From The Help to Take Shelter, It's Jessica Chastain's Banner Year

Written by Brad Balfour Saturday, 14 January 2012 10:31

Film and the Arts - Interviews

When actress Jessica Chastain attended the Sundance Film Festival more than a year ago, making the rounds for the film Take Shelter, she spoke on a panel for The Creative Coalition. The focus was squarely on her co-star Michael Shannon, who had been graced with an Oscar nom -- and hardly on the 30-year-old newcomer.

Boy have times changed. In the span of about a year, Chastain’s profile has risen to the top thanks to the deluge of films featuring this new It Girl and drawing critical acclaim. 

Though appearances in such films as Tree of Life, Take Shelter, Corialanus and The Debt, to mention four, she has captured both public and critical attention. But it was The Help that garnered three crucial nominations including one for Chastain in the Best Supporting Actress Oscar category.

Prompted by this dazzling spotlight, I culled the following Q&A from sundry roundtables and press conferences.

Q: How many movies are you in this year, or are you just in everything?

JC: I'm in everything.

Q: Who would've thought it?

JC: Not me. I like to joke with people that you have to go out of your way to not see a film that I'm not in this year. You have to really try hard. I'm that girl, Jessica Chastain, and you have to make an effort.

Q: Did you set out to do all these films, or is this a surprise to you?

JC: A surprise. I always knew that I was going to be an actor, but I didn't go the route of like, "I'm going to be famous." I didn't move to Los Angeles. I went to Juilliard. I was doing theater. I really love acting.

I'm a huge fan of actors. I was a huge fan of Michael Shannon. I'm a huge fan of most of the people that I work with. I always try to work with actors that are better than me, [who] will teach me something.

I love filmmakers. I geek out whenever I meet someone. Who did I meet recently and I just absolutely geeked out? I've geeked out for Meryl Streep and made a complete ass of myself. I will always do that.

And so I've never felt like, "Oh, this was my path." But I would be happy doing Off Broadway for the rest of my life, of course if I could eat, as long as I was acting. I'm an actor. That's my job in life.

I have a feeling that when you approach something with that mentality, that's when success comes. I didn't have a game plan. I wasn't like, "Okay, if I do this then this will lead to this and this." It was just, "I'm going to do this film. "One thing goes to another thing, goes to another thing. It's about trying to be a better actor, trying to learn more from everyone that I can. My first film, Salome: "I get to act with Al Pacino. We're going to work on it for a long time. There's no money in this film and I'm going to be eating Top Ramen for a long, long time. But I will have Al Pacino as my acting teacher."

Q: How long has it been from Salome to whatever the last film was?

JC: Four and a half years -- 11 films in four and a half years, plus a TV film for BBC, Poirot, Murder on the Orient Express. Plus, I did a play for nine months.

Q: Can you believe Take Shelter was number one for three week

JC: I know, and The Debt [was] number two. This only from a girl who [had] none of her movies come out and now my movies are out.

Tree of Life was at Cannes, and Take Shelter was at Cannes, and they both amazingly, shockingly, won the top prize in their categories.

And I was in another film, The Wettest County, that there is a bidding war for.

I've got a Palme d'Or for Tree of Life. So I had this great, larger than life Cannes experience.

Q: Do you go and see these movies after they're done and out there?

JC: Yeah. I got to the movie theater and no one recognizes that it's me.

Q: But what about now?

JC: No, never. I went to The Help the second week that it was in the movie theater. I went with two of my friends because they wanted to see it.

I was like, "Oh, sure, we'll go together." They were like, "Really? Are you sure?" I said, "Yeah. No one will know it's me." I sat there the whole time and no one knew.

In The Help, let's just be honest, I'm the eye candy. In real life, I was in jeans and a sweater and no makeup and people would be like, "There's no way that's the same girl.

Q: Do you see something through all your films that you think you get or understand about characters?

JC: I do. One thing that I definitely see is that each character teaches me something about myself that I didn't know. I don't like to play the same kind of character over and over again because if I do, it makes me wonder if I'm just playing myself, who I am, over and over again.

