Jessica Gunning on Fame, Coming Out and Keeping Her Life Private | Spirit Awards 2025 - video Dailymotion

Hollywood Journal

Jessica Gunning discusses her whirlwind journey from working actor to award-winning star. She opens up about navigating newfound success, the surreal experience of being nominated and the advice she carries from Imelda Staunton. She also discusses her decision to stay off social media, her thoughts on Hollywood's Instagram casting trend and her excitement about working with Steven Soderbergh on his latest film. Plus, she shares how Andrew Scott inspires her approach to balancing public and private life.

Transcript

00:00Nominated today. How are you feeling?

00:02Very well. Feeling a bit nervous, but all excited.

00:04Never been to Santa Monica before, so loving it, yeah.

00:06And learning about this sea mist, whatever it's called, yeah.

00:10You've never been to Santa Monica.

00:12Well, welcome to the beach. Are you a beach person?

00:15I like a beach. I like the fresh air of the sea, yeah. I like it all, yeah.

00:19You're getting so good at giving speeches. Did you write something today?

00:22What's your strategy?

00:24I don't really write, no. I just kind of think about what would happen if I did.

00:28And occasionally made me think that.

00:30I always remember working with Imelda Staunton.

00:33We did a film called Pride together, and she always said to the younger actors,

00:36like, you know, think about what you want to say if you ever get lucky enough

00:39to be nominated for something.

00:40So I always have her voice in the back of my head.

00:43Because all of this whole time with me and Richard,

00:45we've just been pitching ourselves throughout the whole thing.

00:48To even be here, let alone be nominated, is genuinely so surreal, yeah.

00:52You've walked into this so beautifully because you went from just being a working actor

00:57to being an Emmy-winning star, Golden Globe, you've won so many awards.

01:03How has it been to step into that public-facing actor life?

01:06Well, I think because I've been working for so long,

01:08I've been in the industry over in the UK for about 17 years,

01:11and I know so many actor friends of mine who have gone through similar things.

01:14So I've had a lot of people giving me guidance and things.

01:17And hopefully family and friends help to kind of keep you grounded,

01:20but also really celebrating how surreal it is as well

01:23and not kind of forgetting how lucky we are.

01:25So again, I know I keep pinching myself,

01:27but trying to take it in and live in the moment,

01:29not to sound too cheesy, but yeah.

01:31When you also revealed personal things about yourself,

01:34you came out during this process.

01:36How are you feeling just about that journey

01:37and also being more open about your life in a public way?

01:42Did you look to anyone for inspiration?

01:44Did I look to anyone for inspiration?

01:47Andrew Scott's a good friend of mine,

01:49and he's always so classy, I think,

01:51with how he discusses art and acting and all of that.

01:54And I think he manages to juggle a private life really well,

01:56and so I kind of try and think about him

01:59if ever I do want to talk about it.

02:00And also, I'm not on social media and things,

02:02so I think maybe that helps.

02:03I like to kind of keep private life private,

02:06but I also am proud of who I am too,

02:08so it's that fine balance.

02:09But hopefully we've managed to do it okay

02:11doing the show and things, yeah.

02:13You've done it so beautifully.

02:14And I wanted to ask you on the Instagram thing,

02:16there was this whole swirl this week

02:18of Maya Hawke and Ethan Hawke talking about actors

02:20getting cast based on Instagram followers.

02:23And Ethan was talking about so many actors today

02:25think that being an actor is going to the gym

02:27and posting your smoothies.

02:29As somebody who's not on social media,

02:30have you ever been confronted with producers

02:33wishing you were on Instagram

02:35or wanting to cast you based on social media

02:38and you're like, I'm not on it?

02:39What's your take on that?

02:41I think maybe because I'm in my late 30s now,

02:42I've just missed that kind of age

02:44of people being, not forced,

02:46but advised to go on Instagram.

02:48But I hate the thought of that.

02:49What thing is getting cast

02:50because of the number of followers?

02:51Oh no, I'm never going to work again.

02:54I need to start going to the gym

02:55and posting smoothie pics then.

02:57Yeah, okay, note to self.

02:58I think you're going to do fine.

03:00But tell me, has Baby Reindeer,

03:03I mean, has it led to jobs?

03:04You have been cast in something already.

03:06So, and you're working.

03:08I'm working on Steven Soderbergh's latest film,

03:11as you do, what am I like?

03:13So that's been amazing, yeah.

03:15And yeah, just seeing what comes through.

03:17I mean, I think it took a while

03:18for the part of Martha to come in.

03:20So I think I'm not expecting anything anytime soon,

03:22but I just feel lucky to have,

03:24yeah, have things to be doing.

03:25It's great, yeah.

Jessica Gunning on Fame, Coming Out and Keeping Her Life Private | Spirit Awards 2025

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