Dennis Quaid plays Happy Face Killer Keith Jesperson in Happy Face, and off-screen, the star considers himself a true crime fan.
“My wife and I fall asleep to Dateline,” Quaid, 70, tells PEOPLE, noting that they especially like “the murder stories.” “That’s another piece of psychology to explain!”
The actor — who married Laura Savoie in 2020, one year after they met at a business event — chalks the true crime obsession up to viewers being intrigued by murder.
“People are fascinated by, how can a human being do that to another human being?” Quaid says. “Also, there’s the thing of figuring out who did it to feel like a detective yourself, like playing a game of Clue.”
The father of three believes true crime fans will “get addicted” to his new Paramount+ series. “If you like true crime, you’re going to love it,” Quaid assures.
In Happy Face, Quaid stars as 69-year-old Jesperson, who earned his nickname because of the smiley faces he would include on his correspondences with the media in the ‘90s. Jesperson, formerly a long-haul trucker, turned himself in after killing multiple women between 1990 and 1995. He pleaded guilty to murder charges in October 1995 and continues to serve four life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary. “Exactly where he should be,” Quaid says.
The true crime drama dives into how people who commit what Quaid calls “heinous acts” affect their families and the victims long after the crimes take place. “The serial killer, it destroys his own family, and they’re just left with it,” Quaid says.
Quaid found scenes where Jesperson’s daughter Melissa, played by Annaleigh Ashford, visited him in jail to be “the most interesting.” Melissa reengaged with her father after his conviction in hopes of confirming the identity of another woman he killed.
“She needs something, and he wants something,” Quaid says. “He wants to be noticed still.”
After five decades in Hollywood, Quaid hasn’t stopped getting noticed. These days, Quaid says fans often recognize him for playing President Ronald Regan in 2024’s Reagan or his Oscar-nominated movie The Substance. “I still get The Rookie, but The Parent Trap‘s probably the biggest,” he continues of the 1998 Nancy Meyers movie.
The Emmy nominee’s decades of experience have also given him the ability to easily leave behind a heavy day on set, such as one that entailed playing a serial killer in Happy Face.
“I drop it like a hot potato!” Quaid says. “I rebuke it.”
Quaid has tackled multiple real-life stories, but next, he’d like to bring the story of Crazy Horse to the screen — although Quaid notes he wouldn’t want to portray the Lakota war leader.
“His story has never been done the real way,” Quaid says.
The Texas native actually found Jesperson “remarkably easy to play” in Happy Face “because he doesn’t have emotions.”
“There was nothing to reach for,” Quaid says.
He doesn’t think Jesperson took responsibility for what he did, either. “There has to be this distance in order for him to be able to live with himself,” Quaid says. “He just wants to act like he’s a regular dad still, and [that’s] not going to happen.”
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Happy Face premieres Thursday, March 20, on Paramount+.
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