Each character is a part of me, but they're a part of me in a way that I didn't know was there. Celia from The Help could absolutely be so different from me. But when playing her, I got to find this intense desire to love, but then also kind of this isolation at the same time.

This is going to sound like I'm crazy, now, because it's like I'm going to have all these personalities. I'm one of those people that has a hundred different personalities, and I get to bring them forward when I act -- like Sally Field in Sybil, right? I'm Sybil.

Q: Michael Shannon talked about how you two were thrown into Take Shelter and had to be family. How do you become a family?

JC: That's tough, yeah, because I knew of Michael Shannon from his performances. Let‛s look at Bug. Let‛s look at Revolutionary Road. He's a very intense actor. He's a big presence. He's physically big.

I'd never met him before. I was a little intimidated by the idea that Jeff Nichols said that this movie was about marriage and faith, so we really need to see the strong marriage.

Mike and I met the day before we started shooting. The very first day of shooting, we shot one of the last scenes, when they're in the doctor's office.

I was like, "Jeff, what are you doing to me?" I realized as soon as I met him, "I need to get rid of any awkwardness. I can't allow myself to be embarrassed. I can't take my time to get to know him. I just have to absolutely, from the very beginning, throw myself at him."

So I saw him and I was like, "Hey!" and I gave him a big hug. Every time I saw him, I would give him a hug. I really made sure that I was physically comfortable touching him, grabbing his arm, giving him hugs, because Samantha would be. So I needed to be, too, immediately off the bat.

The wonderful thing about Mike is that when you get to know him, you realize, "You're not tough at all." He's a softie.

I've worked with a lot of men -- Al Pacino, Sean Penn, and I just worked with Tom Hardy. These guys, who are these intense actors, you're a little like, "Don't say anything to upset them or make them mad." And then you realize when you get to know these guys, you're like, "You're not tough at all. It's all a front because you're all like teddy bears."

Q: Can you talk about working and collaborating with Tova Stewart, who plays Hannah?

JC: That was great. I had taken some sign language lessons before meeting her because she's completely deaf and her mother and father are as well. I wanted to communicate with her as much as I could. I wanted to be the person on set she felt really safe with, that we could bond.

From the very first time that we met, I think that we played with a bunny. She has an amazing laugh. I could communicate, like, "Are you scared? Are you nervous?" I knew "how are you" and "it's nice to meet you" -- different things that I learned how to say, and she could teach me as well. So she became my teacher in sign language.

She's also a really brave kid because, even the scene in the fish fry that has that explosion, I wanted her to know that Mike was going to be fighting with someone else. She was like, okay, but she can't hear anything and so she's already feeling a little off kilter.

We did the rehearsal once, and she was like, "I'm done. I don't need to be here. We're done," and then she watched from the sidelines as we filmed other angles.

You see in the film that she wanted to come back, and she did. But you see -- the first time, I think -- when he gets shoved, her arms immediately go like that to me and I grab her and pick her up and take her away.

Working with kids and dogs is my favorite because you have no idea what they're going to do.

Q: What about working with Terrence Malick in Tree of Life?

JC: I worked with him twice. I was shooting The Help with Sissy Spacek. Her husband is Jack Fisk. He does all of Terrence Malick's production design, and so she was telling Jack, "Oh, my God, you have to see what Jessica is playing in The Help. This is crazy what she's doing."

Then I'd be talking to Terry and I'd hear, like, "Jessica, I'm hearing about your character from The Help. It's very funny." Then he said, "You should come to the set for a visit with everyone." He was shooting in Oklahoma, and I said "Absolutely."

When you work on a Terrence Malick film, you're all family. I wanted to see everyone. Then right before I showed up, he was like, "Would you like to play a part?"

I was like, "Yes." But that's what makes me feel like I don't know if that part will be in the movie. I think it was just kind of justifying my trip.

Q: You're playing a mother in Take Shelter and also in Terrence Malick's film. What order did you do the films in?

JC: Terrence Malick first, because Sarah Green produced [Tree of Life] and she executive produced Take Shelter.

