Jessica Chastain News
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Updated
02-03-12
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What are Jessica's newest projects? Check Jessica Chastain News frequently to keep up. “Full Story” links to the original on-line news article. All links here are viewable at no charge, though some may require a free registration. See also Jessica Chastain's web page on Chastain Central and her film reviews at Jessica Chastain Reviews.
Jessica Wins Awards and Nominations in Run-up to Oscars
02-03-12 Jessica Chastain Intervention Letter
(NewNowNext)
You see the problem though Jess, don't you. Let's take a quick count … 15 movies. 15 movies in two years. Your pal Terrence? Tree of Life was only the fifth film he has directed, and he has been at this since 1973. Or what about your boy Sean Penn? 15 films since 2000. That's twelve years, not two…This is not a 'strike while the iron is hot' sort of thing. You are super talented and will remain super talented and everyone will want to work with you, forever. So please take a vacation. Go somewhere tropical or somewhere cold or just hole up and read a book but whatever you do, please do it soon. If for no other reason, you are starting to make the rest of us look really, really lazy. And no one likes that in a person. Have fun on Oscar night.
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02-02-12 Jessica Joins Cast of The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby
(Screen International)
Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain and rising Australian star Joel Edgerton have signed on to The Disappearance Of Eleanor Rigby: His and The Disappearance Of Eleanor Rigby: Hers - a double project that will shoot back-to-back offering alternate perspectives from the male and female protagonists.
William Hurt is in talks to join the love story, which follows a troubled New York marriage between a restaurant owner and his wife, who chooses to return to college…Ned Benson wrote the two scripts and will direct both films, which are conceived as stand-alone entities although Myriad CEO Kirk D'Amico stressed that both titles together would offer a more satisying exploration of the character…D'Amico said. "It doesn't matter which script you read first; you absolutely want to read the other perspective."
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02-02-12 Jessica Confused with Kate Walsh
(People Magazine)
"I love that people don't know me. I was just at the airport, [and] there's a guy with a camera asking me a couple of questions. I get into my car and I hear him say to someone else, 'I don't know ... Kate Walsh?'"
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02-01-12 Code Name: Geronimo Competes with Kill bin Laden
(Collider.com)
While most everyone's eyes are on Kathryn Bigelow's (The Hurt Locker) untitled drama about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, another film about the Navy SEAL team tasked with bringing the terrorist leader down has assembled its cast. Variety reports that Anson Mount (TV's Hell on Wheels), Cam Gigandet (Twilight), Freddy Rodriguez (Planet Terror), and William Fichtner (Black Hawk Down) are set to star in Code Name: Geronimo. John Stockwell (Turistas) is onboard to direct the actioner from a script by Kendall Lampkin…Geronimo is currently filming in New Mexico.
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02-01-12 Wettest County Coming in August
(Franklin News Post)
Mr. Weinstein had scheduled the release for April but delayed it to a time when no other major films are scheduled to be released. That release date also allows a showing at the Venice International Film Festival, and it capitalizes on Mr. Hardy's performance in "The Dark Knight Rises," which is being released in July. All this will help promote the film. "Wettest County" is also on the list of the 20 most anticipated movies of 2012. The movie was actually filmed in Georgia.
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01-31-12 When Star-struck Jessica Meets Meryl Streep
(People)
So which actor did Chastain have a blush-worthy run-in with while she was starring in a play in New York? None other than veteran leading lady Meryl Streep. "I was in the lobby with some friends of mine, and I look over, and I said, 'Is that Meryl Streep?' " she recalls. "And as I said it, she turned around and started walking toward me." That was the moment "everything got kind of foggy," she says. "She went, 'Jessica,' and she grabbed my hands and she was saying beautiful things about the play and my performance." Chastain's self-proclaimed "embarrassing" reaction? "Because I was so shocked by it, all I did was I held her hands and went, 'Thank you, thank you. It means so much to me that you came,' " she says. "And I walked away."
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01-31-12 Jessica Shares Front Cover of Vanity Fair
(Fashionista)
Vanity Fair's 2012 Hollywood issue is here, and it's jam-packed with stylish and talented actresses. This is the first-ever VF Hollywood cover that Mario Testino's shot, and the three page fold-out cover features Rooney Mara, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Elizabeth Olsen, Adepero Oduye, Shailene Woodley, Paula Patton, Felicity Jones, Lily Collins and Brit Marling. VF's fashion director, Jessica Diehl, styled the ladies in an Art Deco/Jazz Age fantasy, and the results are pretty spectacular… You can check out a behind-the-scenes video from the shoot below, and go here to see individual video interviews…Jessica Chastain.
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01-30-12 Tate Taylor Honored with Writers Guild of America's Paul Selvin Award for The Help
(Screen International)
The Writers Guild Of America will honour The Help screenwriter and director with the award in recognition of "work that touches on the constitutional rights and civil liberties." The West Coast awards ceremony will be held on Feb 19 in Hollywood…"Tate Taylor's adapted screenplay for The Help artfully distils the empowering essence and core emotional truths of Kathryn Stockwell's novel, translating it into a film that forcefully illustrates how ordinary people can impact positive social change." WGAW president Christopher Keyser said.
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01-30-12 Jessica's Favorite Movie: The English Patient
(NextMovie)
"My favorite film is "The English Patient" so when I got to play Ralph Fiennes' wife in his stage adaptation of "Coriolanus", I was like 'YES!' "I love that movie so much because I was really young when I saw it and those actors were so brave."
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01-30-12 The Help Takes Top Honors at SAG Awards
(CNN)
"The Help," a movie about the treatment of maids in a Mississippi town during the civil rights era, took top honors at the Screen Actors Guild Awards Sunday night, making it the movie to watch as the Oscar awards approach next month. Viola Davis won the best actress trophy, while Octavia Spencer was given the best supporting actress honor. Both women portrayed maids. "The Help" also won the best cast ensemble SAG award…Davis' best actress win seemed to throw the Oscar competition into a frenzy, since she beat Meryl Streep and Michelle Williams, actresses who won Golden Globes two weeks ago.
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01-30-12 Jessica Presents at SAG Awards
(Chastain Central Announcement)
At the SAG awards on Sunday, just after Betty White accepted the Best Actress award for television's Hot in Cleveland, Jessica presented a section of film clips recognizing SAG members from chapters other than New York and Los Angeles.
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01-30-12 Jessica Sheds Tears of Joy at Viola Davis Best Actress Win
(Daily Mail)
The 46-year-old received a standing ovation and her co-stars Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer were in tears. Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep were also misty-eyed. Davis accepted her award by paying tribute to veteran actress Cicely Tyson. The 78-year-old wept as The Help star said: 'I was eight-years-old when I decided to be an actor and I am just so privileged to be gazing on the beautiful face of the woman who inspired me that beautiful day and that's Cicely Tyson.'
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01-30-12 Jessica Did NOT Answer Phone During Fashion Show
(USA TODAY)
"It was insane," Chastain tells USA TODAY, of hearing the news of her best-supporting-actress nomination via cellphone as she sat front row at the Armani Privé show. But there's one thing The Help star would like to clear up. "I have to tell you, though: It happened before the fashion show," said Chastain, backstage at Sunday night's Screen Actors Guild Awards, after The Help scored the best ensemble cast award (the SAG equivalent of best picture). "Yes, some people think it happened during the show! I would never answer my telephone during a fashion show. It happened before we were even seated." Chastain said the nomination threw her. "I was shocked. I did not expect it in the slightest."
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01-29-12 Jessica Shares in Top SAG Award
(TVbytheNumbers)
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. THE HELP (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures): JESSICA CHASTAIN / Celia Foote, VIOLA DAVIS / Aibileen Clark, BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD / Hilly Holbrook, ALLISON JANNEY / Charlotte Phelan, CHRIS LOWELL / Stuart Whitworth, AHNA O'REILLY / Elizabeth Leefolt, SISSY SPACEK / Missus Walters, OCTAVIA SPENCER / Minny Jackson, MARY STEENBURGEN / Elaine Stein, EMMA STONE / Skeeter Phelan, CICELY TYSON / Constantine Jefferson, MIKE VOGEL / Johnny Foote. Full Story Back to Top
01-29-12 The Help Over The Artist in Surprise Upset
(Alt Film Guide)
The Help won for Best Cast as well. A surprise for those expecting Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist (backed by awards-savvy The Weinstein Company) to win in that category. But whereas The Artist relies heavily on Dujardin's acting abilities, The Help is truly an ensemble movie.
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01-26-12 Jessica and Her Dog
(PETA)
Academy Award-nominee and vegan beauty Jessica Chastain was spotted walking her pooch, who doesn't seem to be slowed down a bit by having only three legs. We wouldn't be surprised if Jessica were an advocate of rescuing!
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01-26-12 Jessica Pursued by Designers
(New York Magazine)
Jessica Chastain, Rooney Mara, Michelle Williams, and Bérénice Bejo are thought to be the most sought-after actresses for labels dressing people for the Oscars. It's like the NFL draft of fashion, where only those in the best shape for playing the game of clothes-wearing will be snatched up by the best teams. Once team Valentino or team Givenchy signs an exclusive with an actress, that label is off the table for everyone else who doesn't want to go to the event naked.
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01-26-12 Jessica and Michelle: Together in a Play (2004) and Nominated for Oscars (2012)
(Broadway Blog)
Remember that moment in your high school play when you looked over at a friend during a particularly compelling moment of The Crucible and said, "You and me, we're going to be at the Oscars together." Sure, it was a stretch…but for some people, it does actually come true. Look at that little old picture to the right. That's Jessica Chastain (nominated for Best Supporting Actress in The Help) and Michelle Williams (nominated for Best Actress in My Week with Marilyn) playing opposite each other in a Williamstown Theatre Festival Production of The Cherry Orchard, circa 2004. At the time, Chastain was an unknown Julliard grad with some episodic TV on her resume and Williams was the other girl on Dawson's Creek. What a difference a few years can make.
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01-26-12 Jessica Chosen to Present at SAG Awards
(TheaterMania.com)
Kathy Bates, Jessica Chastain, George Clooney, Sir Ben Kingsley, Melissa McCarthy, Brad Pitt, Zoe Saldana, Owen Wilson and Kristen Wiig are the most recent additions to the line-up of presenters for the 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. All of them are SAG-nominated for their work in acting categories this year. The awards ceremony will be held on January 29 in Los Angeles and aired live on TNT and TBS.
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01-25-12 Jessica Expects to be Fired from Movie Set
(E! Online)
"I always think I'm going to get fired," Chastain admitted to me at the recent Producers Guild Awards.
Seriously? We'll let her explain…"Everyone keeps telling me you get fired from at least one set in your life, and I haven't been fired yet," explained Chastain…"So now every time I'm on a set, I'm like, 'This could be the one.'…I thought it was going to happen when we were doing The Tree of Life," she said. "I thought it in the first week that I was going to get fired."
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01-25-12 Guess the Celebrity Pet
(www.phillyburbs.com)
Just because this week's pup has a disability doesn't mean that he isn't living the good life with his celebrity owner. This dog belongs to an up-and-coming Hollywood actress who has made big waves this year with several break-out film roles…Do you think you know which celebrity actress owns this three-legged pooch?
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01-25-12 Giorgio Armani Gives Jessica 50 Long-stemmed Roses for Oscar Nomination
(Grazia)
First prize for the most stellar front row was won hands down by Armani Prive. The line up included Cameron Diaz, Jessica Chastain, Ruth Wilson and Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary from Downton Abbey).
