who murdered at least eight women in the early 1990s. He earned the nickname for the smiley faces he drew on the letters he sent to media and authorities.
Moore, who will be played by Ashford, has talked about growing up with a serial killer father on numerous talk shows and series, including "Dr. Phil," "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and ABC's "20/20." Her book Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer's Daughter describes Moore realizing her father was different from the other dads when she witnessed him torture and kill cats that had strayed onto their property.
The upcoming Paramount+ series will differ from previous tellings of Moore's life. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it will "explore what happens when her father contacts her to take credit for another victim and how she is pulled into an investigation of her father and his crimes. The series will follow her as she discovers the impact her father's crimes had on the families of his victims, which ultimately leads to a reckoning with her own identity."
Quaid, who The Guardian called one of the best actors of all time to never receive an Academy Award, is typically cast as the good guy. But he got to play around with his dark side in the 2019 psychological thriller "The Intruder." He relished the opportunity to play the villain, telling IMDB, "You get to do all the fun things in the movie."
"Happy Face" is expected to begin streaming on Paramount+ sometime in 2025.