Q: But you really had to come up with a subtle performance without saying a lot. What was the challenge of doing that?

Well, yeah, for Terrence Malick it was great because I knew that it was going to be a different style of acting. At the audition process, I auditioned many, many times, and then at my very last audition, there was this speech where I was talking to the husband about grief.

At the beginning of the film, the mother is experiencing grief and there was this long speech. So I was saying this whole thing, doing the audition. Then Terry said, "That's really great, Jessica. Can you do it now without the words? Do the exact same speech."

That's a tough thing. At first the actor hears that and thinks, "Oh, my gosh, how do I do that?" Then immediately I thought, "This man believes that I can do that. So if I think these thoughts perhaps the camera will pick up on that." That was a really good lesson for me on film acting.

Since then, I've realized that sometimes it's more interesting when you don't say how you feel because if you just feel it, the camera sees it anyway. Also, I like that it makes the audience lean forward rather than you just serving it to them.

Q: And working with Chloe Moretz?

JC: Oh, I love Chlo. I worked with her in Texas Killing Fields. I absolutely love that girl. We actually didn't have any scenes together in that movie, but we hung out a lot because we were the only girls on that set and I was very protective of her.

At the very first dinner, we were with everyone and there was some language going on at the table. Of course I was like, "All right, that's it. We need a curse jar. We need to take care of this situation. This is not appropriate behavior."

But she's, like, "Really, Jessica? A curse jar?" She's beyond her years, I think, and I would love to work with her again in something where actually we do get scenes together.

Q: Can you talk about working with John Hillcoat on The Wettest County In the World?

JC: The genius John Hillcoat. I found out about this film before The Road even came out. I was a big John Hillcoat fan from The Proposition. He actually went to a screening of The Debt years ago, and then I went to The Road. I have been silently unknown and I've been really wanting to play this role and all the different incarnations that it had.

So I had a meeting with him. After the meeting, the script was sent to me and I loved the character of Maggie, which is the character that I play in the film.

To be able to work with John was very exciting to me. John and Jeff [Nichols] and Terrence Malick are directors that I feel like could call me any time and I'd be so happy to work with them.

All of my scenes in that film are with Tom Hardy, and a lot with Shia LeBoeuf and Jason Clarke, because my character joins these three brothers. That was another very exciting set to be on. People would show up even when they weren't called in to work, just to sit at the monitor and watch the acting.

It's a 1930's film, like a gangster film, about moonshine. I play this really badass girl from Chicago. She's on the run and she ends up in a love affair with Tom Hardy's character. His character is very, very good at violence, but not so good with the ladies. That's where he's a bit of a bumbling…he doesn't know quite what to do. She's very good with the men. So, it was a very exciting movie to work on.

Q: You also were in Coriolanus, directed by Ralph Fiennes.

JC: Yes. Didn't he do a good job directing?

Q: That must've been a great opportunity for you, working with Vanessa Redgrave, too, on that film.

JC: I know. It was another thing where I was like, "Okay, I get to be in a room and watch Vanessa Redgrave do Shakespeare."

Q: It's one of the most compelling female roles that Shakespeare wrote.

JC: I know. Mine is kind of like the typical Shakespearean female.

Q: You've done Desdemona and then Coriolanus. What else do you want to do in Shakespeare?

JC: I'd love to play Rosalind.

Q: In The Debt, you had to walk a very fine line between being attentive and not seeming nurturing. What was it like to feed a Nazi?

JC: Oh gosh. What was so wonderful about working with Jesper [Christensen] is he's such a great man and he's so kind. Actually, I was kind of hoping when I would meet him that he wouldn't be -- maybe kind of a son of a bitch.

But he's actually really lovely, and because he's a brilliant actor he could just switch it on and off. I thought he brought so much complexity and humanity to the character that it really creates bits of doubt in Rachel whether or not he is a monster or if they're treating him as an animal.

But during those scenes, I just tried to think the thought that the character would think. There's so much going on, so a lot of it would be "Don't talk to him. Don't listen to him, don't talk to him." But then as you're taking a lot in, then you have moments where you think "I'm not afraid of you." 

