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After Krysten Ritter binge-watched the entire first season of Bloodline on vacation, she put a Post-it on her fridge that read: “Do a show on Netflix.” The actress, who has starred in several series and pilots, was drawn to the streaming company’s strong slate of original programming. “They were doing the kind of content I watch as a viewer,” Ritter said while sipping juice at New York’s Gramercy Park Hotel. “Orange Is the New Black. House of Cards. They’re very complex, character-driven pieces.”

Ritter is no stranger to an intense role, of course. Most viewers will remember her as Breaking Bad’s Jane, the doomed, heroin-addicted girlfriend of meth dealer Jesse Pinkman, or from her first starring role in the sitcom Don’t Trust the B— in Apartment 23, in which she played the titular party-girl villain.

Her comedic chops along with her impressive dramatic work helped land her the starring role in the new Netflix- and Marvel-produced superhero series, Jessica Jones. Although, when Ritter first learned of the part, she thought there was little chance of her ever getting it. “Superheroes look a certain way,” she said. “They’ve got the little waist and the big boobs and the big hair and the high heels, and that’s just not me. Never in a million years would I put myself in that category.”

The entire casting process for Jessica Jones was mysterious from the beginning, Ritter said. The title of the show was never disclosed, and instead of receiving a full script for her audition, Ritter was only given a few scenes, for which she read for the part of “Julia.” “I kept Googling ‘Julia + Marvel,’ and nothing would turn up,” she said. The actress quickly learned that Marvel is always secretive about its projects in development. “They just want to protect the character and they don’t want anything to be spoiled.” Eventually, Ritter read the first two episodes at Marvel’s headquarters inside a locked room and had her cell phone confiscated.

For those not familiar with the Marvel universe, Jessica Jones is a superhero who, instead of saving the world, works as a private investigator and mainly photographs cheating spouses caught in the act. There’s a trauma in her past, which relates to a man named Kilgrave, who at first only appears in what seems to be PTSD flashbacks. To cope with her pain, Jones engages in destructive behavior like drinking heavy amounts of cheap alcohol and alienating almost everyone around her. “She’s invincible, so she metabolizes alcohol faster than most people,” Ritter said with a laugh. Aside from having a high tolerance for alcohol, Jones also has superstrength and an ability to sort of fly. “She’s really bad at it. It’s more like a guided falling,” added Ritter.

Jessica Jones has already drawn a lot of comparisons to CBS’s female-driven superhero series Supergirl, starring Melissa Benoist. But the two shows, and their heroines, could not have less in common. (For starters, Supergirl’s Kara Zor-El is an expert flyer.) The character of Supergirl is wholesome and extraordinary, while Jessica Jones is gritty, disturbed, and misunderstood. Jessica Jones is based on the Alias comic series, which forms a part of Marvel Max, an R-rated spin-off of the comic book company. “[Alias] won’t be sold at Disneyland . . . maybe at Hot Topic,”

Ritter said. “The first word in the comic book is actually fuck.” To that end, Jessica Jones doesn’t gloss over sex scenes either, which is something we’re not used to seeing from Marvel’s PG-13 rated content. “I felt like the sex scenes were very true to the Jessica Jones character. She’s not a sentimental character,” Ritter added. “She’s not really going after a male gaze, so the sex scene shouldn’t be either.”

Jessica Jones is groundbreaking for many other reasons, too. The show was created, written, produced, and directed by a team of women—and if you’ve read any of the recent headlines on gender parity in show business, you know just how rare it is to have a female-led crew behind the scenes. Ritter had been lucky enough to have worked with several female showrunners throughout her career and was excited to collaborate with series creator Melissa Rosenberg, who wrote the screenplays for the Twilight series. “Melissa has such an integrity for women and her voice as a writer,” the actress said. “She never really approached it as gender first; she just wrote a great character.”

The first season of the series will premiere tomorrow on Netflix, and while we wait for season two, we may see even more of Jessica Jones. Netflix and Marvel struck a deal that promised a slew of forthcoming superhero shows—with plenty of crossover potential. Even Jones’s possible love interest, Luke Cage (played by Mike Colter), already has his own eponymous series slotted to come out next year.

There’s also an Avengers-like combination show in the works, which pulls characters from all of Netflix’s upcoming superhero series, titled The Defenders. While Ritter is once again unsure of the specifics—“I think I’m going to be doing Jessica Jones and The Defenders for now”—in the meantime, she’s enjoying her newfound stability on Netflix. “It’s really rare to have job security,” she said. “At least I know what I’m doing next year.”

段子来了⬇️

Katherine敬上