Before the show had even started a hysterical whoop went up as Jessica got an e mail saying she'd got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for 'The Help'. Backstage after the show Mr Armani was ready with a bunch of what must have been 50 long stemmed white roses to congratulate her. Now that she had a major red carpet to shop for, had she spotted anything she fancied? 'There were some major carpet dresses in there,' she told us. (Hollywood A Listers call them 'carpet dresses'…that was a new one for me). 'Well there are so few opportunities to wear long it's got to be a gown. I loved the greens.' Perfect with her pale skin and strawberry blonde hair, I thought. 'I loved the embroidered ones but don't want a dress that makes a lot of noise. I'll take some advice from Giorgio.'
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01-24-12 Jessica Chosen as a Directors Guild of America Awards Presenter
(Variety)
The Directors Guild of America has announced presenters for its 64th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards ceremony on Saturday at Hollywood & Highland...presenters include Michael Apted, Berenice Bejo, Jessica Chastain, George Clooney, Jon Cryer, Laura Dern, Jean Dujardin, DGA president Taylor Hackford, Stana Katic, Ben Kingsley, Kathleen Robertson, Octavia Spencer, Betty Thomas, Michelle Williams, Owen Wilson and Deborah Ann Woll.
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01-24-12 Jessica Gets Standing Ovation on Oscar Nomination from Armani Show Crowd
(Huffington Post)
While attending the Armani Prive show in Paris on Tuesday morning, Jessica Chastain got word that she had been nominated for her portrayal of Celia Foote in "The Help" in the Best Supporting Actress category. She was surprised, to say the least, putting her hand over her mouth in sheer joy.
In addition to celebrating with Cameron Diaz, who was sitting next to the actress, Chastain got a standing ovation from the crowd. Pretty good for someone who wasn't even walking on the runway.
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01-24-12 First Responses to Jessica's Oscar Nomination: Cameron Diaz and Other Celebrities
(Women's Wear Daily)
A beaming Cameron Diaz was among the first to congratulate Jessica Chastain at the Armani Privé show in Paris Tuesday for her Academy Award nomination, in the best supporting actress category for her role as Celia Foote in "The Help." "Brava," exclaimed Roberta Armani, clapping her hands, while Livia Firth immortalized the moment by snapping pictures on her mobile phone. The actress said she would spend the next three months working on Kathryn Bigelow's as-yet-untitled thriller about the military's hunt for Osama bin Laden.
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01-24-12 Jessica Nominated for an Oscar!
(CNN)
The nominees for best supporting actress are Melissa McCarthy ("Bridesmaids"), Jessica Chastain ("The Help"), Octavia Spencer ("The Help"), Janet McTeer ("Albert Nobbs") and Berenice Bejo ("The Artist").
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01-24-12 The Help and Tree of Life Win Oscar Nominations
(MARQUEE)
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced their nominees for the 84th Academy Awards. Check out the list below, and see who will take home the Oscar on Sunday, February 26…Best Picture "The Tree of Life" and "The Help"; Actress Viola Davis, "The Help"; Supporting actress Jessica Chastain, "The Help" and Octavia Spencer, "The Help"; Director Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"; Cinematography "The Tree of Life".
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01-24-12 Photo of Jessica Receiving Oscar Call
(TheInsider.com)
Typically the stars are just waking up when the Oscar calls start pouring in. But Best Supporting Actress nominee Jessica Chastain was front row at the Armani Prive show during Paris Fashion Week when her publicist delivered the good news…And that's when Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani snapped this shot! Could she be any cuter right here? Milliseconds away from crying, inches away from Cameron Diaz and moments away from watching a couture parade!
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01-24-12 Jessica Recalls First Meeting with Ralph Fiennes on Set
(stv.tv)
"I remember when I first arrived on set they had started filming. They were actually filming the fight scene where Ralph Fiennes is absolutely covered in blood, all you see is his eyes. "We had scheduled a lunch to talk about Virgilia and Coriolanus. I was just off the plane so I thought, 'Ok, let's talk about this.' And then I show up, he's completely in costume, completely covered in blood, and we're eating, I'm not very talkative, and Ralph says to me, 'Are you alright, you're very quiet, is everything ok?' And I replied, 'Do you know what you look like right now!' "
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01-23-12 Jessica with Jess Weixler at Paris Airport
(The Gossip Girls)
Making her arrival in the City of Lights, Jessica Chastain was spotted at the Roissy Airport in Paris, France on Monday (January 23). Just in time for the Paris Fashion Week festivities, the "Tree of Life" actress looked ever-so-stylish in tall boots, a long coat, hat and sunglasses as she made her way through the terminal with actress gal pal Jess Weixler.
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01-22-12 Jessica Nominated Twice for Supporting Actress by International Cinefile Society
(icsfilm.org)
Winners of the 9th ICS Awards will be announced on February 21, 2012. SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jessica Chastain - Take Shelter; Jessica Chastain - The Tree of Life; Leila Hatami - A Separation; Carey Mulligan - Shame; J. Smith-Cameron - Margaret.
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01-22-12 Brad Pitt Jokingly Compares Jessica's Abundance of Movies to Porn
(USA TODAY)
Chastain, 30, may be one of the most prolific actors working today: In 2011 she had seven films open, and five more are scheduled for release or production in 2012. "Usually an actor has to work in the porn industry to have that kind of success," cracked her Tree of Life co-star Brad Pitt onstage at the Palm Springs Film Festival gala earlier this month.
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01-22-12 Roger Ebert Predicts Jessica will be Nominated for Oscar
(Chicago Sun-Times)
Hollywood nostalgia may be warmly embraced Tuesday morning when the 2012 Academy awards nominations are announced…By proving a popular Golden Globe winner, Octavia Spencer has become a front-runner for best supporting actress for "The Help." Jessica Chastain, who had a sensational year in 2011 with five major performances, will be named -probably for "The Help," however, and not for her best performance, in "The Tree of Life." Shailene Woodley is likely to be nominated as the feisty teenage daughter in "The Descendants," and Berenice Bejo as the overnight sensation who befriends Dujardin's cast-aside silent star in "The Artist." I suspect the fifth nomination will go to Janet McTeer, as a woman who passes as a man in order to hold her job…Immediately after the nominees are announced, Los Angeles ad agencies and billboard companies will go into frenzy of activity, and you can expect to see a great deal of the nominees on every possible talk show. The Oscar ceremony will be held Feb. 26 at the Kodak Pavilion on Hollywood Boulevard, with Billy Crystal as the host for the ninth time.
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01-20-12 Paris Theater Brings Back Memories for Jessica
(Examiner.com)
Q: Are you excited about the Academy Awards? Jessica Chastain: I'm going to have to cross that bridge when I come to it. Everyday is so great. I'm like a kid in a candy store, every day is better than the last. I try not to think too far ahead because then I'm gonna miss this wonderful day, like this moment even being here at the Paris Theater. I used to come here when I was a student at Juilliard and this is one of the most beatuful romantic theaters and to have a premiere here is a great moment for me, so I try to not forget this stuff.
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01-20-12 Directors Jessica Would Like to Work With
(Examiner.com)
Jessica Chastain told reporters on the carpet that some directors she would like to work with are Olivier Assayas, Michael Heneke and Lars von Trier. She says she is obsessed with French actress Isabelle Huppert and would love to work with her. Jessica says she loves to work in other countries because she is a little bit out of her element and she learns more that way.
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01-20-12 Jessica Named Best Supporting Actress by National Society of Film Critics
(Indian Express)
Brad Pitt was picked as best actor for the baseball drama Moneyball as well as The Tree of Life.
Lars von Trier lost out on the best director award for his work on Melancholia to Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life, a mystical period piece which also won the best cinematography prize…The group's awards for best supporting performances went to Albert Brooks, who played a small-time hood in the drama Drive, and Jessica Chastain, who was honoured for her performances in The Tree of Life, Take Shelter and The Help.
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01-19-12 Jessica Drops Horizons in Favor of Kill bin Laden
(RopeofSilicon.com)
The two female roles in the film are for Cruise's wife and for a mysterious woman that forces him to "question everything he knows" after discovering her in a crash-landed pod. There is no information yet as to which role the two ladies have signed on for. Kurylenko was among the first batch of contenders along with Olivia Wilde (TRON: Legacy), Brit Marling (Another Earth) and Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) when Jessica Chastain (The Help). Chastain had to drop out, however, after signing on to star in Kill Bin Laden for Kathryn Bigelow and I think it is safe to assume that's the role Kurylenko has stepped into.
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01-19-12 Cherry Jones Passes The Heiress Role to Jessica
(Broadway.com)
Tony winner Cherry Jones has given the upcoming production her stamp of approval. Jones, who portrayed Catherine Sloper in the 1995 revival of The Heiress and garnered a Tony Award for her performance, says she's "so excited" to see the new mounting starring The Help's Jessica Chastain.
"I saw The Tree of Life and I was so taken with [Jessica Chastain], Jones recently told Broadway.com. "It sounds like terrific casting." Chastain will assume Jones' famous role.
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01-19-12 The Help Dominates Nominations in NAACP Image Awards
(KSN-TV)
The Help looks set to dominate the 2012 NAACP Image Awards after landing eight nominations.
The movie adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's bestselling book of the same name will compete for Outstanding Motion Picture against seven-time nominee Pariah, comedy Tower Heist, Jumping The Broom and The First Grader, while stars Viola Davis and Emma Stone will go head-to-head for the title of Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. The Help co-stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer and Cicely Tyson are also nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actress field… The winners will be unveiled during a Hollywood ceremony on February 17.
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01-18-12 Jessica to Present at Producers Guild Awards
(Hollywood Reporter)
George Clooney, Morgan Freeman and Neil Patrick Harris have been tapped to present at the 23rd annual 2012 Producers Guild Awards. Kathy Bates, Annette Bening, Tobey Maguire, Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Melissa McCarthy, Jason Segel, Sofia Vergara, Evan Rachel Wood and Zachary Quinto will also present at the awards ceremony, set to take place Saturday, Jan. 21 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel at 7:30 p.m. PST.
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01-18-12 Jessica's Busy Week
(Wall Street Journal)
Jessica Chastain has had a busy week. Fewer than 48 hours after she attended her first Golden Globes as a nominee for "The Help," she appeared at New York's Paris Theater alongside co-star Vanessa Redgrave for the premiere of the Ralph Fiennes-directed film "Coriolanus."…Earlier in the day she'd taped an appearance on the David Letterman Show. But Ms. Chastain isn't letting the frenzied pace get to her. "I should be exhausted, and my Mom's always asking me like: 'When are you sleeping?!' But I'm not because I'm so happy. I've wanted to be an actor my whole life, since I was like 6 or 7 and this is where it's all coming to fruition. It's the culmination of a life's dream," she explained.
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01-18-12 Jessica and Her Movies Win Awards at the Palm Springs International Film Festival
(Forbes)
Highlights…included Brad Pitt, who won the Desert Palm Achievement Award for an actor for his roles in Moneyball and the Tree of Life…Jessica Chastain got the Spotlight Award for roles in The Tree of Life, The Help, Take Shelter and The Debt; Octavia Spencer, won the Breakthrough Performance Award for her role in The Help.
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01-18-12 Jessica Still Starstruck
(New York Magazine)
Jessica Chastain still gets starstruck. In a major way. At last night's premiere of Coriolanus, we saw the actress about to step onto the red carpet at the Paris Theater - when, wait! - she spots Susan Sarandon ahead, speaking to reporters, and freezes. "I can't go in there," she tells her publicist. "I didn't know she was coming. I need a minute." More like three. When she finally walks down, we ask her what that was all about. "I get so starstruck all the time," she admits. "I've never met her before. I can hardly speak right now."… At the after-party at the Forty Four at Royalton, she expanded on her Sarandon fandom: "I think she's a goddess," she told us. "Her performances, Dead Man Walking - I mean, she's such a beautiful actress; I make a fool out myself every time I meet someone I really love." Last week, for instance, she told us she started crying in front of Gary Oldman. "It was at Palm Springs, and I had just said, like, I'd love to meet Gary Oldman. And then I was in the middle of an interview, I think it was Entertainment Tonight or something, and he came over to meet and he, like, put his hands on my shoulders and said some really nice stuff about my work, and that he knew who I was. And I was so shocked by it.
