Krysten Ritter Talks Tough Jessica Jones Character: ‘I’m Never Sexualized’
Krysten Ritter has never shied away from being overtly sexy on camera and isn’t afraid to show a little skin…when the role calls for it. Her newest gig, however, is a different beast entirely, and she says she had to do some hardcore training for it.
Ritter–who has previously starred on Breaking Bad and Don’t Trust The B In Apartment 23–is tackling a famous character in the Marvel universe, and it’s taken a lot of preparation. As Jessica Jones, Krysten is a tough, take-no-attitude lady who, according to her, is never portrayed as a sex-kitten.
“I had to train pretty hard-core — boxing and weight training. Things that I would never do. I like spinning and Pilates, but I had to wear weight-lifting gloves and pack on muscle. I got really into it. I’m never sexualized, I’m not in a slutty suit. This is a really ballsy, tough, bada** character,” Krysten Ritter told Page Six.
A recent teaser trailer of the show–which will appear exclusively on Netflix–confirms that description; in it, Jones walks through a bar strewn with the prone bodies of beaten-up tough guys, slinging back a drink with bloodied knuckles. Fans of the gritty Daredevil series will likely be in for a treat with Jessica Jones, as the showrunners teased at this year’s Comic Con. They also dropped some hints as to some of the characters we’ll see on the series, including Luke Cage.
“There was no way to tell the story of Jessica Jones without telling a little bit of the story of the man she someday falls in love with,” said Jeph Loeb, head of Marvel’s television division.
As for Daredevil, fans already know there are some big things waiting for their favorite characters in Season 2. Many of those who loved the comic were drawn in by the show’s moody lighting, intense action scenes, and emotional writing that allows the viewer to empathize with even the most violent of villains.
“We love two things: one of them is Matt Murdock, and the other is the world that Matt Murdock navigates. Last year, Steven DeKnight and Drew Goddard did a great job of introducing that world…this year, we get to test that world, take it further, make it darker, more emotional,” showrunner Doug Petrie said.
One of the most notable relationships to be portrayed on the series is the one between Jessica and Jeryn Hogarth, who was a male in the comics, but will be played by Carrie Anne Moss on the show. According to Moss, the two women have an intense love/hate relationship.
“They’re not friends but they need each other. They come to each other in these scenes, and there’s a lot of back and forth and bad flirtation at times, in life. They’re funny together and can’t stand each other. It’s interesting,” Moss told Entertainment Weekly.
Apparently, Jessica Jones will pass the infamous Bechdel test, which determines how often and how long women in films interact with one another regarding something other than the topic of men.
“It’s by far the most complex and interesting and special friendship between two women that I’ve seen in a movie or television. We’re there for each other in ways that we don’t see, but we’re never talking about a dude or an outfit. It’s a really pure bond,” Krysten Ritter told Entertainment Weekly.
Jessica Jones and Daredevil are just pieces of a larger Marvel story to be played out on Netflix, which includes a future series focusing on Luke Cage. Many who were at New York Comic Con said that the scenes they were shown featuring Krysten Ritter were much darker–yet funnier–than anything they’d seen on Daredevil.
[Photo courtesy Netflix]
