Going Back to Noir: An Interview with Sebastian Gutierrez, Writer and Director of JETT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRMwbzmvkmQ JETT is Cinemax’s newest crime drama. A fun and fast-paced, noir series that centers on Daisy “Jett” Kowalski (played by Carla Gugino) as she tries to balance her criminal and personal life. JETT was created, written, directed, and executive produced by Sebastian Gutierrez. We here at Black Nerd Problems had a chance to sit and talk with him, before the series premiere on June 14. Black Nerd Problems: As a stylized heist series, JETT sort of hearkens back to some of your early works, like Judas Kiss and Hotel Noir. What was the inspiration to go back to the genre with JETT? Sebastian Gutierrez: That’s a really good question. You know, push comes to shove, if you put a gun to my head (or not a gun to my head) and ask “what do you like writing about?” I always wanna write Elmore Leonard inspired, noir-ish, banter-y, caper, heist-y type stuff. Noir is definitely my favorite genre so I always gravitate towards that. And by noir, I don’t mean Bojangles and people smoking cigarettes. I mean drama, like you and I talking right now. Then stakes get really high and then there’s melodrama and then the only way to solve the problem is with a gun in the hand. It’s not necessarily really dark. JETT is playful even though the violence has consequences. BNP: So Carla Gugino is one of your long-term collaborators. Did you have her in mind when you developing the series? Sebastian: Yes. Basically, this came from a life time of reading crime novels a…