Leslie Bibb has been cast as a superhero. It’s about fuckin’ time.
The fact that she is part of the MCU, but not as a superhero is perhaps the greatest injustice of the entire franchise.
Thanos? Loki? Please, the real villains here are the casting directors.
Honestly, this is a woman who was built to play a superhero. Not just in statuesque body type, but in general demeanor.
She’s got the confidence AND the humanity. She did play “Fake Wonder Woman” in Movie 43, but, yeah, that doesn’t even come close to counting.
Now, here we are, on the cusp of the release of Jupiter’s Legacy on Netflix, which will prove how remiss casting directors have been in sleeping on this hero in our midst.
I’m way more excited than I should be and want to share the love.
And because I hate these types of articles and how they always say the same boring things (She was discovered by Oprah! She was in a Howard Stern movie!), I tried to dig deep and find a few tidbits you can only ascertain by following someone’s career for 20+ years.
She’s touchy-feely as fuck.
I don’t know this on a personal level. We don’t, like, hang out and hold hands. (Though, she did give me a hug on a street in New York once).
But all you have to do is watch her being interviewed by pretty much anyone at any time for this little fact to jump out at you.
She once did an interview with Rosie O’Donnell where she stretched her superhero arm across an incredibly wide table top just to cop a little feel of hand.
I always imagine her partner, Sam Rockwell, covered in bruises after any given awards season she’s so physical in her affection.
She also says she wants to punch things in the face when she finds them too cute. It’s one of her signature compliments.
So, I guess don’t be adorable around her if you like your nose how it is.
She’s amazing on stage.
Sure, I could have just said, “she does theater,” but facts are facts and I wanna tell it like it is.
Unless you’re expressly searching for it or have a Google Alert set up (ahem), you have no reason to know this, because actors have their filmographies and their stageographies and it often seems never the twain shall meet.
Actors also have their biographies, but when someone is better known for their film or TV work than for their stage work, most write-ups act as if they have never before set foot in a theater. Or that it doesn’t matter if they have.
Sacrilege! Theater is a thespian’s arena, and Leslie has walked the boards in several of them.
I’ve personally had the pleasure of seeing her twice on stage, first in Last of the Red Hot Lovers at Williamstown Theater Festival, then in Reasons to Be Happy Off-Broadway.
Two very different roles. Two equally impressive performances.
Sigh. I love it when actors do theater. Why can’t they all be stage gladiators?
She don’t need to be your fantasy.
Okay. So, Leslie has never actually said this. But let’s just say it’s implied.
First off, there’s this, what has to be my favorite tweet combo of hers ever:
Translation: I have to poop too, ma dudes. Try not to cry.
Also, note the time stamp on those. It literally took five minutes for her to ruin a bunch of people’s lives.
Next, not only did she take the titular role in the short film, My Wife is Retarded, (yes, not very PC, and it’s shocking it’s been allowed to remain in existence), she performs the film’s one and only fart joke.
Listen, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Leslie sits around hoping everyone everywhere wants to bang her.
And she has done her share of sexy magazine spreads for those whose minds go no deeper when it comes to attractive women.
But sources say, she thinks farts are funny and doesn’t care if that kills your erection.
She’s still friends with her Popular co-stars.
While it wasn’t her first role on television, Leslie’s turn as Brooke McQueen on The WB’s short-lived Popular was her first time cast as a series regular and the role that sprung her into the limelight. (Along with show creator Ryan Murphy.)
Over the next years, she would be cast in a couple of studio films, do a stint on ER, and then it was off to the races.
More than twenty years after that breakout role, Leslie remains friends with some of her Popular co-stars. And I’m not talking low-key social media friends. I’m talking going out for drinks and supporting each other’s careers sort of friends.
When I met Leslie after Reasons to Be Happy in New York, she told me Carly Pope and Tamara Mello had been there the night before. And she effuses about Carly and their friendship every chance she gets.
We all knew Brooke and Sam were meant to be.
She’s a goddamn chameleon.
Yes, all actors are. And, like all actors, Leslie has been typecast far too often. In her case, it’s usually in the role of hot love interest.
Like I imagine the casting call for Christine Everhart in Iron Man had this line in the character description –
Must look good waking up in a sheet.
But when she gets her hands on a project that actually gives her something to do, she disappears into it like a startled meerkat into a burrow.
Her comedy, her action, her crazy are all equally believable. Simply put, she’s really good at what she does, and she doesn’t get nearly enough credit for it.
Anyway, I’m obviously a fan, and I am super stoked about Jupiter’s Legacy.