Steven Prusakowski
Netflix’s Baby Reindeer is about as unpredictable a series as you will find. Created by Richard Gadd, it starts off innocently enough, then takes viewers on an intense and often difficult emotional journey that makes it impossible to walk away unaffected.
When Martha (Jessica Gunning) walks into the bar where Donny (Gadd) works, little did he know that a few moments of kindness would lead to months of stalking and harassment. Gunning, who was a fan of Gadd’s work before being part of the series, approached the role from the inside out to better understand how the lonely, unseen Martha would react to every flirty moment with Donny, and furthermore, to any threat to their new “relationship.”
Gunning spoke with Awards Radar about her work on the series and delved into the mindset of Martha, including what drew her to the part, working with Richard, their chemistry, tapping into the darkest emotional moments, her infectious laugh, and more.
Here are some very insightful excerpts from my conversation with Gunning. Watch the video interview in its entirety below.
How did you first hear about the show and how did you first get involved?
I first heard about Richard, actually first, I went to see his show, Monkey See, Monkey Do, which is a one man show, similar to Baby Reindeer. But it was detailing what happened to him in episode four of the show. He was on a treadmill for quite a lot of it and I just remember thinking, ‘Gosh, what a brave kind of storyteller he was.’
Then I was kind of fascinated by what he would do next. The next thing he did was Baby Reindeer. And I tried to get tickets, actually, but it was sold out fully in London and in Edinburgh. So I bought this play text to read just because I was quite fascinated. And then about four years later, the audition came through. So I’d already heard of Baby Reindeer.
So I knew what it was. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, if this is what I think it is. Then this is pretty exciting.’ I went in (for auditions) about four or five times over the space of a few months. And then, yeah, the call came through. I’d finally worn them down and they were going to go with me.
To play her, you really had to understand her. What did that entail? How did you get into her head?
I mean, not to give Richard all the credit, but it genuinely was there in the script for me. When I read that final voice message at the end, I just kind of tapped into something that made me kind of understand her and what he meant to her especially. Then I tried to kind of track back along the scenes and just work out ways in which she might be able to inflate or over-imagine or go home and mull over little moments they had together. From my backstory in terms of the character, all I had really was the script.
I wasn’t doing an impersonation of anyone. So I would go and imagine how she would feel on those days after the pub, if they’d had a flirty exchange or flirty encounter. Obviously, we then find out what she was doing later is going home and emailing him, constantly.
But I would kind of imagine her almost daydreaming about what next could happen. And quite often, which is quite an interesting thing with Donny and Martha, is he was being quite flirty back or he was paying her compliments, paying her attention. He goes to the cafe with her to have a coffee, which in her narrative is absolutely massive.
In his mind, it’s an act of kindness and you feel sorry for her. But for her, she’s like, ‘Oh, we’re on a date. Here we go.’ So I would kind of try and track those moments where in her world, it felt like they were getting closer and closer together. I think that kind of was the key to her really, her link to him, her connection to him, her protectiveness of him and their relationship. And that’s how I got in.
Both Martha and Donny seem to be filling a void. Is it an addiction on both ends in a way? Are they both just needing some self-healing?
Self-healing – I think is a really interesting thing. The story would be a different story if Richard hadn’t very bravely included what happened to him in episode four. There’s a sense of lostness to him and the fact that he feels that maybe he’s a bit invisible.
And at the time when Martha arrives, I think she might feel the same. So I think it’s these kinds of two lost souls who bump into each other and feel seen in very different ways. He flirts with her and my narrative was always that, how many people do that in her life? How much banter does she genuinely have that feels as genuine as it does with him? How seen does she feel? Does she kind of go along in life feeling a little bit invisible? I sometimes used to get that impression occasionally that he is one of the only few people that properly talks to her and learns about her and spends time with her.
That’s why he’s so special and important. Then from his point of view as well, I think it’s similar, he’s been overlooked a lot in his career comedically and everything that happened to him in episode four. And so suddenly there’s this woman who says he’s got manly hands and a handsome jaw and she can’t get enough of him.
I think that is a very flattering feeling. So I think they both kind of needed each other in a way. And then obviously things get far more complicated and much more involved than they should have done. But I think in that initial kind of connection, it was the timing was right for the two of them.
