Jessica Szohr, 33, may have nabbed a sweet role in Gossip Girl as Vanessa Abrams and now, Lt. Talla Keyali in The Orville, but you can’t always get what you want! “There’s a lot of ups and downs and roles you want or scripts to get made or to work with these people or do that,” Jessica EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife at the Mammoth Film Festival, which ran between Feb. 7-11 in Mammoth Lakes, California. Jessica continued, “And then there’s other times where you’re like, ‘Whoa! Now I’m working with one of the most intelligent, creative, amazing people in the industry,’ so it’s very…I don’t know.” But she does know there’s one role that got away from her!Jessica confessed to HollywoodLife that the role of Bonnie Carlson in Big Little Lies, played by Zoë Kravitz, is one she would’ve loved to try on! The actress didn’t tell us if she auditioned for the role and we reached out to Jessica’s rep for more details, but didn’t receive a response by the time of publication. “Yeah, I really liked that role,” Jessica told us, and yet had nothing but praise for Zoë’s potrayal of the free-spirited character! “But she killed it, and she slayed, and the show’s great, and she’s rad,” Jessica continued. “So. At least when you watch something like that and someone kills it like that, you’re like, ‘Okay.’”While we’re 100 percent behind that positive critique, we do have to point out that Jessica’s character in Gossip Girl isn’t that far off from Bonnie in Big Little Lies! Both are individuals who challenge the norms in their ritzy communities (Vanessa’s edginess clashes with the posh Upper East Side, while Bonnie’s bohemian lifestyle as a spiritual yoga instructor defies the carefully constructed lives of the Monterey moms). Even though Zoe’s execution of the dynamic wows Jessica, she’s not always quite so impressed with who ends up snatching other coveted roles! “There’s other times that you don’t get a role and you watch it, you’re like, ‘…okay, someone messed up.’” The shade!Most recently, Jessica was seen partying at Beyonce and JAY-Z‘s post-Oscars party with Jamie Foxx on Feb. 24! The hangout got people talking, but Jessica shot down any romance rumors by revealing she’s actually had a boyfriend “for months” — get more details on Jessica’s new man, here.
