Martha actor in Baby Reindeer has a message to real stalker who she played in Netflix series
If you have binge-watched Baby Reindeer by now, you are probably either seeing Martha in your nightmares or throwing a pity party in her honour.
It seems viewers are split into two camps when it comes to how they feel about the antagonist of the smash hit Netflix series, as although she is a sinister stalker, a lot of people can't help but feel sympathy for her.
The actor who played the complex character, Jessica Gunning, shares the same sentiment for Martha, too.
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She made it her mission to ensure that she portrayed the woman who made Richard Gadd's life a misery for six years in the 'most nuanced, complicated way', so that she could to 'do it justice' for all the people who were involved in real life.
The fact that we feel so torn towards Martha is a testament to how well both Gunning and Gadd performed in Baby Reindeer, as each episode had us feeling a different range of emotions towards the stalker.
The actor, 38, was on Gadd's radar 'months before' he had even written the script for the seven-part series, as he had 'seen a spark' in her and knew that she would be able to 'capture all the emotions at once'.
"It lived and died on Martha and we couldn’t have been luckier," he told GQ when discussing his co-star.
Gunning was deemed perfect for the part because of her decision not to lean too much into the villainous side of her character, as she understood that Martha is multi-layered.
Or in The Outlaws star's own words, the tormenter was 'a bit cute and a bit odd and a bit empathetic and a bit weird'.
Discussing her approach to the character, Gunning told Dazed: "I think the mistake would be if you played her as a baddie or as a villain.
"I think you would lose so much of the nuance that Richard has written into the character."
Gadd himself has made it clear that Martha is mentally ill and 'very vulnerable'.
Both he and Gunning were both conscious of the fact that the woman who harassed him in real life might tune into Baby Reindeer herself, although he said he 'almost couldn't predict how she'd react'.
"We’ve gone to such great lengths to disguise her to the point that I don’t think she would recognise herself," Gadd added, but it hasn't stopped fans of the show trying to hunt down the people who the characters are based on.
"What’s been borrowed is an emotional truth, not a fact-by-fact profile of someone," Gadd said.
Gunning confessed she 'always had that [the real Martha watching] in the back of her mind', before again reminding fans of the show that she wasn't outright impersonating Gadd's stalker, but was doing her own interpretation of her.
Discussing the feelings she felt towards her character, the Yorkshire-born star said: "From my part, I never, ever saw her as a villain.
"I always approached her character with - I hope - a real care for her. I saw all the sides to her. I was never trying to do a kind of stereotypical performance. So hopefully if it was watched [by her], it wouldn’t be taken away as an insult.
"It was hopefully a multifaceted portrayal of somebody going through a lot in their life. I think the response to that final scene hopefully shows that people don’t view her as all bad or as a villain."
"There’s no winner at the end," she continued. "And I think that’s what's so beautiful about the writing is that you feel for both of them, and both of them are kind of lost.
"I think it’s a caring portrayal of that character and not meant to vilify or drum up any bad feeling about her."
Gunning also 'urged' viewers not to try and find the real Martha, saying she thinks it's a 'real shame' and 'really sad', as it is not the intention of Baby Reindeer.
Baby Reindeer is streaming on Netflix now.
If you're experiencing distressing thoughts and feelings, the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is there to support you. They're open from 5pm–midnight, 365 days a year. Their national number is 0800 58 58 58 and they also have a webchat service if you're not comfortable talking on the phone.
Topics: Netflix, TV and Film, Baby Reindeer
Olivia Burke