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01-18-12 The Debt Kicks Off Brooklyn Israel Film Festival
(Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
The Brooklyn Israel Film Festival at Kane Street Synagogue will mark its eighth year celebrating Israeli film next weekend. The festival is a major venue for some of the best films being made in Israel.
The 2012 festival again features three nights of award-winning films, thought-provoking films, plus discussions with their filmmakers. It runs Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 26 through Jan. 29, in the intimate and historic synagogue setting. The festival kicks off the first night at 8 p.m. with The Debt. Filmed on in Tel Aviv, the U.K., and Budapest
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01-18-11 Jessica Visits David Letterman on the Way to Coriolanus Premiere
(Just Jared)
Jessica Chastain hits the red carpet at the premiere of her latest movie, Coriolanus, on Tuesday (January 17) at the Paris Theater in NYC…Earlier in the evening, Jessica stopped by The Ed Sullivan Theater to tape an appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman.
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01-18-12 Jessica Attends Coriolanus Premiere in New York
(Examiner.com)
Atlanta fans of actor Ralph Fiennes, the handsome actor attended the New York premiere of Coriolanus at the Paris Theater earlier today, January 17, 2012…Costar Jessica Chastain, who played Virgilia, love interest of Coriolanus, wore a black lace gown with what appeared to be a pearl grey satin lining and a fairly luxurious train but this was a red carpet event!
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01-17-12 Jessica on The Heiress
(E! Online)
So what's a gal to do after she's had a handful of mucho-buzzed-about flicks-including The Help and Tree of Life-hit theaters in just one year? Ditch the big screen for a bit and head to Broadway!
Which is exactly what Golden Globe and BAFTA Best Supporting Actress nominee Jessica Chastain is doing with a fall 2012 stint in The Heiress…Jessica continued: "It's big shoes to fill. Great actresses like Olivia de Havilland, Jane Alexander and Cherry Jones have played the role. It's a wonderful role for an actress. Wonderful actresses have played it. It's a lot to take on…and I want to keep challenging myself!"… And as for whether a remake of the Oscar-winning film (based off the stage play) could follow, Jessica told us: "It depends if I'm any good at it!"
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01-17-12 Tree of Life Competes For Crystal Simorgh at Fajr International Film Festival
(Fars News Agency)
11 films will be screened in the Festivals of Festivals section of the 30th Fajr International Film Festival this year…The Tree of Life is a 2011 American drama film with experimental elements written and directed by Terrence Malick and starring Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, and Jessica Chastain. Malick's film chronicles the origins and meaning of life by way of a middle-aged man's childhood memories of his family living in 1950s Texas, interspersed with imagery of the origins of the universe and the inception of life on Earth. After several years in development and missing 2009 and 2010 release dates, the film premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d'Or. The film received widespread critical acclaim, but also polarizing responses to Malick's use of technical and artistic imagery, directorial style, and fragmented non-linear narrative… 30th Fajr International Film Festival will be held from February 1st to 11th 2012 in Tehran and some other Iranian provinces.
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01-16-12 The Help with Five Nominations on BAFTA Shortlist
(Deadline.com)
BAFTA announced its 2012 nominations early this morning with a handful of surprises in the batch… The Help went from 12 mentions on the longlist to 5 nominations including Best Film, Leading Actress for Viola Davis and one nod each for Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer in the Supporting Actress race… ADAPTED SCREENPLAY THE HELP - Tate Taylor ; OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER CORIOLANUS - Ralph Fiennes (Director);
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01-15-12 The Help Receives Five Nominations and One Win at Golden Globes
(CNN)
The Golden Globe for best supporting actress in a film went to Octavia Spencer who played a maid in the Civil Rights era movie "The Help."…best drama film nominees include "The Help," which is nominated for five Globes, including a best drama actress nod for Viola Davis. Co-stars Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain are competing against each other for best supporting actress. [Chastain Central note: Also nominated, for Best ORIGINAL SONG, was "The Living Proof" - Music by Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman and Harvey Mason Jr; Lyrics by Mary J. Blige, Harvey Mason Jr. and Damon Thomas.]
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01-14-12 Jessica Wins Best Actress at Nevada Film Critics Society
(Alt Film Guide)
The Best Actor and Best Actress choices were the Nevada Critics' biggest surprises: the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises' Tom Hardy was selected as the Best Actor for his performance as a boxer in the little-seen Warrior. Jessica Chastain has been winning awards everywhere, but in the Best Supporting Actress category. The Nevada Critics chose her as the year's Best Actress "for her outstanding work in several films of 2011 including The Debt, The Help, The Tree of Life, Take Shelter."… Tate Taylor's sleeper hit The Help won for Best Ensemble.
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01-13-12 Jessica Comments on Kill bin Laden
(MTV.com)
Chastain was a little less forthcoming about her role but just as good-humored, insisting that no assumptions be made about her taking down Bin Laden. "How do you know I am?" she asked. "How do you know I'm not just one of his wives?"…Chastain said that her prep so far had been a lot of "homework." "A lot of reading about something I didn't know about. You know me. I love to prepare," she said.
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01-13-12 Jessica on Her First Televised Trophy Experience
(Entertainment Weekly)
Best Supporting Actress nominee Jessica Chastain copped to being extra nervous because this was the first televised trophy-fest she'd ever attended. "There are cameras in there so if we make a mistake, it's on camera. [I keep telling myself] make sure the dress is in place, don't pick my nose, don't fall down. Not that I would pick my nose, Mom, Grandma. I would never do that. No, I'm perfect."
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01-12-12 The Help Does Well at Critics Choice Movie Awards
(Variety)
Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer took home lead and supporting actress honors for "The Help," which also won the acting ensemble award...Best supporting actress winner Spencer was clearly taken off guard when she accepted her trophy...The ensemble award went to the cast of "The Help," with a large contingent from the film on hand, including Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney, Davis and Spencer...What used to be a small affair that augmented the dozens of critics groups' announcements throughout awards season has become a full-blown campaign stop on the way to the Academy Awards. In the last five years that the show has aired on VH1, the BFCA's best picture choices have lined up with the Academy's 80% of the time...BEST ACTRESS Viola Davis - "The Help"; BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Octavia Spencer - "The Help"; BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE "The Help".
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01-12-12 Jessica is Gia the Jaguar in Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
(Entertainment Weekly)
In Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (in theaters June 8), our 6,000-pound quartet of displaced zoo animals - Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer) - finds itself joining a traveling circus in Monte Carlo as a way to hide from a relentless animal-control officer. EW can exclusively announce who's voicing three of the new characters from the circus: Vitaly the Siberian tiger (voiced by Bryan Cranston), Gia the jaguar (The Help's Jessica Chastain), and Stefano the sea lion (Martin Short)…"Gia acts as a moral compass for the circus. She protects [her friends] but also opens them up to new experiences."
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01-12-12 Jessica Nominated for Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actress
(Newsday)
The 69th annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony, airing Sunday night at 8 on NBC, looks like another unpredictable dust-up, partly because this year's front-runners are mostly critical darlings with few popular favorites in the mix…BEST MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA "The Help"; BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA Viola Davis, "The Help"; BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Jessica Chastain, "The Help" and Octavia Spencer, "The Help".
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01-11-12 Jessica: 'Oh, That Brad!'
(USA TODAY)
Help star Jessica Chastain is making the rounds during awards season. Her secret to dealing with the craziness of it all is "good clothes," the Zac Posen-clad actress said. Chastain's career has skyrocketed since starring in that film as well as The Tree of Life with Brad Pitt, who recently jokingly compared her rapid success to that of a porn star. "Oh, that Brad!" Chastain said. "Working with him at the start of my career was such a gift. He's a true actor with a wicked sense of humor."
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01-11-12 Video Clip of Coriolanus Released
(Yahoo! Movies UK)
'Coriolanus' is an adaptation of the Shakespeare tragedy of the same name and is helmed by Ralph Fiennes in his directorial debut. Fiennes also leads an all star cast with Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave and Jessica Chastain all lending their acting skills to the picture. The clip sees an angry mob break through a barrier before getting brutally beaten by the police. After which Fiennes' character condemns the activists' actions.
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01-11-12 Jessica Nominated for Rising Star Award by Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association
(TheaterMania.com)
The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association has announced the nominations for the organization's Dorian Awards. The winners will be announced on January 16…Jessica Chastain, who will be starring in the Broadway revival of The Heiress in Fall 2012, is nominated in the "We're Wilde About You Rising Star Award" category, along with Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy, Melissa McCarthy, and Elizabeth Olsen.
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01-10-12 Jessica Breakout Star at Denver Film Critics Society
(Denver Post)
Terrence Malick's tone poem of a film, "The Tree of Life" was named best picture Tuesday afternoon by the Denver Film Critics Society. Its stars Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain received awards for their onscreen work - albeit for other movies…Chastain was the year's "Breakout Star." In addition to "The Tree of Life," the 30-year-old with the strong jaw and impressive acting chops turned in powerful performances in three other 2011 films: "The Debt," "The Help" and "Take Shelter."
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01-10-12 Toronto Film Critics Association Chooses Jessica as Best Supporting Actress
(Toronto Star)
The TFCA has already announced its choices for top film, casts and crew for 2011, including naming Tree of Life as Best Picture and its director, Terrence Malick, as Best Director. The TFCA also gave two acting honours to two Take Shelter cast members: Michael Shannon as Best Actor and Jessica Chastain as Best Supporting Actress. Michelle Williams was named Best Actress for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn. Best Supporting Actor went to Christopher Plummer for Beginners.
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01-10-12 Tree of Life Plays at Aultsville Winter Filmfest
(Seaway News)
The 6th annual Aultsville Winter Filmfest will take place February 17 to 19 with all screenings taking place at Aultsville Theatre…The initial titles include the critically acclaimed "The Tree of Life," the French comedy "Potiche," "When We Leave" from Turkey and "Vincere" from Italy.
"The Tree of Life" from director Terrence Malick won the top prize at the last Cannes film festival and stars Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and Sean Penn.
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01-10-12 Jessica Accepts Award at New York Film Critics Circle Awards
(The Star-Ledger - NJ.com)
There are plenty of movie fans who are probably sad today that Monday night's New York Film Critics Circle awards were presented without any network cameras around…It means they also didn't get to see the sweetly overcome Jessica Chastain barely get through her acceptance speech for best supporting actress without breaking into tears… "Tree of Life" won the most nods, with certificates for its photography, and for Chastain's and Pitt's performances (although both were honored for other films, as well). Taking the stage, a visibly trembling Chastain immediately opened the folder to check her citation. "Yeah, says my name," she joked. "Can't change your mind!" But then she went on to thank the critics (who had also honored her for "Take Shelter" and "The Help,") saying she had read them since she first moved to New York to study at Juilliard. "You guided me," she said of the reviews she read then. "You opened my world."
