Inside Happy Face: The Cast and Creators Reflect on Trauma, Responsibility, and Telling the Truth

As Glad Face premiered on Paramount+, its story marked a brand new path within the true crime style — one informed by way of the eyes of a serial killer’s daughter.

Primarily based on the lifetime of Melissa Moore, daughter of Keith Jesperson, the sequence rapidly drew consideration for its refusal to glorify violence and its emotional lens on the fallout.

Whereas the preliminary headlines give attention to the present’s premise, the solid and artistic group shared with TV Fanatic what it meant to step into this world and the way it personally affected them.

Melissa Moore on Being Related to Different Households

“Whereas I’ve my very own story to inform, it’s interconnected to those different households,” Moore stated.

“And so there’s a way of accountability of how I inform my story, as a result of once I inform my story inadvertently, my father will get consideration, which suggests their beloved one’s killer will get consideration, after which that may be resentful. We’re not singular storytellers; we’re all linked.”

Jennifer Cacicio on Bringing Keith Jesperson to the Display

“I all the time felt readability that it was Melissa’s story, and I didn’t actually need to go into Keith’s POV excessively,” showrunner Jennifer Cacicio defined. “We actually solely went into his POV when it needed to do with Melissa’s story or was impacting Melissa’s story in a method or one other.”

She added, “Principally all the pieces within the story is from Melissa, like she shared her father’s letters, in order that’s how I constructed the Keith character and all the pieces she wrote in her guide and her podcast. We’ve carried out our greatest to not glorify him, however sure, he’s within the story, he’s an enormous a part of it, and he form of looms over scenes within the story even when he’s not there.”

Dennis Quaid on Selecting the Position

“Actually, he’s simple to let you know the reality,” Quaid stated of Jesperson. “As a result of he thinks he’s this grasp manipulator, however he’s simple psychologically. As a result of serial killers, to do what he’s carried out, he doesn’t actually have emotion.”

Quaid didn’t meet Jesperson for the position, noting, “That is her story informed from her standpoint and principally rightly so. I feel she is aware of him higher than he is aware of himself.”

He discovered the scenes between Melissa and her father probably the most highly effective: “This factor that occurs backwards and forwards with them is simply, it’s fairly wild.”

Annaleigh Ashford on Melissa’s Internal Battle

“She has this lovely present of empathy and openness, and other people confide in her and speak to her as a result of she is so open of coronary heart and open of spirit, which is ironic as a result of she is so afraid of being like her dad or having his DNA,” Ashford stated.

“She’s afraid of any of these traits displaying up in her or in her household.”

That concern underscores a key theme of the present: “Is it nature or is it nurture? Proper. And what does that really feel like and appear to be?”

Ashford added, “Whereas Melissa is aware of that she shouldn’t be like her father, that could be a wrestle all through the sequence that we are going to watch her look at. I feel that she is going to eternally be burdened with the crimes that her father dedicated.”

James Wolk on Taking part in Ben

“He’s a protector, proper? And that’s what his focus is,” Wolk stated of Melissa’s husband Ben.

“I began listening to the podcast and listening to how heinous the acts that Keith did have been, and simply permitting my physique to take that in allowed me to hold myself a sure manner on set when coping with Melissa, when attempting to guard her.”

“It actually made me fearful and wanting to guard my very own kids within the present. And so the supply materials allowed me to type Ben, who is that this protector who will do something at any price to guard his household.”

Tamera Tomakili on Stepping Into True Crime

“Truthfully, I’m not the most important true crime fan, however with the ability to step into this was one was me form of overcoming my very own fears and discomfort with this materials,” stated Tomakili, who performs Ivy.

“There’s a lot in regards to the true crime world that individuals are attempting to grasp and there’s a way of security in researching these characters.”

“What I beloved about this present… was that it was centered on the victims and the household of those murderers. It felt extra actual, it felt extra communal, it felt linked to the people who find themselves truly having to stay previous or stay by way of a number of these crimes.”

Benjamin Mackey on Taking It Severely

When requested how he ready for emotional scenes, Benjamin Mackey, who performs Melissa’s son Max, shared: “Simply get within the second within the trailer. I’m preparing. I’m rehearsing. And I’m considering of the scene, and I’m considering, okay, I can do that.”

Even at a younger age, Mackey understood the seriousness of the subject material. “It’s been all this story for the true individuals, and it’s been loads.”

A Sequence That Doesn’t Look Away

Glad Face could also be a part of the true crime growth, however it refuses to comply with the standard method. Its energy lies in who tells the story, the way it’s framed, and who it’s actually about. 

As Melissa Moore famous, “It’s simpler [than telling my own story directly] as a result of I really feel just like the essence is there, and it provides freedom to point out the behind-the-scenes that I may by no means present anyone else in every other medium.”

In amplifying the voices of these affected — and never those that brought about the hurt — Glad Face redefines what a real crime sequence may be.

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