There's so much of what that scene was, having a great scene partner and reacting to how wonderful Jesper is. I had worked so hard on my backstory of where Rachel had come from and what she brings into the picture that I was able then to just be present in the moment for what was happening between us.

Q: What were you feeding him?

JC: Oatmeal. Oh yeah, he ate a lot of oatmeal.

Q: Did he have any choice? Like was there a menu?

JC: Oh no, I don't think so.

Q: You do a lot of physical scenes, but then you do a lot of scenes where you're speaking with just your eyes and your face. Which one is more difficult?

JC: I'm an actor who loves so much when I'm given the opportunity to try and convey something without dialogue. I love that because it means that I have to be present and I have to be really in the moment.

It has to be real [as to] what the circumstances are. And nothing forces me to be absolutely present than when I don't have dialogue to convey how I feel.

So I guess I would say that the fight scenes were more challenging, because in my personal life I'm not a fighter. I've never thrown a punch. So I went through four months of [training] and actually learned how to punch someone without hurting my wrist.

And to be honest, I became a bit of a monster at home. Whenever I would come back from training, all my friends would be like "Come on! Come at me!"

Q: You and Helen [Mirren] got together and came up with a backstory for Rachel. How was it connecting with Helen?

JC: Well, it's funny because when I first met John, I was saying "Oh I'm perfect for this part. I'm great for this. She's 5'4, I'm 5'4" -- I was saying everything to doggedly go after the role.

And then once I found out that I was cast, immediately there's the feeling of, how on earth am I going to share a role with Helen Mirren, who really is like a goddess? She's a Dame and a broad and just amazing.

So in the very beginning of our first session, I was a little intimidated. There were moments were I felt like, okay, Jessica, speak up. Don't be too shy.

But she has a wonderful air about her. She started in the theater, she's a theater actress and a film actress and rehearsal is very important to her. So being able to sit down and work with her on the accent -- Joan Washington is a great dialect coach. We worked on different mannerisms that Rachel might share.

I think the backstory was very important because it created the spine for the character that follows us throughout the film.

So even though I didn't have scenes acting with Helen, I still feel like I worked with her.

Q: You had to do lots of mean things that maybe went against your own personal feelings. How did you handle that duality?

JC: As an actress I always want to play a character that has duality within them. I did a lot of research, actually, about the Mossad, how it came to be and different missions that they had gone on.

[On] some of these missions, a lot of mistakes were made, and a lot of successes, and a lot of quick thinking -- creating weapons out of nothing, and finding themselves in situations.

What I love so much about this film is, it's not like a typical action film where your action heroes are superhuman. I feel like there's more realism in it. Characters can be incredibly strong but also vulnerable at the same time, and that creates the conflict and the drama.

But you do need a good leader and director to be able to do that. I knew when first meeting with John [Madden] that this was absolutely something that I wanted to do because he would give me the support and lead me in the right direction to be able to do that.

And also, John directs both theater and film and he lives in that world as well. I think it would have been a very different Rachel had another director directed. It would have been more action. I think it wouldn't have been the human story that he's created.

Q: How was it having two love interests?

JC: If I have two love interests where it's Sam Worthington and Marton Csokas -- thank you, John Madden. You always get nervous as an actress when you're playing a character where there's going to be a romance with the actor. You think "Oh please, do not be a jerk." We had a dinner, actually, at John's house. There's a lot of pressure because here I'm going to meet everybody -- and I think the table was even situated where I was sitting between the two of them.

John's there and Chris is there, our producer's there, everyone's there and they're kind of watching the situation. And five minutes into the dinner, I thought "This is going to be awesome," because not only are they of course incredibly handsome and funny and smart, but in the film I find their characters heartbreaking and I love that there is, in a sense, the love triangle. 

You can see really redeeming qualities in both of these men. Sometimes as an audience member, if I go see a movie and there's a love triangle, it's like one is the jerk, like the absolute opposite. And I think in the hands of lesser actors and a lesser director, it wouldn't have turned out this way. I had absolute chemistry with both those men.