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01-10-12 Jessica Wins Best Supporting Actress from New York Film Critics Circle
(Daily Mail)
Best Picture -The Artist
Best Director - Michel Hazanavicius THE ARTIST
Best Screenplay -Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin MONEYBALL
Best Actress - Meryl Streep THE IRON LADY
Best Actor - Brad Pitt MONEYBALL, THE TREE OF LIFE
Best Supporting Actress - Jessica Chastain THE TREE OF LIFE, THE HELP, TAKE SHELTER
Best Supporting Actor - Albert Brooks DRIVE
Best Cinematographer - Emmanuel Lubezki THE TREE OF LIFE
Best Non-Fiction Film - (Documentary) Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Best Foreign Film - A Separation
Best First Film - J.C. Chandor MARGIN CALL
Special Award - Raoul Ruiz
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01-10-11 Jessica at Golden Globes Bash
(Women's Wear Daily)
Golden Globes week got under way this weekend with a pair of Los Angeles-area awards season annuals. On Sunday Audi threw its annual pre-Globes bash…"Somebody actually just told me that Jessica Chastain is receiving an award," [Michelle] Williams said on the carpet. "She and I were roommates at Williamstown at a theater festival. We were in 'The Cherry Orchard' together." Chastain, a relative newcomer, was busy taking it all in. "I'm shocked," the actress said. "I think someone is playing a joke on me a bit. I'm afraid I'm going to arrive and they're going to be like, 'Oh, no no. You don't have an invitation.' I can't believe I'm going to be in a room with Glenn Close and George Clooney."
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01-09-12 Jessica Named Best Supporting Actress by Vancouver Film Critics Circle
(Hollywood Reporter)
While French director Hazanavicius won for best screenplay of 2011 for The Artist, he lost out in Vancouver to Malick and The Tree of Life in the best director competition…And Jessica Chastain evidently bowled over the Vancouver film critics, as she won for best supporting actress for performances in The Tree of Life, Take Shelter and The Help.
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01-09-12 Jessica Voted Best Supporting Actress by Kansas City Film Critics Circle
(Kansas City Star)
In voting on Sunday, the KC critics also gave the Robert Altman Award for best director to Terrence Malick, who wrote and directed the mind-bending "The Tree of Life." Jessica Chastain won best supporting actress for her work on that film.
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01-09-12 Jessica Nominated Supporting Actress by Independent Spirit Awards
(Variety)
Film Independent's 27th annual slate of acting awards boasts a signature blend of familiar names, plus veteran and fledgling newcomers... For female supporting, the ubiquitous Jessica Chastain won a nom, but for a different role -- the beleaguered wife in "Take Shelter."... LEAD ACTOR Michael Shannon, "Take Shelter"...What: Spirit Awards. When: 1:30 p.m. PT Feb. 25. Where: Santa Monica Beach.
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01-08-12 Jessica has Dinner with Idol Isabelle Huppert
(Contactmusic.com)
The Help star Jessica Chastain has met her acting icon after dropping her an email and requesting a get together. The red head has always been a huge fan of Isabelle Huppert and recently flew to Paris when the French actress invited her to dinner. Chastain tells The Hollywood Reporter, "She was doing (play) Hedda Gabler onstage in Paris, and I asked if we could have dinner. I was nervous as hell and totally intimidated, but I flew over, saw the play... It was one of the coolest dinners I've ever had. "We talked like mad; now I hope we will stay friends... I've always been obsessed with her and want to emulate her career."
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01-08-12 Six Degrees of Jessica Chastain at Palm Springs International Film Festival
(Reuters)
Pitt mentioned Jessica Chastain's crazy schedule - seven movies in 2011, five more in 2012 - and said, "Usually an actor has to work in the porn industry to have that kind of success." The show also turned into something of a game of six degrees of Jessica Chastain, whose crazy 2011, in which she had seven movies released, gave her ties to a few other honorees. She acted with both Octavia Spencer (in "The Help") and Brad Pitt (in "The Tree of Life"), and is old friends with Michelle Williams, with whom she performed and roomed at the Williamstown Theatre Festival nearly a decade ago. In fact, Chastain and Williams squealed with delight when they saw each other in TheWrap's photo area before the show. While shooting portraits for a portfolio in an upcoming print edition, the two traded reminiscences about their summer at Williamsport, where they both appeared in a production of "The Cherry Orchard." "You always wore that grey hoodie," laughed Chastain. "You were so indie even then." Also in TheWrap's area off the Convention Center lobby, Chastain introduced herself to Glenn Close and professed to have been a huge fan for years.
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01-08-12 Jessica at Palm Springs International Film Festival
(InlandSoCal.com)
As usual, the honorees at the Palm Springs International Film Festival's gala had a little fun with the shape of the Dale Chihuly-designed awards they received. "I may smoke this later," said Gary Oldman.
"It does look like a bong," said Brad Pitt. Several of the women, including Jessica Chastain, set their sizeable trophies on stage while they delivered their acceptance speeches. Although journalists attending the event get a closed-circuit feed from the auditorium, the event is not broadcast on network TV. So there were no pauses for commercials. But the language was NC-17. Nevertheless, there were many memorable moments that are repeatable. Chastain told her presenter, Al Pacino, "You're my acting godfather."
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01-08-12 Al Pacino and Jessica at Palm Springs Awards
(HitFix)
Al Pacino was on hand to present the Spotlight Award to the ubiquitous Jessica Chastain. The famed actor recalled when he first saw the actress in action six years ago during an audition. "I was so struck by her delivery and acting," he said. "I turned to a producer, Robert Fox, who has been in the business almost as long as I have, and he had the same look on his face. 'What are we witnessing here? Is this a prodigy?'" Pacino recently cast Chastain in "Wild Salome," which came before her epic slate of films that released in 2011. Chastain called Pacino her "acting godfather" for the break he gave her.
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01-08-12 Al Pacino Presents Palm Springs Spotlight Award to Jessica
(The Desert Sun)
The Palm Springs film festival gala attracts A-list stars not just to receive awards but also to present them, and the choice of presenters can hit home for gala honorees. "Al put me in my first film," Chastain said after receiving the Spotlight Award from Al Pacino. "He always believed in me whenever my films would get stalled or whatever. He's my greatest teacher." The gala, which isn't aired on broadcast or cable television, is known for its off-the-cuff quips.
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01-07-12 Jessica Chosen Best Supporting Actress by National Society of Film Critics
(Movie City News)
The National Society of Film Critics on Saturday, January 7th, 2012, chose "Melancholia"
as Best Picture of the Year 2011. Kristin Dunst was named best actress for her performance in Lars von Trier's film, and Brad Pitt was named best actor for his work in "Moneyball" and "The Tree of Life." Albert Brooks (or his evil twin) won best supporting actor for his appearance in "Drive," and Jessica Chastain was named best supporting actress for her work in three films: "The Tree of Life," "Take Shelter" and "The Help."…BEST ACTOR Brad Pitt (Moneyball, The Tree of Life); BEST DIRECTOR Terrence Malick - (The Tree of Life); BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Tree of Life - (Emanuel Lubezki);
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01-06-12 Jessica as The Heiress
(Broadway Blog)
Golden Globe Nominee and "It Girl" Jessica Chastain (The Help, The Debt, The Tree of Life, Coriolanus, Take Shelter, Texas Killing Fields in 2011 alone) will take aim at Tony next when she heads to Broadway as The Heiress in the fall. Julliard-trained and boasting some serious theater credits (Al Pacino's Salome, "Desdemona" in Peter Sellar's Othello), she has the stage chops…but she'll have to compete with the memory of Cherry Jones' transcendent performance in the role as well as figure out how such a strikingly beautiful woman can play a character described as incredibly plain.
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01-06-11 Jessica Makes Long List for BAFTA Award as Supporting Actress
(Up and Comers)
The BAFTA Awards are Britain's Oscar equivalent, and the release today of the 2012 Longlist is an exciting look at which actors, films and directors the BAFTA members have enjoyed this year…Final nominations will be announced on Tuesday 17 January, along with hopefully the BAFTA Rising Star shortlist, and all winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on Sunday 12 February…The Longlist is the result of Round One voting by members of the Academy. With 285 films entered this year, the first round of voting reduced the list of eligible films to 15 in each category*. Round Two voting, which opens today, will reduce these 15 contenders down to the five nominations in each category**. Appearing on the Longlist does not constitute a nomination.
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01-05-12 More on Kill Bin Laden Film
(RopeofSilicon.com)
The film, which is set for a December 19 release as a deliberate move by Sony to steer clear of the Presidential Elections, focuses on the black ops mission to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, which culminated in his death during a high-stakes raid on his compound in Pakistan. Bigelow is re-teaming with The Hurt Locker screenwriter Mark Boal and the two have been developing the project since 2008.
As an interesting side note, the Pentagon is going to be investigating charges made by Rep Peter King that Bigelow and Boal somehow got inside information about the mission from the Obama Administration in preparing the script. Also, the addition of Chastain to the production means her role opposite Tom Cruise in Oblivion is now up in the air unless schedules can be worked out. Kill Bin Laden is expected to go into production next month and several roles are yet to be cast, including a female reporter embedded with the SEAL 6 team.
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01-05-11 Wettest County Release Delayed to August 21
(Collider.com)
John Hillcoat's Prohibition-era drama The Wettest County has been pushed back from April 20th to August 31st. Nick Cave (The Proposition) wrote the script based Matt Bondourant's novel about two brothers (played by Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy) who become bootleggers in the South during Prohibition. In addition to LaBeouf and Hardy, the outstanding cast also includes Mia Wasikowska, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Guy Pearce, Dane DeHaan, and Jessica Chastain…April 20th seemed an odd time to schedule the flick but we simply assumed that while the film may be good, it wasn't a movie that would appeal to Academy voters. However, the August 31st date is troublesome because Labor Day weekend is one of the slowest box office weekends of the year.
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01-05-12 Jessica Named in Bin Laden Film for December 19
(Deadline)
Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong and Edgar Ramirez are circling to join the previously discussed ensemble cast of Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton and Chris Pratt. The drama portrays Navy SEAL Team 6?s long hunt for the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Osama Bin Laden was finally killed in a covert mission last year…Sony Pictures has dated the film for release on December 19, deliberately steering clear of the Presidential Elections. The prospect of Chastain joining the Bin Laden film has cast doubt on whether she will star alongside Tom Cruise in Universal's Oblivion, which shoots in March. They apparently are trying to work out dates, but two informed sources tell me it looks dicey at the moment that she'll do Oblivion.
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01-05-12 Jessica Makes Her Broadway Debut in The Heiress
(Playbill.com)
The producers of the new Broadway production of The Heiress have found their title actress in Jessica Chastain…She played the title role of Salome opposite Al Pacino in the 2006 Los Angeles staging of Oscar Wilde's play, and appeared in Othello at the Public Theater and Rodney's Wife at Playwrights Horizons, both Off-Broadway…The new staging, directed by Moisés Kaufman (I Am My Own Wife, 33 Variations, The Laramie Project), will bow on Broadway in fall 2012 at a theatre to be announced. This is the first official announcement of the production following a late 2011 report in The New York Times that a production was in the works. This will mark Chastain's Broadway debut.
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01-05-12 Photos of Jessica's Twenty Hottest Styles
(The FABlife)
With every stunning movie comes an equally stunning outfit to wear to the premiere, and Jessica has lit the red carpet on fire more than her fair share in the 12 months. So without further ado, we'd like to present Jessica Chastain's 20 hottest styles. Enjoy!
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01-05-12 Jessica Nominated Best Supporting Actress and Best Breakout Star by Denver Critics
(HitFix)
The Denver Film Critics Society has announced its list of nominees this year…Best Picture "The Tree of Life"; Best Director Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"; Best Supporting Actress Jessica Chastain, "The Tree of Life" [along with] Judy Greer, "The Descendants", Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids", Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs", Shailene Woodley, "The Descendants"; Best Breakout Star Jessica Chastain [along with] Felicity Jones, Rooney Mara, Elizabeth Olsen, Shailene Woodley.
