Krysten Ritter is known for playing powerful women — and is grateful for how her past roles have often “saved the day” in her real-life experiences.
“Playing Jessica Jones, I realized how much strength playing that character gave me and how much protection she has brought me, because she is somebody who is so weighted and so heavy with all of her traumas layered on top and just, like, resentment for her powers and the way she informs how she moves to the world,” Ritter, 43, exclusively old Us Weekly while promoting her new film, Stone Cold Fox. “She’s so tough and she’s so strong, and having the superpowers, having that strength, protects me from all of the trauma that she’s been through. And then all of those layers that you have to build for yourself, Krysten has to play and bring home.”
Ritter explained that Jones’ “strength” ultimately helped protect her from getting “too dark or lost” in her story, which sees Jones battle post-traumatic stress disorder as she attempts to run her own detective agency. Ritter was initially cast as the title character for the 2015 Jessica Jones Netflix series, which ran for four years. She’ll reprise the role for season 2 of Disney+’s Daredevil: Born Again, set to premiere in March 2026.
Tapping into Jessica’s powers — super and mental — has also allowed Ritter to also find strength in her own life, not just on screen. She explained that she’s often channeled the character in her more difficult moments.
“There have been times where I’ve had to, like, find her in my body,” she told Us. “Like, she’s come in and saved the day quite a bit. She kind of reminds me of how strong you can be, even if you lose your way up for a minute.”
Embracing her characters’ attributes doesn’t end with Jessica Jones. Ritter is “surgical” with how she chooses her projects, often opting for strong, morally gray women. That was the case with Ritter’s latest movie, Stone Cold Fox, the neo-noir action thriller that features Ritter as an abusive drug dealer named Goldie opposite Kiernan Shipka.
Ritter said she was drawn to how “unpredictable and crazy” the character was, something she finds “so fun” and “delicious” to play. She noted that crime boss–type roles “don’t always come around” for women, so she jumped at the chance to step into Goldie’s shoes.
“I haven’t seen a role like that, so I was just like, ‘Are you kidding? Yes, check, check, check,’” she said. “And I was looking to do something stylized and over the top, because it’s fun. Anything where you have an opportunity to take a big swing, that’s my MO.”
Ritter was fascinated by how Goldie’s status as a “loner” shaped her life decisions, telling Us, “She’s probably informed by her trauma,” she explained. “She didn’t just become this evil psychopath for no reason. She’s a result of her circumstances, like we all are, but she had an extenuating set of circumstances. And the way that she took control of her life — is it totally insane? Yes, totally insane. But I just love that about her.”
Ritter said she was already “in” by the time her agent called her with the movie’s title, but reading the script sealed the deal even further, as did watching director Sophie Tabet’s first short film, The Lonely Whale.
“I love a first time female director who’s, like, going for it,” Ritter added. “She’s obviously a big Quentin Tarantino fan and Grindhouse fan, and that’s all here [in this movie]. I just wanted to support her.”
Costar Shipka was another woman Ritter was excited to center as a self-admitted big fan of the Chilling Adventure of Sabrina star’s work. Shipka, 25, plays Ritter’s love interest and title character Fox in the film, a young drug addict who breaks away from Goldie’s abusive commune in search of her missing sister.
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“She’s so amazing, she’s so incredible, she’s so good,” Ritter gushed. “I always joke that I’m her forever hype woman. We kind of mutually gush over each other, and I think that we just adore each other, to be honest. I’m always like, ‘I’ll be your biggest fan. I’m rooting for you.’ We [just] had our premiere, and I was like, ‘You’re so good in this movie. You look so great, you’re so good at acting, I just love you.’ She’s so cute and so fabulous and such a hard worker.”
Stone Cold Fox is available on demand now.
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