Jessica Alba Returning To Acting In A Netflix Movie
Jessica Alba is coming to Netflix and will star in an action movie. It is a relatively new move for the actress in a different genre.
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Jessica Alba is cranking up the action in her first physical role since Barely Lethal, a Variety exclusive reveals. The star of L.A.’s Finest is being recalled to active duty in Trigger Warning, an upcoming Netflix thriller about a down-on-her-luck military vet suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Alba’s character takes possession of her grandfather’s bar after completing her tours, and with it, the disconcerting truth behind his untimely passing. The hard-nosed action epic was written by Josh Olson (A History of Violence) and John Brancato (Terminator Salvation, Catwoman), with acclaimed Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya directing. For her work on 2008’s Fiksi and 2017’s Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts, she won the Citra Award for Best Director twice. The second was Indonesia’s official entry for 2019’s Academy Awards. Jessica Alba is executive producing Trigger Warning.
The news comes fresh off the heels of other high-budget action flicks developed by Netflix, like Mark Wahlberg’s Spenser Confidential and Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction; the latter already has a sequel (and a potential spinoff) on the way. The streaming giant recently spent $200 million on the live-action adaptation of Mark Greaney’s The Gray Man, starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans in the lead roles. Joe and Anthony Russo, who made Extraction, are developing The Gray Man via their own film company, AGBO, with the intention of building a blockbuster franchise out of it. Sources close to Deadline claim Trigger Warning is shaping up to be another franchise starter, and Netflix executives are confident Jessica Alba could fill out that role nicely.
Aside from Jessica Alba’s Trigger Warning, Netflix also green-lit Our Man From Jersey, starring Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry, and Ball and Chain, with Jungle Cruise co-stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt headlining.
The Spy Kids star has diverged significantly from acting since her first child, daughter Honor Marie, was born in 2008. Jessica Alba launched The Honest Company in 2011, specializing in the manufacture and sale of eco-friendly household items, beauty brands, and baby products devoid of “health-compromising” compounds. It’s an impressive attempt at ethical consumerism, a subculture of neo-capitalism that prioritizes public health, environmental sustainability, and corporate social responsibility over profit, and gave Jessica Alba something constructive to do while rethinking the specifics of her acting career. “I am a big advocate of being consumer first. I built my entire brand around a consumer-first sentiment,” she tells Deadline. The Honest Company is worth $1.26 million in 2021.
The vivacious 40-year-old made a partial return to acting in 2019 with the Sony television series L.A.’s Finest, a Bad Boys spinoff she starred in and executive produced. Jessica Alba has been busy producing her own material in recent years, with Disney+ collaboration Parenting Without Borders currently in the works. Speaking about the last 10 years, she adds: “I dabbled a bit and I have a couple of things that I’ve been developing over the years and they’ve gotten to a place where I’m going to go into production.” According to Alba, Netflix’s Trigger Warning remains among her top priorities. “I’m excited to do it,” she gushes. “It’s fun. It uses a totally different piece of my brain, of my soul. Being able to jump into that.”
Jessica Alba was last seen in L.A.’s Finest playing Navy vet and Los Angeles Police Department detective Nancy McKenna, opposite Gabrielle Union’s Special Agent Syd Burnett, Marcus Burnett’s (Martin Lawrence) sister from the Bad Boys movie franchise. The show was cancelled last year after only two seasons. What’s next for the Fantastic Four star after Trigger Warning? Perhaps a cameo part in another Marvel movie?