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01-03-12 Vancouver Film Critics Circle Nominations Announced
(Vancouver Sun)
Nominees in the competitive best-picture race included Alexander Payne's The Descendants and Terrence Malick's boundary-pushing meditation on being, The Tree of Life…Best-actor nods went to Michael Fassbender for Shame, Jean Dujardin for The Artist, and Michael Shannon for Take Shelter. The best-supporting categories look like a generational and gender showdown, as newcomers such as Jessica Chastain (Tree of Life, The Help, Take Shelter), Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) and Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) face off against the old boys: Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn), Albert Brooks (Drive) and Christopher Plummer (Beginners)… The awards will be handed out in a ceremony at Vancouver's Railway Club on Jan. 9…Best director: Terence Malick, The Tree of Life.
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01-03-12 Jessica's 2011 Fashion Parade
(Los Angeles Times)
Jessica Chastain's yearlong fashion parade - from the release of seven films in 2011 and the attendant press junkets and premieres - shows that the actress favors feminine frocks with strong punches of color, such as teal, violet and crimson. But Chastain's most striking look so far is the bold yellow Zac Posen gown she wore at the Cannes Film Festival, which, with its structured bodice, tiered skirt and vibrant hue, popped against the red carpet-covered stairs like a spray of sunshine…While she's worn a wide swath of juicy hues, Chastain steers clear of strong prints, overwrought construction and piled-on baubles, helping her exude a sense of fresh glamour by keeping her silhouette simple and the color solid. For designers, she turns to masters of the classic and ultra feminine
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01-02-12 Tree of Life Wins Four Awards from Online Film Critics Society
(Hollywoodnews.com)
Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" led the Online Film Critics Society's year-end voting with seven nominations, so it's no real surprise that his meditative drama emerged victorious when the group tallied its votes. The film took home the prize for Best Picture as well as trophies for Best Director (Terrence Malick), Best Supporting Actress (Jessica Chastain), Best Editing and Best Cinematography.
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12-30-11 Jessica Voted Fans Share Woman of the Year
(FansShare)
We threw up quite a surprise when we announced who we had voted as our Man of the Year 2011 but when it comes to the Woman of the Year 2011 there can only really be one winner. Yes, it is safe to say that there are plenty of women who have had a good year in 2011 and could easily argue their case for Woman of the Year 2011 but we think one woman outshone all the rest this year. Obviously you could argue a case for Beyoncé, as she has once again been quite the dominant force in 2011. Not only has Beyoncé released a number of top singles but she has also released another impressive album. Add to that the fact that Beyoncé is due to give birth to her first child with husband Jay-Z and it has been a fantastic year for Beyoncé. However, it has not been as big a year as the one that Jessica Chastain has had, which is why we have voted her our Woman of the Year 2011…We tip Jessica Chastain to be a huge star for many years to come and her success and performances this year is why we have made Jessica Chastain our Woman of the Year 2011.
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12-29-11 Online Film Critics Select Jessica for Special Achievement Award
(Big Cartoon News)
Each year, the OFCS also submits nominations for Special Achievement Awards, granted only by a majority vote of the membership. This year, the Online Film Critics have selected two individuals, Jes-sica Chastain and Martin Scorsese, to receive special citations. Chastain was named the breakout per-former of the year. Her tremendous and quality-filled output this year has brought her instant acclaim and recognition, marking one of the most stellar debuts in recent memory.
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12-28-11 Jessica to be Honored at Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala
(mydesert.com)
Actress Jessica Chastain and composer Howard Shore round out the list of honorees at next month's Palm Springs International Film Festival awards gala. Chastain will receive the festival's Spotlight Award and Shore will be honored with his second Frederick Loewe Music Award at the Jan. 7 gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center, organizers announced Wednesday. Chastain is being honored for her roles in five recent films - "The Help," "The Tree of Life," "Take Shelter," "The Debt" and "Coriolanus." "Through a series of virtuoso performances, Jessica Chastain has established herself as one of the cinema's most versatile and most sought after young actresses," festival chairman Harold Matzner said in a statement.
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12-28-11 Jessica Wins Supporting Actress and Breakthrough Artist from Austin Film Critics Association
(Variety)
In the acting categories, best actor Michael Shannon and best supporting actress Jessica Chastain were honored for their roles in ''Take Shelter.''...Chastain, who has appeared in six films during 2011, was also given the Robert R. ''Bobby'' McCurdy Memorial Breakthrough Artist Award... Cinematography: "The Tree of Life," Emmanuel Lubezki; Austin Film Award: "Take Shelter".
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12-28-11 Director Jeff Nichols Shares How Jessica Became Samantha
(Paste Magazine)
"After I wrote this script," Nichols remembers, "I knew early on that I would have Mike Shannon in the lead. And so I had to try to find someone who could go toe to toe with Mike, because Samantha really establishes herself pretty early on as the strength behind this marriage. And I kind of resigned myself to not being able to find anyone who could handle Mike Shannon, but I thought I would just find someone as good as I could get, and we'd go from there. But a connection to The Tree of Life proved crucial. "Sarah Green, one of the executive producers on our film, and who produced Tree of Life, recommended Jessica," he says. "As it happens, I actually have the same management company she does, and they had called about her that same week. It was one of these strange things where you hear this name twice in one week that you've never heard before. But I hadn't seen anything she was in, so Sarah was nice enough to set up a meeting for me with Malick. He was very nice, and very helpful actually. He said, 'Jessica is one of the greatest actresses I've ever worked with.' And I think I smiled or kind of laughed, because he said, 'I'm not just giving a compliment to a friend. I know how important this decision is for you. You need real information, not just pleasantries. She is one of the best actresses I've ever worked with. She's honest and natural in everything she does.' That was pretty much all I needed. I did fly out to meet her in L.A., just in case. But luckily she was amazing and nice and sweet on top of being a great actress, and luckily for me she said yes…I know I can look back and say that on that film, I worked with two of the greatest actors in the world. There's no hyperbole there for me; it's just true."
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12-28-11 Director Tate Taylor Shares How Jessica Became Celia
(Paste Magazine)
With Jessica, the day she came in and read was a day I had read probably 30 people. Jessica was not Jessica yet. Nobody knew who she was. She came in the office, sat down, and read the part of Celia, and she had us all crying. And she got up and left the room and I said 'Who was that? That's Celia.'"
Among his merry band that day was a crucial piece of the pie, Octavia Spencer, who was already cast as Celia's maid and friend Minnie. "I had Octavia with me," remembers Taylor. "I had her come to the auditions and read as Minnie. That day when Jessica read and had me crying, I looked over at Octavia, whose eyes were filled with tears, and she said, 'Oh my God. She is amazing.' I mean, they hugged at the audition and told each other how amazing they were. And I just smiled and said, 'This is good.'…So many people [in auditions] played the ditzy, Jessica Rabbit bombshell, and that's never what she was. This is a woman that has great insecurities and deep pain, and that universal feeling that we all have from time to time of trying to fit in. 'What's wrong with me? Why can't I fit in with these people?' She understood that, and brought that vulnerability and that pain to it."
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12-27-11 Jessica's Characters are Multiple
(thefilmexperience)
This past summer she starred in two of the most talked about films of the year (The Tree of Life and The Help) and in the fall she was doing press for four more (The Debt, Take Shelter, Coriolanus, The Texas Killing Fields). Though her characters are already multiple, she is but one woman. The movies we're seeing all at once she made over the span of a few years and she helpfully provided the order when asked: Wilde Salome ("My first film. It hasn't come out yet"), Jolene, Stolen ("very small role"), The Tree of Life, The Debt, Coriolanus, Texas Killing Fields, Take Shelter, The Help ("I went straight from the set of Take Shelter").
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12-26-11 Tree of Life Receives Seven Nominations from the Online Film Critics Society
(HitFix)
The Online Film Critics Society has declared…"The Tree of Life" led the way with seven nominations…Winners will be announced January 2…Best Picture"The Tree of Life"; Best Director Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"; Best Actor Michael Shannon, "Take Shelter"; Best Supporting Actor Brad Pitt, "The Tree of Life"; Best Supporting Actress Jessica Chastain, "The Tree of Life"; Best Original Screenplay "The Tree of Life"; Best Cinematography "The Tree of Life"; Best Editing "The Tree of Life"; Special Award: Jessica Chastain (the breakout performer of the year).
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12-23-11 Jessica Movie Tar now in Post-Production
(Chastain Central Announcement)
Suddenly, in mid-December 2011, Tar popped up as a surprise Jessica Chastain film already in post-production. Chastain Central had no previous hint of such a film. It is a look at the life of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet C.K. Williams over the course of 40 years. The feature film comprises the work of twelve different directors, students of a third-year directing class taught by James Franco, who each selected a poem from C.K. Williams' poetry collection, Tar, to adapt to short film scripts, which were then brought together to create the feature film. It was shot mostly within a two week period, with each portion having two full days of shooting.
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12-23-11 Jessica Wins Best Actress from Dublin Film Critics Circle
(Irish Times)
Jessica Chastain, seen absolutely everywhere this year, won the critics' best actress prize for The Tree of Life.
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12-22-11 Jessica Chastain: The Fashion Girl
(Hollywood Reporter)
THR got a chance to chat with the lovely and forthright Chastain, wearing a tweedy Armani pantsuit that she said "makes me feel like I'm channeling Katherine Hepburn." By her side was Armani's celebrity dresser extraordinaire Wanda McDaniel, beaming because Chastain has pulled some Armani for the next two months' round of events. She's definitely high on the designer A list wish list…Chastain is a fashion girl, for sure: to a recent trip to the Marakkesh Film Festival, she donned one of the more ornate looks from the much touted spring 2012 Louis Vuitton collection, and she's worn looks from many designers, American and European. She concurs that probably the best, most flattering dress was the yellow tiered chiffon gown she wore to her red carpet debut at the Venice Film Festival, flocked by Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. "Yes, that was my favorite dress too," Chastain told THR. "It was particularly built for my body, and I chose the color. It's the look I've had the most input on since all my films started coming out." Now the SAG, Critics Choice and Golden Globe nominee will need a lot more special dresses, a fact she's quite aware of. "The first thing you think when they call your name is, 'Oh my God, I got nominated!' The next is, 'WHAT am I going to wear?'" Lucky for her, her stylist Elizabeth Stewart is already on the case.
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12-22-11 Jessica Finishes Shooting Mama and Prepares for another Film in February
(HitFix)
Chastain has spent the last three months in Toronto where she was shooting "Mama," a Warner Bros. thriller produced by Guillermo Del Toro and (arguably) her first paycheck role…Chastain will get just a short rest over the holidays as she'll be prepping for a new film lined up to start in February (one I promised not to reveal, but it's absolutely high profile) [CC: American Darling?] and has nominations at the SAG Awards and Golden Globes to celebrate. I asked her if there was an out clause so she could return for the Oscars, but Chastain insisted she didn't think a nomination for the big show was in her future. She sees her chances as too difficult because Searchlight is also pushing "Tree of Life" and Sony Classics is promoting her work in "Take Shelter," two roles that are in the best supporting actress category alongside "The Help" and might split her vote.
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12-21-11 Horizons Begins Shooting March 12, 2012
(On Location Vacations)
Universal Pictures' feature film The Untitled Tom Cruise Project will shoot March 12, 2012 to August 12, 2012 in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The movie, which has used the working titles Oblivion and Horizons, co-stars Jessica Chastain and follows a court martial who sends a veteran soldier to a distant planet, where he is to destroy the remains of an alien race.
