They say everyone has a story worth telling, but Melissa G. Moore really has a story worth telling.
Moore is the daughter of Keith Hunter Jesperson, a real-life serial killer known as The Happy Face Killer who murdered at least eight women during the early ‘90s. She has shared details of her unique upbringing on talk shows, books, podcasts, and more. Now her life is getting the scripted television treatment on Paramount+ with the Jennifer Cacicio-created, Michael Showalter-directed series Happy Face.
“I’ve told my story in all these mediums, but the one thing that’s been missing is what it’s really like to experience what I experienced,” Moore says. “It’s one thing to say ‘this is what happened to me,’ it’s another thing to give them the emotional elements.”
Happy Face indeed spares few details about what it’s like to be the child of a killer. Primarily set after Jesperson has been discovered, convicted, and imprisoned, the eight-episode series stars Annaleigh Ashford as Moore as she endures ongoing harassment from her father and works to ensure that the Happy Face Killer’s victims receive justice.
“I’ve been really lucky throughout my career to have played a few real-life people, and that was really helpful jumping into this incredible story,” Ashford says. “The best part of getting to play this character is that the real Melissa has such a beautiful and authentic heart. That’s a real gift—to play someone who really cares about others before she cares about herself.”
Dennis Quaid steps into the role of Keith Jesperson, dubbed the Happy Face Killer due to his penchant for scribbling smiley faces in correspondence with authorities. Jesperson is currently 69 years old and continues to torment his daughter from behind bars in Oregon State Penitentiary with unwanted letters.
“[Happy Face] shows what it’s like to have these letters still coming into my mailbox, him watching my Instagram, strangers reaching out to me, just the emotions of what that’s like, and the emotions of what my children go through, having a grandfather who’s a serial killer,” Moore says.
Moore credits Ashford and Quaid’s performances with helping her better understand her own dynamic with her father.
“They got the emotional entanglement, how toxic it was,” says Moore. “There was always going to be a part of me that wishes that this wasn’t true, that I really did have a dad. Dennis knows that my desire is to have a father and how my real father plays on that as manipulation.”
“One of the things that Dennis did so beautifully was he was able to play both people. He was able to play the man before the crime and the man after the crime,” Ashford adds. “It was a thrill to act with him. I feel like we had a really natural parental chemistry.”
In unpacking Moore’s trauma, Happy Face walks a familiar true crime tightrope by examining the dark psyche of a killer while still respecting the humanity of his victims.
“I want to tell my story, but when I tell my story, I’m also giving attention to my serial killer father,” Moore says of the dilemma. “But I’m also giving attention to the victims of my father and the victims’ family members. I have to respect them. What you’ll see in this series is sometimes, victims’ family members want autonomy; they want privacy. Sometimes, my wishes are in conflict with their desires. There are very complex and delicate conversations that I have privately with survivors.”
Family ties loom large in Happy Face—not only in the twisted entanglement between a killer father and an innocent daughter but also in the far more healing relationship among Moore, her husband Ben (James Wolk), and their children, Hazel (Khiyla Aynne) and Max (Benjamin Mackey).
“It’s about family,” Ashford says. “When things are darkest, there always has to be light. I think that’s something special about this show.”
The first two episodes of Happy Face premiere Thursday, March 20 on Paramount+.
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