Q: And you're working with Sam again in Texas Killing Fields.

JC: Yeah, we became great friends on this set. He was like my action coach and he nicknamed me Tommy Cruise.

There's a scene where I'm running, and he was teasing me -- when I first ran, I ran like Gumby, like I had my arms by my side. And he mentioned Tom Cruise, you have to really pump your arms. There's no one who runs better than Tom Cruise. He runs in every movie and he's fantastic. But now after working with Sam, I have a run that rivals Tom Cruise.

Q: How did you get involved with The Help?

JC: I had read the script, loved, loved, loved the script. And I absolutely connected with Celia. I was bullied a lot when I was a little kid, and she was heartbreaking to me. So the idea of playing Celia to me was really beautiful. I really love her zest and love for life. I went in to auditions and my first meeting with Tate Taylor, and I read with Octavia Spencer, the glorious woman sitting to my right. Our very first scene that we read, the scene just ended, and it’s that moment just before you break character, and we’re looking at each other, smiling, and she says "I love you" and I said "I love you!" And from that moment on, it was like "I have to do this part." I fought for this part. I screen-tested, I followed the actors. That’s my favorite thing with doing movies, it’s working with people. And I knew after meeting [Octavia] that I had to work with her. We’ve had a film come out since, but we were both the unknowns. We were the ones that really fought for the roles. Maybe that’s why we love each other so much.

Q: You were bullied as a kid, what was that like?

JC: I was always just a little awkward, a redhead, very freckly. Kids like to make fun of people who are different. I had short red hair and wore workout boots, so I got teased really badly for having red hair and being different.

There was a lot of teasing and making fun of, but not community or finding friends until I found theater. If you watch that show Glee, they all find each other and connect. That’s what it was like for me!

Q: What do you think about the issue of racism today?

JC: I remember the election, you look at the debates with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and the comments being thrown out at both sides. There were sexist comments about Hillary and racist comments about Obama, so it’s really shocking to me to think we haven’t progressed further than we are now. But I feel, too, that every day is a step in the right direction.

Q: Do you feel your movie helped that?

JC: It was great for me, because I think Celia is such a gorgeous person and has so much to give the world.

She grew up in Sugar Ditch, Tennessee. I did the research into what it was like growing up there in that time period. It was predominantly black. So she’s a woman that’s color blind and she doesn’t understand why can’t we be friends, why can’t I have lunch with you, why can’t I hug you.

For her, [racism] doesn’t even come into play. She thinks it’s the most ridiculous thing. So there was a joy in that for me to play. I didn’t have to play someone who’s aware of racism and lives in that world, because Celia refuses to live in that world because it’s no part of her.

Q: It seems like a very female-centric film. Was there a different atmosphere on the set?

JC: Yeah, it was a lot of camaraderie. I’ve made seven films in the past four years, [and] I’ve had all these co-stars over the years like Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Tom Hardy, Sam Worthington, Ralph Fiennes -- all these alpha men.

But I really do believe that the greatest love story in any film I’ve made is the love story between Celia and Minnie. And working on this set with women, you don’t realize how barren that landscape is until you go and work on that film and go "Hey, all these actors… wait a minute, I’m not the only girl here!"

It was such a great experience that I hope that I will be afforded more. We were really supportive of each other, and I believe the movie turned out the way it did because we all had each other’s back, and we were all each other’s cheerleader.

Q: How did you prepare for your role?

JC: Well, I ate a lot of food. That was fun. I would microwave some vegan ice cream and chug that down when I wasn’t gaining. I remember when I first came to rehearsal, they were like "You haven’t gained enough weight" and I’m like "I’m trying to gain weight!"

So day after day it was eating and eating and eating. [Then] I see the film, so thank god I did. I mean, hello! Celia is a woman! So that was great.

I actually went to Sugar Ditch, Tennessee. It’s very different, of course, than when Celia was there.

I got very lucky at a party. It was the very beginning of rehearsals, and I saw this woman and I thought, she looks just like Celia would be. I sat down and started talking, and she said, "Well, how’ ya doin’?"