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12-21-11 Jessica is the Second Coming of Cate Blanchett and Kate Winslet
(Cincinnati CityBeat)
It is time to take Jessica Chastain seriously. Forget the offensive she has launched on theaters in 2011 - with The Tree of Life, The Help, The Debt, Take Shelter, Coriolanus, Wilde Salome and Texas Killing Fields - and the fact that the final three titles have been relegated to "impending" status for regional viewers (although I was able to catch Coriolanus and Take Shelter during the Toronto International Film Festival). Chastain is everywhere. She could even be the author of this article (a dubious assumption only because appearing behind the pen would seem to run counter to her efforts and the very ubiquity of her persona). She is a thing, a force, a creature to be watched, witnessed, admired. Chastain is the second coming of an order of actresses, in the Cate Blanchett/Kate Winslet mold, imbued with that maddeningly conflicting combination of fiery spirits and ethereal grace that somehow co-exist in them and then, most importantly, are expertly applied to achieve balance alongside a variety of co-stars with their own complex charismatic matrixes…we sit anxiously through each of these marvelous star-making turns, mesmerized by the thought and consideration that has gone into creating a unique person from mere words on the page. There is distinct life in her characters and humanity in those narrative worlds thanks to her efforts.
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12-20-11 The Help Wins Best Ensemble from the Southeastern Film Critics
(Alt Film Guide)
Courtesy of the Southeastern Film Critics… Tate Taylor's The Help, a tale of simmering racial disharmony in the American South in the 1960s, was cited for its ensemble, which includes Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Jessica Chastain, Sissy Spacek, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Octavia Spencer. The Help also won the Gene Wyatt Award for "a film that best embodies the spirit of the South." The runner-up in that category was the documentary Undefeated, about a football team in Virginia.
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12-20-11 The Help Wins Five Awards at Black Film Critics Circle
(Hollywood Reporter)
The Help has been named best film of 2011 by the Black Film Critics Circle, which also rewarded it in four other categories: best actress, Viola Davis; best supporting actress, Octavia Spencer; best adapted screenplay, Tate Taylor; and best ensemble.
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12-20-11 Playlist Names Jessica Woman of the Year
(Indie Wire)
There was really only one choice for The Playlist's inaugural Woman of the Year 2011, an actress who was virtually unknown twelve months ago, but has appeared in no fewer than seven films that premiered at film festivals or went into wide release over the course of the year, without a real stinker in the bunch. Her roles ranged from an Israeli spy to an ethereal 1950s housewife, from a Texan FBI agent to a platinum-blonde bombshell forming an unlikely friendship with her maid (the latter a part that looks set to take her to the Oscars this year). Yes, it's Jessica Chastain. Who else? We spoke to Chastain recently at the Marrakech Film Festival, and the actress recalled her red carpet experience at Cannes, at the world premiere of her coming-out party "The Tree of Life." "It's like in all the great novels," she said, "You see a moment where someone crosses a bridge, I guess, where there's an initiation or a ritual. And that was absolutely like this ritual of walking into something. I actually started crying in the car, because it was just so much that, even though I didn't know how big it was going to be, that carpet, I guess I could feel the energy...The performance for which she's been picking up the most awards attention was another giant leap from anything else she did this year. Standing out among the impressive ensemble of actresses in "The Help" is quite a feat, but as Celia Foote, the newcomer in town, shunned by the cabal of women led by the demonic Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard), Chastain is bright, charming, funny, and occasionally heartbreaking, and her relationship with Octavia Spencer's' Milly is the highlight of the film. Furthermore, put Celia next to Rachel in "The Debt," Virgilia in "Coriolanus" and Samantha in "Take Shelter," and the extent of Chastain's sheer range becomes apparent…It's clear that she's never going to be one to rest on her laurels, some have said her appearance this year birthed a star with the longevity of a Meryl Streep or a Helen Mirren. Indeed, the only person who was surprised was Chastain herself; we couldn't resist telling her she was our Woman of the Year when we spoke in Marrakech, and she responded with an endlessly endearing gasp, and a "No!," before telling us, "Honestly it is a great honor, thank you."
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12-20-11 Jessica Explains Her Wide Variety of Roles
(Indie Wire)
She's made a habit of never really repeating herself so far, something she attributed, when we spoke, to her theatrical training: "Someone asked me why I do all these genres and I thought about it for the first time and I think it's because, you know, I studied at Julliard and started out in theatre, where there's a repertory where one night you're doing Chekhov and the next night you're doing a restoration comedy, the next night you're doing a modern drama, you're always changing. So for me it's not strange to do, like I just finished filming a genre film -- Guillermo del Toro produced [the horror film "Mama"] -- and then I'm going on to a big science fiction film [The Tom Cruise-starring "Oblivion"].
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12-20-11 London Film Critics' Circle Nominates Jessica Chastain, Vanessa Redgrave, and Octavia Spencer
(Chastain Central Announcement)
The London Film Critics' Circle nominated three of Jessica's movies for BEST ACTRESS: Jessica Chastain, "The Help", Vanessa Redgrave, "Coriolanus", and Octavia Spencer, "The Help". Also nominated are: FILM OF THE YEAR - "The Tree of Life", DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR - Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life", BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR - Vanessa Redgrave, "Coriolanus" and "Anonymous".
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12-19-11 Tree of Life Wins Four Awards from Chicago Film Critics Association
(RopeofSilicon.com)
The Chicago Film Critics Association has named Terrence Malick's film the Best Picture of 2011 and also awarded it Best Director, Supporting Actress (Jessica Chastain) and Best Cinematography. Can Malick's experimental and very personal feature end up on the final list of Oscar nominees in the Best Picture category? Also, after the Satellite Awards yesterday this is the second time we've seen Jessica Chastain named for her role in the film as Best Supporting Actress, any chance that run continues? It was pretty much usual suspects in other categories though I'm sure many will be happy to find Michael Shannon's name in the Best Actor category for his role in Take Shelter…
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12-19-11 Jessica Wins Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress
(Reuters)
Viola Davis was named the year's best actress for "The Help," while Jessica Chastain won in the supporting category for "The Tree of Life."…Screenplay, Original: "The Tree of Life," Terrence Malick…Best Ensemble: "The Help".
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12-16-11 Texas Killing Fields Releases on DVD January 31, 2012
(Dread Central)
Anchor Bay Films is proud to announce the release of TEXAS KILLING FIELDS on both Blu-ray™ and DVD January 31, 2012. Directed by Ami Canaan Mann, produced by Michael Mann and Michael Jaffe, and based on the real life, headline-making series of unsolved murders, TEXAS KILLING FIELDS is a haunting story of two detectives and one desperate race to catch a killer. The release also contains audio commentary with director Ami Canaan Mann and writer Donald F. Ferrarone…Also starring Jessica Chastain (Coriolanus, Tree of Life, The Help…Texas Killing Fields is an unforgettable and disturbing thriller.
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12-16-11 Jessica Wins Best Breakthrough Performance from Detroit Film Critics Society
(MLive)
It's with much enthusiasm that I share the winners of this year's DFCS awards. Our humble little group was surprised that "Take Shelter," a film we seemed to collectively admire, didn't get the most votes in any category, despite getting the most nominations. But that's democracy. Here are the winners: Best Breakthrough Performance: Jessica Chastain, "The Tree of Life," "Take Shelter," "The Help" - A year ago, we didn't know who Chastain was. Now we REALLY know.
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12-16-11 Tree of Life Receives Seven Nominations from Chicago Film Critics Association
(HollywoodChicago)
It may have had a controversial journey to the big screen, but the Chicago Film Critics Association thought that Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" was worth the wait, nominating it today for a leading seven awards, including Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Brad Pitts), Supporting Actress (Jessica Chastains), Director, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, and Promising Performer (Hunter McCracken). Joining "The Tree of Life" in the race for Best Picture is "The Descendants" and "Drive," each with six nominations total, and "The Artist" and "Hugo." each with five…BEST PICTURE: The Tree of Life; BEST ACTOR: Michael Shannon, Take Shelter; BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Brad Pitt, The Tree of Life; BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life and Octavia Spencer, The Help; BEST DIRECTOR: Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life; BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: The Tree of Life by Terrence Malick; BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life; MOST PROMISING PERFORMER: Hunter McCracken, The Tree of Life; MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER: Tate Taylor, The Help.
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12-15-11 The Help Picks Up Five Golden Globe Nominations
(USA Today)
The Artist leads film nominations with six, while The Descendants and The Help follow with five… Actress, motion picture drama: Viola Davis… Actress, supporting role, motion picture: Jessica Chastain, The Help and Octavia Spencer, The Help…Best motion picture drama: The Help…The awards will be handed out on Jan. 15 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
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12-15-11 Take Shelter, The Help, and The Tree of Life Likely Oscar Contenders
(Los Angeles Times)
Today, Chastain has at least three films putting her in Oscar contention: "Take Shelter," "The Help" and "The Tree of Life." ("The Debt," "Coriolanus" and "Wilde Salome" are also Chastain films released this year, though they're less likely to have award season legs.)
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12-15-11 Jessica's Career 'Strategy'
(Los Angeles Times)
For now, Chastain's hat trick of performances threatens to undermine the career she's worked so hard to build up. No matter how award season wraps up, she's going to have to fight hard to prevent her "it" status from flipping into celebrity of blockbuster proportions. Expect more indie films with strong characters, or perhaps a return to the theater. Whatever she does, however, she'll do it with grace. "Right after 'Tree of Life' came out, I started hearing about strategies for my career," she says. "And I made a decision that I wasn't going to do anything based on a strategy. If I don't continue to challenge myself and risk failure, I have no business being an actor. I'm not an actor to be a personality. I want to see every part I take like a master class. And you know what? I'm going to fail sometimes. And that's OK. Because when you fail, you learn more."
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12-14-11 The Help Receives Four Nominations for Screen Actors Guild Awards
(Reuters)
Tate Taylor's Civil Rights-era drama "The Help" emerged as the top feature film nominee, with four nominations. "The Artist" came in second with three…In the Lead Actor categories…Jean Dujardin ("The Artist"), Viola Davis ("The Help"), Michelle Williams ("My Week With Marilyn") and a pair of actors from smaller movies, Demian Bichir ("A Better Life") and Tilda Swinton ("We Need to Talk About Kevin"). In the female supporting category, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain were both nominated for "The Help," joined by Melissa McCarthy for "Bridesmaids," Berenice Bejo" for "The Artist" and Janet McTeer for "Albert Nobbs."… Films competing for SAG's Ensemble award, which has gone to the Oscar Best Picture winner seven times in the last 17 years, are "The Artist," "The Help," "The Descendants," "Bridesmaids" and "Midnight in Paris."
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12-14-11 Tree of Life and Take Shelter Lead Toronto Film Critics' Awards
(Toronto.com)
Toronto film critics found two winning films in American dramas that explored the search for self and the meaning of family as they made their choices for top films and casts of 2011. Tree of Life was named Best Picture by the Toronto Film Critics Association. The movie's director, Terrence Malick, won Best Director. The TFCA also gave two acting honours to Take Shelter, a drama about a man plagued by doomsday visions, recognizing Michael Shannon as Best Actor and Jessica Chastain as Best Supporting Actress. It was a good year for Chastain, who was also a runner-up in the Supporting Actress category for Tree of Life…the Toronto Film Critics Association is comprised of Toronto-based print, web and electronic journalists.
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12-13-11 Jessica Comes Out Strong in Intense Awards Weekend
(ComingSoon.net)
A windfall of accolades, honors, plaudits and other year-end superlatives swept film culture over the weekend, with voting bodies including AFI and three major regional critics groups announcing their awards for 2011. And while it may not be enough to dramatically shake up the Oscar Index, voices have been heard and impacts have been made…4. Jessica Chastain had better clear her schedule
She's been an Oscar Index staple pretty much all season, and there's no reason to think the ongoing consensus about her year won't carry over into the nominations. The only thing left to determine is what film's hat she'll wear on the big night. Take Shelter? The Help? Or…5. The Tree of Life - believe it
Right now I can't see this falling out of Picture and Cinematography (it's going to scrap for a Visual Effects nod as well, and it will be close), but the film's devotees in the Actors Branch should be enough to get Chastain recognized accordingly - especially if those back The Help push Octavia Spencer through for Supporting Actress. Of course, no performance in a Terrence Malick film has ever been nominated for an Oscar, so Team Chastain and Fox Searchlight each have their work cut out for them.
