Interview: Krysten Ritter
She’s gone from model to author, via superheroics and a surprising commitment to knitting – and Krysten Ritter isn’t just our dream ‘kooky mate’, but the woman to know right now
Never has the world felt more like it needs a superhero. So how about a woman who on-screen kicks ass harder than all the boys, while wearing boyfriend jeans and boots that you’d definitely be able to run in, and spouts sassy asides it’d take us weeks to come up with? One who off-screen runs her own production company, has a training and life motto of ‘Go HAAM’ ( hard as a motherfucker), makes music, models, knits pussyhats for the Women’s March and has just written a book? Enter, Krysten Ritter.
You may have spotted Krysten, 35, in the early noughties, carving out a career as the distinctive-looking classic kooky girl ( line up 27 Dresses, Confessions Of A Shopaholic, Veronica Mars, Gossip Girl, Gilmore Girls on your Netflix now), or in her short but integral role in Breaking Bad,
or as the titular bitch in Don’t Trust The Bitch In Apartment 23.
But the role she’s gained awards (and a legion of fans) for is as the hard-talking, whisky-swilling, private-investigating Marvel superhero Jessica Jones, who also appears in The Defenders. Today, she’s talking to Grazia about her latest trick, writing her debut novel, Bonfire. The book shares lots of themes with the show – how the past influences the present, sexual assault and a dark, complicated lead.
So it’s a surprise to us when Krysten – who admits she ploughs much of herself into her characters and her novel – releases several infectious giggles, is warm, passionate and light as well as considered. Ironically, speaking on the phone from the US, Krysten seems like the kind of person most of her characters would mock – at least fondly. She spends her spare time hanging out with her beloved dog Mikey, making music and knitting – something she speaks sweetly about in a way that makes us (very
unprofessionally) go ‘awww’ at the other end of the line. ‘It’s about having a sense of accomplishment, having something in your hands you’ve made. One of my favourite things to do is give the things I’ve knitted away as a gift – many people have actually shed a tear when I’ve given them something,’ she laughs. Again.
Speaking to her is a refreshing experience – and makes you feel like there could be a silver lining on the horizon. In contrast to the Weinstein headlines that have assaulted our eyes (and hearts), Krysten is optimistic about the future – in general and in Hollywood. ‘I think things are getting better for girls. It’s hard out there for girls,’ she acknowledges, speaking about the teenage subplot of Bonfire. ‘But I think things are going to keep improving, girls are going to start supporting each other more and more as every day goes by.’
A psychological thriller, the book opens with Abby Williams returning to her small hometown 10 years after she left. Now an environmental lawyer, she’s there to investigate the biggest company in town – but there are links to her traumatic high school experience and her former best friend, who mysteriously went missing. To research the role, Krysten dug into her own experiences and also spoke to her younger sister. ‘I can relate to the feelings of being an outsider or being the target of gossip, and when that’s happening to you, it feels like the end of the world. It’s not – as we know, life goes on. But at those moments, those things are so huge and are everything.’
When it comes to the current state of Hollywood and the attitudes to women, she’s well-placed to comment. She has her own production company focused on creating complex female protagonists and agrees it’s important to have women on the business side of creating content, as well as on-screen, to move things on from the current news of bullying and sexual harassment.
‘I think we should all feel represented,’ she agrees. ‘I’m really lucky in that I’ve kind of exclusively worked with women. My last show had a female showrunner with a female co-star. Now I’m working with Melissa Rosenberg [on Netflix’s Jessica Jones] and a room full of writers that has, I think, two men and seven women. The season we’ve just finished, every episode was directed by women, it stars a woman, the number two on the call sheet is a woman. So I’m surrounded by women and that’s where I feel the most comfortable. I feel very fortunate in that, and I know that’s not everybody’s experience, but I can only speak of my own. And mine is pretty badass,’ she breaks off to laugh sassily.
As she acknowledges, if the fallout from the Harvey Weinstein scandal is a gauge, her experience certainly seems different from that of many actresses. But perhaps that’s because Krysten’s primarily worked in television, not films? There’s certainly a flood of powerful and successful female actors, directors and writers moving into television – just look at the outpouring of critical love and awards for Big Little Lies, led on the business and production side, not just the screen, by Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman. Is TV the way forward for women?
‘ That’s where all the good content is going and where the actors are going because that’s where the roles are,’ says Krysten. ‘ What I love about Jessica Jones is it’s 13 hours of TV you get to spend with this character. If we only had a 90-minute movie version, we wouldn’t get to go as deep as we do. I think that’s why people like Reese and Nicole are doing TV and loving it. Nicole Kidman got eight episodes to explore a character, and she hit it out of the park and seems like she had fun doing it. That’s because TV is fun!’ She laughs again. ‘ That’s how it should be, it’s a great job.’
The glint in Jessica Jones’s eye tells you Krysten is having fun – but she takes the role seriously too. She’s as fearless as her character, prepping for the show with punishing workouts and doing her own stunts. Earlier this month, it was revealed she passed out on set, after an erroneously aimed uppercut hit her jaw and she nearly bit her tongue off.
In April, Marvel’s vice president blamed declining sales on readers ‘turning their noses up’ at diversity, adding they ‘didn’t want female characters out there’. The comments were totally baffling – especially given the subsequent popularity of this summer’s blockbuster Wonder Woman and the huge, dedicated following generated by Jessica Jones (which has just finished filming a second series). It’s heart-warming, given comments like that, to see how seriously Krysten takes her role.
‘I’ve been working for 12 months straight and every day I make sure this character is done well, so girls, women and boys can look at a superhero in that form,’ she says. ‘Messy, not conventionally beautiful, not in costume. A real person with problems, who is strong, who fights for her friends, who fights for the little guy, who shows up. We love that she has a specific, feminine experience and point of view. When people come up to me and they are inspired by Jessica, or have a toy of Jessica, that’s my reward for putting my heart and soul and time into this character.’
Superheroes have always had an interesting part to play in society – since the 1940s, they’ve been routinely appropriated as propaganda tools. Perhaps Jessica Jones is no different, and these feminine superheroes can help women in their day-to-day lives and raise girls to believe anything is possible.
‘Jessica is a woman who has suffered severe and serious trauma in her life, but she picks herself up and keeps walking. I think that resonates with women. They see Jessica Jones, who’s lost her family and is a victim of sexual assault, real serious things… and feel, “If Jessica can still move forward, I can too.”’
Perhaps it’s because she’s a superhero – perhaps it’s because we’re enjoying the image of her knitting, in Jessica Jones boots, laughing uproariously with Mikey at her feet – but we’re won over by Krysten’s brand of optimistic, hard-working feminism that talks the talk as well as walking the walk. Maybe, with women like her around, things really will get better for girls.
I CAN RELATE TO THE FEELINGS OF BEING AN OUTSIDER