Video interview with Jessica Gunning (Baby Reindeer)

Jessica Gunning is a fan of Richard Gadd since she saw his stage show “Monkey See Monkey Do” in 2016. In 2019, she tried to get tickets to his one-man show “Baby Reindeer,” but it was sold out. So she did the next best thing. “I couldn’t get tickets to the stage play, but I actually bought the text of the play, which is a bit Martha of me,” Gunning jokes to Gold Derby (Watch the exclusive video interview above).

Martha, of course, is the woman Gunning plays in the Netflix adaptation of “Baby Reindeer.” Based on Gadd's true experiences, the miniseries follows struggling comedian Donny (Gadd), who is stalked and harassed by Martha after he buys her a free drink one night at the bar where he works. As she devoured the text, Gunning never imagined she would one day be part of a film adaptation of “Baby Reindeer.” “I never thought I could be in it or anything. When I heard it was being made into a show, I was like, 'Oh, wow, OK.' And when [the audition] “When he came out, I just thought 'Oh my God,'” she recalls. “Because I always only have the stage show in my head when I read the text of the play. But I think he adapted it so well and created these great characters that you feel so much for. The fact that he managed to do that is just a real masterpiece.”

While it's easy to label Baby Reindeer a “stalker show,” that would be an understatement. The series is a stark portrait of trauma and avoids demonizing Martha as a typical crazy stalker, giving her depth and humanity through Gadd's script and Gunning's performance to create a much more complex story about two lonely souls searching for connection. For Gunning, it was paramount that Martha come across as a three-dimensional character. “I never really saw her in that light. [of a crazy stalker],” says the actress. “I think the last voice message she leaves him in the pub scene really touched me in terms of the core of the character, how complicated she is and how safe she feels around him.”

Gunning points to a scene in the premiere that she auditioned for. “I was acting out the scene with a friend where we're outside the comedy club and Martha says she wants to zip him up and be all the way inside him. And I said to my friend, 'Oh my God, that scene is so romantic. I love it.' And she read it and was like, 'That's crazy.' And for the first time I thought, 'Oh, there's another way to interpret it.' Because I was like, 'What a compliment.' I really felt for her and her cuteness, I think, and what she sees in him. Richard is also so great at the way he writes stage directions and… in the courtroom scene, he just says, 'These are just two lost people looking at each other.' And I think that really comes across in the way he wrote it. They needed each other at a time in each other's lives when they were perhaps feeling a little overlooked.”

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Much of Gunning's performance in the finale is done via voiceover. After Martha pleads guilty, Donny listens to endless voicemails she left him after cleverly obtaining his new number. While she created some temporary voicemails on her phone for Gadd's appearance on set, Gunning recorded all the messages in ADR six months after production wrapped. In the meantime, she had filmed a full season of BBC One series The Outlaws, but it wasn't difficult for her to get back into Martha's state of mind. “We kind of paired them with their moods, similar to what Donny does, by setting off complementary moods. We did a run-through so it felt like we were in the same mood each time. But by that point, I knew the character so well that I was able to get into that mood pretty quickly.”

The last voicemail Gunning recorded was the last one Donny listened to in the final scene. In it, Martha reveals the bittersweet reason she calls him Baby Reindeer. “That last voicemail is the one I read whenever I needed to feel emotional like she did,” Gunning says. “I read it and it touched me every time. So it didn't take much. I think we did one or two takes of it.”

Donny listens to the news in a pub, as the scene mirrors the inciting incident in the premiere. The bartender tells Donny his drink is on the house after he says he left his wallet at home. “Oh my God, I loved that. When I read that, I thought, 'Brilliant! What a great way to end the show. How clever.' And I love that I've heard so many different theories about it. It's so great to have a show that doesn't necessarily have a clear ending. So many people take away certain things. What did I take from that? I think I probably looked at it from Martha's perspective where he understands her better, and the kindness of the bartender saying, 'It's on me,' and he realizes what he meant to her.”

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