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12-13-11 Can Jessica Upset Octavia Spencer and Melissa McCarthy for Supporting Actress Oscar?
(ComingSoon.net)
There's been a lot of early support for Octavia Spencer's performance in The Help winning her an Oscar, although you can't tell from the critics' groups, as only the Washington Film Critics have given her their Supporting Actress award so far. In fact, more critics groups have gotten behind Melissa McCarthy's performance in Paul Feig's Bridesmaids than Spencer, and these two formidable women could be gearing up for a face-off on Oscar night. Another actress who has been getting critical notices is Jessica Chastain, who has appeared in six movies this year, but we think there'll be so much attention for Davis and Spencer in The Help, that Chastain could surprise by getting in for Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, a more dramatic role rather than her comedic role in The Help.
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12-13-11 BFCA Announce Critics Choice Award Nominations
(Hollywood Reporter)
The BFCA, which is comprised of more than 250 TV, radio and online critics, prides itself as being a predictor of Academy Award nominations…The nominations for the 17th annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards: BEST PICTURE The Help and The Tree of Life; BEST ACTRESS Viola Davis - "The Help"; BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Jessica Chastain - "The Help" and Octavia Spencer - "The Help"; BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE The Help; BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY "The Help" - Tate Taylor; BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
"The Tree of Life" - Emmanuel Lubezki; BEST ART DIRECTION "The Tree of Life" - Production Designer: Jack Fisk, Art Director: David Crank; BEST COSTUME DESIGN "The Help" - Sharen Davis; BEST VISUAL EFFECTS The Tree of Life; BEST SOUND The Tree of Life; BEST SONG "The Living Proof" - performed by Mary J. Blige/written by Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman and Harvey Mason, Jr. - The Help.
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12-13-11 New Announcement of Jessica's Darling
(wegotthiscovered)
In an interview between Banks and The Calgary Hearld, it was confirmed that Quebec filmmaker Denis Villeneuve is set to direct and that Jessica Chastain will take on the lead role of Hannah Musgrave.
Denis Villeneuve is the director behind the 2010 film Incendies, which of course was nominated for Best Foreign Language Picture at last year's Oscars…It is unclear when The Darling will start filming, but at the moment Chastain's schedule consists of finishing Andres Muschietti's Mama, then onto Joseph Kosinski's Horizons next year and then possibly the Princess Diana biopic Caught In Flight.
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12-12-11 The Help Surpasses $200 Million in Ticket Sales
(Business Wire)
DreamWorks Pictures announced Dec. 8 that its empowering film "The Help" has surpassed $200 million in worldwide ticket sales. "The Help," directed and written for the screen by Tate Taylor, is based on the New York Times best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett. "The Help" has resonated with audiences around the globe, sparking conversation and comments across all media platforms from such notables as Oprah, Scott Fujita, Tyler Perry, Russell Simmons, Katy Perry, Diane Sawyer, Jason Whitlock, Jackie Jackson and others.
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12-12-11 St. Louis Film Critics Reveal Nominations
(St. Louis Beacon)
By the St. Louis Film Critics, an association of reviewers and journalists in this area who focus on film. The winners will be announced Monday, Dec. 19…Best film: "Tree of Life."…Best Director: Terrence Malick for "Tree of Life"…Best Actress: Viola Davis for "The Help"…Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer for "The Help" and Jessica Chastain for "Tree Of Life"…Best Original Screenplay: Terrence Malick for "Tree Of Life"…Best Adapted Screenplay: Tate Taylor and Kathryn Stockett (novel) for "The Help"…Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki for "Tree Of Life"…Best Visual Effects: "Tree Of Life"…Best Music: "Tree of Life"
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12-12-11 San Diego Film Critics Society Reveals Nominations
(About - News & Issues)
The San Diego Film Critics Society…just announced their nominees for the best of 2011. We normally don't march to the beat of other critics groups, and this year's no exception. Notable differences between SDFCS' selections and other groups is the inclusion of…Jessica Chastain for The Help in the Supporting Actress category (our rules do not allow us to combine the work of an actor in multiple films under one nomination)…highlight's from the SDFCS list of 2011 nominees:..Best Film - The Tree of Life… Best Director - Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life)…Best Actress - Viola Davis (The Help)…Best Actor - Michael Shannon (Take Shelter)…Best Supporting Actress - Jessica Chastain (The Help)…Voting for the winners takes place on December 14, 2011. [Also: BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - Adam Stone, TAKE SHELTER and Emmanuel Lubezki, THE TREE OF LIFE; BEST EDITING - Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, & Mark Yoshikawa, THE TREE OF LIFE; BEST SCORE - Alexandre Desplat, THE TREE OF LIFE; BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE - THE HELP]
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12-12-11 Director Tate Taylor on Jessica's Audition for The Help
(ComingSoon.net)
One of the biggest phenomena of 2011 was Tate Taylor's The Help…The Help also stars the year's most prestigious actress Jessica Chastain as Celia Foote, who has been exiled from Hilly's social circle, but whose immediate connection with Minnie allows them both to get their due…Taylor: Well, I cast the movie the old-fashioned way. I just met a ton of women. She just walked in. No one knew who she was. She walked in after a string of women, sat down and blew the doors off the audition room and got the part. It was the purity and the sweetness in her demeanor that I wanted to bring to the character of Celia. I didn't want Celia to go into the sexpot cliché Jessica Rabbit way, and Jessica knew how to bring her pain and her discomfort with who she was to that character.
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12-12-11 Jessica and Her Movies Receive Numerous Nominations by Detroit Film Critics Society
(Detroit Metro Times)
Many smaller films garnered acclaim; with intense indie drama Take Shelter leading the way with four nominations, including one for Best Supporting actress Jessica Chastain, a relative unknown who was ubiquitous this year, as reflected by her "Breakthrough Performance" nomination for her work in multiple films… The winners will be announced on Friday…Leading with 6 nominations this year is "TAKE SHELTER". Other top nominees include "THE ARTIST" with 5 nominations and "THE HELP" with 4 nominations. Both Michel Hazanavicius and Jeff Nichols have been nominated twice this year for Best Director and Best Screenplay. Jessica Chastain has received 3 nominations for Best Supporting Actress, Best Ensemble, and Breakthrough performance.
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12-11-11 Tree of Life Wins Best Picture at San Francisco Film Critics Circle
(San Jose Mercury News)
"The Tree of Life," director Terrence Malick's gorgeous metaphysical head trip, was named Best Picture of 2011 Sunday by the San Francisco Film Critics Circle. The challenging film featuring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain and some CGI dinosaurs received two other awards from the group: Best Director for the reclusive Malick and Best Cinematography for Emmanuel Lubezki…The accomplished Vanessa Redgrave garnered more accolades, this time for her Best Supporting Actress turn as an assertive mother in the retooling of one of Shakespeare's lesser-known works, "Coriolanus."
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12-11-11 Tree of Life Fares Well at LA Critics Awards
(E! Online)
Terrence Malick's love it-or-not so much Tree of Life scored big. Not only was it chosen as runner-up to Payne's movie, but the director, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and supporting actress Jessica Chastain and were also honored. (To be fair, Chastain was in roughly every other movie released this year, so the award wasn't solely for her Life work; still, it showed an overall appreciation for Malick's polarizing meditation on life, family and long, lingering shots of space).
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12-11-11 Jessica's Movies Take Honors in Three Critic Group Awards
(ComingSoon.net)
It's another furious day of film critics awards and honors. Three prominent film critics groups picked their best of the year with the Boston Film Critics, Los Angeles Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Online (aka NYFCO)… NYFCO went with Michael Shannon for Take Shelter…Jessica Chastain received the Supporting Actress award from L.A. for her body of work, including The Tree of Life, The Help and four other films, while NYFCO considered her their Breakthrough Performer…. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki was the big winner in the Cinematography field, being honored by all three groups for his work on Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life with L.A. honoring Malick himself for his direction.
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12-11-11 Jessica and Terry Malick Pick up Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
(GoldDerby)
On Sunday, the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. chose "The Descendants" as the Best Picture of the …This year's Best Director award went to Terrence Malick who helmed "The Tree of Life," which was the runner-up for Best Picture… Jessica Chastain edged out Janet McTeer ("Albert Nobbs") to win a bookend for her NYFCC award. The LA critics listed six films next to Chastain's name: "Coriolanus," "The Debt," "The Help," "Take Shelter," "Texas Killing Fields" and "The Tree of Life."
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12-11-11 Jessica Becomes a Movie Star in 2011
(The Boston Globe)
With Chastain, surprise is a large part of the impact: She wasn't there and then she was. Actually, with seven films in play at theaters and in film festivals in 2011, Chastain was simply everywhere. Where she came from - a pair of small films, some TV shows, a lot of stage work - was less important than her striking on-screen presence, superficially fragile but resilient and durable underneath. Her two key roles were as heartland matriarchs: the compassionate earth mother of Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life,'' sustaining her sons against the gale force of husband Brad Pitt, and Samantha LaForche in "Take Shelter,'' in which her stature as family protector grows even as her husband (Michael Shannon) falls prey to paranoia…The actress showed she could do big-budget character parts (the defiant blond bimbo of "The Help'') and brooding Euro-thrillers ("The Debt,'' in which she played a younger version of Helen Mirren). She did Shakespeare (Virgilia in Ralph Fiennes's "Coriolanus,'' which opened last week in New York and LA) and she did Oscar Wilde (Salome in "Wilde's Salome,'' which played the Venice Film Festival and which is directed by Al Pacino… Because of her strawberry hair, the Malick connection, and the heartland roles, Chastain superficially seems cut from the cloth of Sissy Spacek and other 1970s homegrown goddesses: Sally Field, Jessica Lange, even Meryl Streep… Chastain conveys an air of craft and wary adventurousness. One senses that she's just beginning her run. She may become a superstar. She may disappear again. Or she may keep surprising us. First, though, she'll need a film of her own and a role that doesn't exist solely in relationship to a male character.
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12-10-11 Jessica and Jury Make Winning Choices at Marrakech International Film Festival
(Hollywood Reporter)
"Out of Bounds" wins the fest's top prize, while the Jessica Chastain-led jury awards Australian film "Snowtown." Danish director Frederikke Aspock's film Out of Bounds was thrown into the spotlight when the 11th annual Marrakech International Film Festival wrapped on Saturday night in the Moroccan city, winning the fest's grand prize.
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12-07-11 Fox Searchlight Promotes Jessica for Best Supporting Actress Oscar
(Hollywood Reporter)
Because of the sheer number of 2011 films in which Chastain has done fine work, many in the industry feel that she is more than deserving of an Oscar nomination -- but also fear that she will be denied one. Why? Because when an actor is very good in even just two films, he or she runs the risk of splitting their base of support between the options and therefore winding up with too few votes to earn a nomination for either. When an actor is very good in five -- each of which is being pushed by a different studio -- it's hard to imagine that not happening…For a long time my assumption has been that a plurality of Chastain's votes will come for her work in The Help, which was the most widely seen of her films and the one in which she makes the greatest physical transformation, which voters always love. But my sources at several of the studios that are promoting her for other movies feel that her chances of securing a nod for that film, in particular, are hurt by the fact that her costar Octavia Spencer is a lock for a best supporting actress Oscar nod, as there usually is not enough room for more than one person from the same film in a single category…if The Help does not offer Chastain her best shot at a nod, which of her other four films does? I believe -- and Fox Searchlight is working hard to make everyone else believe -- that the answer is The Tree of Life. See promotional video.