I always think about that moment in the cafe when he says, ‘What do you want?’ And she says, ‘I want the Scotch broth. I’m just trying to figure out if it’s on the menu or not.’ I used to always think that was something she’d prepared to say.
‘What can I say to him tomorrow when I get to the cafe?’ She’s dressed up, put makeup on, and actually when he says, ‘No’, she’s like, ’You know, I thought that might happen’, but he says, ‘It might be on the specials.’ That’s better than even anything she could have improvised herself.
So it’s exactly like you said, not only is this quite rare, but it’s with somebody who’s funny and charming and she sees as this incredible guy. And then when he sings back to the love song, even though he’s going to do the joke about Hitler being misunderstood, she’s getting even more than she would have ever imagined.
You have a very unique and strong chemistry with Richard. What was it like working with him?
I feel like we’ve got such a strong connection now because of everything. It was two years ago really when the whole audition process started. So it’s been a long time that we’ve been in each other’s lives. And as Martha, I would kind of study him and watch his facial expressions.
So I feel like I kind of know him, not in a creepy way, hopefully, but I feel like I know him especially well. And obviously along all of this amazing kind of aftermath of being able to talk about it with him and learn his side of things. I feel like we’re getting even closer.
I’ve done a few things that have been based on true stories before, and I definitely think there’s a sense of responsibility to those people involved. And I absolutely felt a sense of responsibility to Richard in doing this story justice. It’s all told through Donny’s point of view, but I wanted to kind of capture that initial feeling when I first read those scripts and really try and show how complicated and honest he’s been in telling his story.
So yeah, I feel like we’re really close. I’m really proud of him as well. I kind of hate the word proud, like I’ve had anything to do with it, but proud of his performance, especially in episode four, I think it was so brave of him to go through all that.
So Martha goes from incredibly, incredibly sweet to fits of rage in seconds, like how difficult it was for you as an actress to flip that switch?
Oh gosh, yeah. I mean, it’s hard to get into those kind of more angry spaces, but again, I would just go back to that protectiveness she felt over Donny and seeing Terri with him. It was really interesting as well once I got to meet Nava, because she’s so brilliant and I think I’d always imagined that scene to be quite casual on her part. Nava and I met to do the stunt rehearsal first and foremost for the fight scene, so when I saw her perform it with such confidence and kind of ownership over Donny, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s brilliant because Martha will be furious at that.’
I didn’t imagine it to be so kind of provocative from her end, in a great way. So it’s funny when you do those things, because your body doesn’t really know you’re pretending. So the adrenaline you feel after it is quite high.
Then after that scene, when Martha attacks Terri, there’s also the section where Donny bustles me out of the pub. That day we filmed that, I think they’ve used the first tape that Richard did because he was in the zone with that moment. He just absolutely let rip and I just was blown away.
I think we even actually missed our mark. So it’s slightly off skew because it was just so powerful with how he was performing it. Those scenes are very charged and the room is always very respectful and mindful that it might be a quite intense environment.
Does that get into your head? Does it take a toll on you?
Yes, absolutely. I think that there’s lots of those voice messages that were quite tough to record, but at the same time, there’s a bit of space for me for that. I recorded some temporary tracks for Richard to listen to or for them to play out for those scenes. It was useful to have them to play when they were filming still. Then obviously in ADR, which is about six months later, we recorded all of the actual recordings.
That final voiceover actually was the last thing we recorded together in ADR and both of us got quite emotional because I think it felt like the end of a really long and complicated process – but it was a nice way to kind of finish it all. That voicemail, especially, is very moving, I think for both of us.
Martha’s laugh is infectious. Is that your laugh? Or is that, did you create that laugh?
It’s kind of like a heightened version of my laugh, which I maybe should have thought about in hindsight. It’s kind of a heightened version. I wanted to try and make it as genuine as possible. So it didn’t feel like a kind of parody of anything or a heightened scary laugh.
It’s just my laugh, but bigger
Three words to describe Martha.
Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Three words to describe Martha. Endearing. I find her endearing. Complicated and actually cute. I think she’s quite cute at times.
You can see Jessica’s incredible work as Martha on Baby Reindeer, streaming exclusively on Netflix.
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