Jessica Gunning’s recent performance as the stalker Martha in Baby Reindeer has put her on the map globally and earned her near-universal acclaim – but it turns out the role could have gone to a much more established star.
In a more wide-ranging piece about the hit Netflix show, Variety reported that Netflix initially wanted Bridesmaids star Melissa McCarthy to play the female lead in Richard Gadd’s miniseries, which is based on his own experiences of being stalked.
The media outlet even cited an undisclosed “knowledgeable source” who claimed the Oscar nominee went as far as meeting with the show’s creator about playing Martha early on in the casting process, but she “ultimately wasn’t interested”.
HuffPost UK has contacted representatives for both Melissa McCarthy and Richard Gadd for comment.
Richard previously opened up about about the Baby Reindeer casting process in a video interview with Variety released earlier this month.
“The show really hinged on an actor being able to deliver the nuances of Martha,” he explained.
“If somebody plays it as nothing but evil, nothing but weird, nothing but twisted, the show fails to take on the nuance that I think it needs to be an interesting piece of work.”
Richard went on to claim that he’d seen “the best actresses in Britain” and even international performers while casting for Martha, but he’d personally “always wanted Jess” for the part.
“Every time I’d seen her in something she’d stolen the scene in anything she did,” he said of his co-star, whose past on-screen work had included the film Pride, the BBC comedy The Outlaws and the drama What Remains.