Jessica Gunning delivers a harrowing performance in the hit Netflix series, Baby Reindeer. Cast as Martha Scott – a serial stalker fixated on standup comedian Donny – the actress landed the role in 2022 after nailing her audition.
Giving fans a peak behind the curtain, Netflix has posted Jessica's phenomenal audition tape on X, and it's pretty impressive. Watch it below...
Speaking a major reaction, fans were blown away by Jessica's early take on the character. "Watching Jessica Gunning's audition tape for Martha in #BabyReindeer was a revelation! Her transformation into the character is a masterclass in acting. Kudos to Richard Gadd for creating such a compelling series that keeps us glued to our screens" wrote one.
"I hope she has a big trophy case at home, she's gonna need it…" replied another. "She is superb! I can't think of a more compelling performance, offhand," noted a third.
Speaking to Variety this month, Jessica revealed that it took four auditions in total before she was cast as Martha.
"Over about four months, we did four auditions. It was important for everyone at our films and Netflix to ensure the chemistry between us was right," explained the star. "Martha could be played in many ways, so we needed to get the dynamic between Richard and me right for the characters of Martha and Donny.
"We performed the cafe scene from episode one, the zipping up scene, and later, some further scenes like the one with Tom. We aimed to get all the dynamics right because there are so many sides to the characters and so many things happen."
Revealing how she inhabited the character, Jessica told Harper's Bazaar: "My clues for the character were in the script. I'm not doing an impersonation of a character; I'm doing an interpretation of Martha. So I invented certain things here and there to make sense of certain moments in the script."
Noting that she spent a lot of time trying to get into Martha's head, Jessica added: "I also imagined what it would feel like if you are the kind of woman who goes around the world like Martha does and is ignored quite a lot of the time.
"[I imagined what it would be like] to have this young guy flirt with her occasionally, show her a bit of interest, and say things like, 'Oh, I bet you have great dinner parties.' I used to just imagine what him seeing her would've felt like to her."