“Jessica Jones” Launches on Netflix
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(NEW YORK) — Following the success of Daredevil, all 13 episodes of Netflix’s new Marvel series Jessica Jones are now live on the subscription streaming service. The gritty New York City-set series stars Krysten Ritter as the titular superhero-turned private detective; a hard-drinking woman who keeps her super strength under wraps after a tragedy cut short her hero career.
The character first appeared in the Marvel Comics series Alias in 2001.
Ritter, known for comedies like Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 and her work in the Emmy winning drama Breaking Bad, recently said of Jessica Jones, “I feel it’s the role of a lifetime. As an actress I got to do everything that I always wished to do, but have never found all in one part…This is doing drama, looking bada** and cool, and also being funny sometimes…and also doing action…[T]hat’s so rare, to get all of these things in one part.”
“She lives in a dark place,” Ritter said of the character. “She has a very hot temper, she has post-traumatic stress — it is a very dark head-space to live in.”
Ritter shot the series all at once, on a production that was treated almost like a year-long movie shoot, complete with extensive workouts and fight training to get the slim actress into superheroic shape. “By the end of filming…If I’m walking down the street, and there’s…something that seems kinda scary, my instinct was just to beat them up,” she laughs. “My instinct was just like, ready!”
For those not familiar with the character, Jones doesn’t dress like a superhero, instead — and to the actress’ delight — the undercover nature of her life allowed a different sense of style to shine through. “I wasn’t wearing tight jeans, I was wearing comfortable, practical things…I have to work, I have to get dirty, sure, jump around.”
Yet, with how Jones is portrayed in the comics, and with guidance from Marvel and producer Melissa Rosenberg, Ritter said they came up with a signature style for the character, featuring a black leather jacket, biker boots, and blue jeans. “I wanted to make sure that she looked like, iconic in a way. I wanted her to be identifiable immediately.”
The series also stars Carrie-Anne Moss from the Matrix series, Dr. Who‘s, David Tennant as the haunting villain Kilgrave AKA Purple Man, as well as Mike Colter, who plays the nearly indestructible Luke Cage, another one of Marvel’s “Hells Kitchen Heroes.”
Cage, whose own show is currently being shot and will air on Netflix next year, finds a kindred spirit in Jones, because he’s also keeping his powers secret.
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