I said, "So what are you doing here?" and she said, "Well, Kay is my daughter, and I’m here to support her." And I said. "I’m playing Celia" and she said, "Oh, good, that’s a good part."

I thought, I have to get her voice, because that’s [Celia's] voice. So I called [her] and said how can we do this? You got to help me! So we took her out to lunch and she had no idea that I think she’s Celia. I was recording her voice and saying "Can you say this line?"

Then when we were filming the benefit scene, I’m standing there in all my glory in that sparkly pink dress and hanging out with all the extras. She comes up with all her friends and points to me and goes, "I just want you all to know that I inspired this lady right here."

So by that point she realized she was half the inspiration for Celia.

I also watched a lot of Marilyn Monroe films and read her biography, because in the novel she’s more than once connected to Marilyn.

Q: You and Octavia were both unknowns when you started this movie. How have things changed?

JC: She came to the Tree of Life premiere in LA. Yeah, there has been a change, but when we made the film, we were like, "Pay attention to us! We’re in the film!"

Q: Are you going to move back to New York and do theater? What play did you do?

JC: I did Desdemona in Othello. We rehearsed in Vienna and we performed at the Vienna Festival and then we performed in Germany. Then we took some time off and then we did The Public Theater. I would love to play Ophelia. 

Q: Do you want to come back and live here again?

JC: I want to. I'm actually looking at a couple of plays right now. It's tough when I really, really want to, but the only thing is that theater is scarier. It's harder than film because I am such a sensitive, scared person, and when you're doing theater, if you're with a director or an actor or something where it's not quite working…

In film, if it doesn't quite work and you're in it, you're like, "Oh, this isn't quite working," you have time before that movie comes out. You can go away and have a new life and the movie comes out and you're separate from it, from the audience‛s reaction.

[When] it's a play, If you're in [a show] where like something isn't right or the energy is off with a director or an actor, you have to go through that in front of people. You're constantly getting the feedback of an audience and so you're much more vulnerable as an actor when you're doing theater.

Q: Are you looking at plays on or off Broadway?

JC: One on. The problem with Broadway is that it's such a long-time commitment, as it should, and actually I've never done a play for that long because even with Othello we had breaks. On Broadway, you don't have breaks.

Q: But they offer someone with stature a six-month run.

JC: Yeah, but that's still a long time with eight shows a week.

Q: And you can make four more movies in that time.

JC: Yeah, and also, I'm the kind of person [who] when I'm doing a play, and even when I'm working, I don't do anything else. When I'm working, I just work.

So when I was doing Othello here in New York, in my days I couldn't do anything too stressful. I would save my energy for the evening.

In a way, you become a prisoner to your role. So for me, it's the time commitment. I look at it that way, like, "Am I okay not leaving my house and just going to the theater for six months?"

Q: So when you do a movie do you go out clubbing?

JC: No, never, never. If I'm working the next day, you're not going to see me doing any of that. I'm all about the work when I'm doing it.

Q: Would you ever do TV?

JC: Yeah. I've done TV. I did a lot of guest stars. I was on Law & Order. I was on tons of stuff.

Q: Would you do a series?

JC: Yeah. I'm begging for it. Every time I see Boardwalk Empire, I'm like, "I want to play a recurring role."

For me it's the thing of, like, I'm more interested in a recurring role than I think a series regular right now, because if I had a family I would say, "Let‛s do a series regular."

But I love stretching myself and challenging myself, and so the idea of playing the same character for six years is a bit like ugh.

Q: Are you choosing scripts differently now?

JC: I choose things that are completely different. So the reason I also really connected to Celia is that it’s very different from Tree of Life. I like things where I can do a physical transformation, and I love accents and voices, and I’m never going to play the same character twice. Unless they decide to make The Help 2.

Each time I got to a set, everyone acted like, "Are you excited? Is it your first time?" So I guess the good thing is, that won’t happen anymore.

I guess the only difference that I notice now is that I am getting scripts that are very exciting to read and that is a wonderful thing that’s been afforded me.