Mindhunter Special: Happy Anderson

My Mindhunter Special continues with my first crook and I am over the moon to get Happy Anderson on the podcast to discuss his role as Jerry Brudos. Otherwise known as the shoe fetish killer.

Actually, Happy is right. Calling serial killer Jerry Brudos a crook is a complete injustice. But nonetheless, the performances of all the actors who portrayed the serial killers, to me, are the genius of this series. So I was delighted that Happy is part of the Mindhunter Special interview collection.

Happy Tappy

Happy discusses his career, his beginnings as a tap dancer and performer, to the roles which he is most proud of.

I asked Happy how it felt to play such a dark character as Brudos for Mindhunter. It was interesting to hear the emotional impact portraying this character had on him. You can tell from his performance as Brudos that he fully envelops his characters – certainly stepping into the shoes of a serial killer is no mean feat.

Sympathy with the Devil

As a writer, my conversation with Happy reminded me that there are many sides to serial killers that need to be considered in a script, certainly some elements where we feel empathy for the character.

These characters will always have identifiable human traits, the devoted family man and good friend. Inside the monster, you will often find a sad childhood, neglect, bad parents, and exclusion. Is the monster borne out of these circumstances or where they always there?