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12-07-11 Jessica Chastain Agent: Hylda Queally
(Hollywood Reporter)
"I am still completely driven by seeing a great performance," says Queally, who's been with CAA since 2004. "Being able to see that that's the one to go for, thinking, Oh my God, who is that? and not being able to sleep at night over it." That instinct has led her to new talent such as Elana Anaya (The Skin I Live In), Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life, The Help, Take Shelter) and Brit Marling, who co-wrote and starred in two Sundance movies this year (Sound of My Voice, Another Earth)… At the same time, more veteran clients such as Rose Byrne (Damages, Bridesmaids) and Kate Winslet (Mildred Pierce, Carnage) have recently explored new genres and new media.
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12-07-11 Jessica Appears in New York Times Vamps, Crooks and Killers Video
(NYTIMES.COM)
Today, a preview of this weekend’s New York Times Magazine’s annual Hollywood Issue is available online. Vamps, Crooks and Killers features 13 of this year’s great performers trying on the black hat and impersonating specific icons of unpleasantness or tapping into the primal fears that remain a potent source of pleasure and discomfort at the movies. The ability of these actors to disturb us with a gesture, a change of expression or a simple stare only serves to make us like them more. Jessica said of her video, ‘‘I was channeling loneliness...The idea of feeling invisible. And because of that, it creates a burn in her to be noticed, even if by doing harm.’’
Featured actors include:
• Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life, The Help, Take Shelter
• George Clooney, The Descendents, The Ides of March
• Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
• Viola Davis, The Help
• Jean Dujardin, The Artist
• Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia
• Ryan Gosling, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Drive, The Ides of March
• Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Adepero Oduye, Pariah
• Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy [Chastain Central comment: Upcoming in Wettest County]
• Brad Pitt, The Tree of Life, Moneyball
• Michael Shannon, Take Shelter
• Mia Wasikowska, Albert Nobbs, Jane Eyre, Restless
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12-07-11 Jessica Meets Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco
(Just Jared)
Jessica Chastain hits the red carpet premiere of When the Night during the Marrakech International Film Festival on Tuesday (December 6) in Marrakech, Morocco. The 30-year-old actress, who met Prince Moulay Rachid over the weekend, paired her green Issa dress with Jimmy Choo pumps.
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12-07-11 Wilde Salome to Show at Jameson Dublin International Film Festival
(Entertainment.ie)
As official online partner of The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, we're delighted to announce their biggest, most illustrious ever guest for the 10th anniversary of the festival. One of the finest actors of this, or any other generation, Al Pacino will premiere his new documentary, Wilde Salome…The festival is honoured to present the Irish premiere of Wilde Salome - a new film by one of the world's greatest screen actors." The documentary also stars wonderful young actress Jessica Chastain, and features Pacino and the rising star as they put on a theatre production of Salome. We can look forward to an "unprecedented behind the scenes" of the staging of one of Wilde's most famous works. The Festival runs from 16th-26th February 2012.
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12-05-11 Photos and Commentary on Jessica's Fashion Appearances
(The Fashion Spot)
This year has been a busy one for Jessica Chastain. She made the rounds elegantly promoting her numerous films at festivals and premieres…With all this "Rising Star" has going on, we thought it was the perfect time to take a look at her sophisticated style.
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12-02-11 The Help Wins Best Ensemble from National Board of Review
(Shockya.com)
The National Board of Review, an organization that has been in existence for over 100 years, crowns a Best Film and cites ten other nominees, among other honors…The Help misses out on a Top 10 Films bid, but wins a much-deserved award for Best Ensemble.
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12-02-11 Jessica Nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Tree of Life in Satellite Awards
(NextMovie)
With the Satellite Awards nominating between eight and 10 candidates for every category, it's to be expected that most of this year's frontrunners would earn nominations. Still, because of the expanded field, being left off the list could be a blow to a film or individual's Oscar chances. So among those who further cemented their status as legitimate candidates this award season with Satellite nominations are the Best Actress trio of Viola Davis ("The Help"), Glenn Close ("Albert Nobbs") and Meryl Streep ("The Iron Lady); Supporting Actress nominee Jessica Chastain ("The Tree of Life"); Supporting Actors Christopher Plummer ("Beginners") and Albert Brooks ("Drive"); and the French silent film "The Artist," which in an ongoing trend was nominated in the Motion Picture category but not, oddly enough, in the best Foreign Film category.
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12-02-11 Jessica Speaks of Al Pacino's Great Importance to Her
(Inquirer.net)
Jessica Chastain…gives credit to Al Pacino for all of these projects. Very fair, freckled and blessed with lovely green eyes, the actress has the kind of face that enables her to easily morph into different characters. Jessica as the social-climbing Celia Foote in "The Help" is completely different from her Texan wife and mother, Mrs. O'Brien, in "The Tree of Life," which won the Palme d'Or in Cannes last May. "Pacino cast me in 'Salome' first," said the red-haired Jessica, easy to smile and laugh…Jessica shared about her acting godfather, "Al was like my acting teacher. He taught me so much about the transition from theater to film. After that, I auditioned for the Terrence Malick movie ('The Tree of Life'). I know that Al and Terry had a phone conversation. I had never done anything at that point. So, I needed my references. Al was my reference. Terry introduced me into this big film world. After that, directors like John Hillcoat, John Madden and Jeff Nichols started to wonder who I was. I had the opportunity to work with them. But, Al was the one who plucked me out of the theater world." Presenting the Glory to the Filmmaker Award to Al at the Venice Film Festival last September was a special, though nerve-wracking experience for Jessica. "I was especially nervous, because he means so much to me," she admitted. "He isn't only a great acting teacher to me, but he's also an important figure in my life. I feel like he's my dad."
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12-02-11 Jessica's Thoughts on Nudity
(Inquirer.net)
Jessica…gave credit to her "Salome" experience for…opening her mind about nudity. She appeared naked onstage at the end of her Salome dance in every performance. "All the actresses that I really love do nudity," she said. "When I first started at Juilliard, they asked me to do nudity a couple of times. I said no each time, because it didn't quite make sense. I wanted to be known as an actress first. I read this book called 'Sisters of Salome' when I was working on 'Salome.' It talked about the power of nudity. You're not victimizing yourself, but you can actually use nudity as a weapon. There was a whole different take about it. That book really opened my mind to nudity." She has done nude scenes in films since then, including "Jolene," a 2008 indie film that won her a Best Actress trophy from the Seattle International Film Festival. "When I saw all the fantastic actresses whom I respect doing nudity, I was like, 'Oh, it's no problem,'" she admitted. "But, I still get embarrassed doing it. I'm naked in 'Wettest County.' A few days before doing that scene, I start picking fights with people. No one understands what happens. I was just acting out. Nudity is something you're uncomfortable doing. But, I feel like it's my job as an actor to be a more evolved person, to look at that fear in the face and say, 'Well, I have to rise up and meet this.'"
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12-01-11 Coriolanus to Show at Aspen Film Holiday Showcase
(SHOOT Online)
Aspen Film announces the complete program for the 21st annual winter award screening series, to take place in Aspen, Colo., December 21, 2011 - January 1, 2012… screening are…Ralph Fiennes's Shakespearian adaptation, CORIOLANUS, with Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, and Jessica Chastain.
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12-01-11 See New Photos of Jessica in Coriolanus
(Daemon's Movies)
Check out the awesome poster for CORIOLANUS stars Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Brian Cox, Jessica Chastain, Vanessa Redgrave, James Nesbitt, and is directed by Ralph Fiennes.
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12-01-11 Jessica and Fassbender in 2011
(The Atlantic Wire)
This year [Michael Fassbender] has swelled to movie star size with a speed and volume rarely seen. Four movies in one year! And reasonably well-received movies at that, whether it was the whining superheroics of X-Men: First Class, the brooding Britishness of Jane Eyre, Shame's histrionic mania, or all the sexy psychiatry of David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method. This guy can do no wrong, it seems! And not but two years ago pretty much everybody had no idea who he was. This is the busy, bumper year of Michael Fassbender and it shall be remembered forever thus! Except, oops, wait, another actor spent this year being in all the movies after having seemingly come from nowhere. The ethereal Juilliard grad Jessica Chastain actually has Fassbender beat by two: She had roles in six movies this year, ranging from Southern goofiness in The Help to dark Israeli espionage in The Debt. Like Fassbender, Chastain has a few old credits to her name, but boy if she mostly didn't just burst onto the scene this year like some sort of fire-haired rocket. Where were they keeping this lady? Where were they keeping Fassbender?...The process behind suddenly being in a million movies in one year is certainly mysterious. We may never know why it happened like it did. But what matters is that they're here now. Long live the king and queen of 2011. But will they live long? We've seen burnouts before, people who get overexposed and can't continue a more normally paced career (a moment of silence for 1998's Gretchen Mol). But in these two cases we really hope that doesn't happen. It just so happens that these big breakouts are, y'know, vastly talented. It's good to have talented folks around! For our money Chastain might be the next Streep (seriously) and Fassbender might be the next... Hm. Jude Law?
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11-29-11 Do New York Critic Circle Awards Predict Oscars?
(Moviefone)
What does this all mean? Are today's winners really the odds-on favorites for Oscar glory? If the recent trends of the correlation between NYFCC winners and Academy Award winners are a barometer, the answer to that question is, "It depends on the category." Overall, taking the eight corresponding categories between the two entities for the last five years, the chances of one of the winners taking home an Oscar are 48 percent. Not bad! But, as stated, the category is a huge key. Put it this way: Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain ... better start practicing your acceptance speeches! Over the last five years, the winner for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress has won four out of five times.
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11-29-11 Film Independent Award Winners to be Announced February 25
(BBC News)
French comedian Jean Dujardin of The Artist is up for best actor alongside Take Shelter's Michael Shannon. Jessica Chastain, who also stars in Take Shelter, is recognised in the best supporting actress category. Presented annually by cinema group Film Independent, the awards recognise films that cost less than $20m to make…The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Los Angeles on 25 February… Other films in the running for best feature are 50/50, Beginners, Drive and The Descendants...Dujardin and Shannon take on A Better Life's Demian Bichir, Drive's Ryan Gosling and Rampart's Woody Harrelson in the best actor category. Joining Chastain in the best supporting female lead category are Anjelica Houston, Janet McTeer, Harmony Santana and Shailene Woodley. Chastain's other recent films include The Help, The Tree of Life and Coriolanus.
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11-29-11 Jessica Wins Best Supporting Actress Award from NY Film Critics Circle
(Deadline.com)
The NY Film Critics Circle has just bestowed its Best Picture award for 2011 to Michel Hazanavicius' black-and-white silent film The Artist…Meryl Streep won Best Actress for the Weinsteins' The Iron Lady…Terrence Malick's Tree Of Life had a good day, also nabbing wins for Best Cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki) and for Best Supporting Actress Jessica Chastain, who also was noted for her work in The Help and Take Shelter.
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11-29-11 Jessica Nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Take Shelter for Best Feature by FISA
(Hollywood Reporter)
With five nominations each, the silent movie The Artist and the apocalyptic drama Take Shelter dominated the nominations for Film Independent's Spirit Awards, which were announced Tuesday. They will compete for the best feature award with the father-son drama Beginners, the noir thriller Drive and the Hawaii-set family drama The Descendants…Jessica Chastain, who also picked up a New York Film Critics Circle award Tuesday, was nominated in the supporting female category for her work in Shelter. She will compete with established actresses like Angelica Huston for 50/50 and Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbs along with newcomers like Gun Hill Road's Harmony Santana and Descendants' Shailene Woodley.
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11-29-11 Tree of Life Ties for Best Feature at Gotham Awards
(New York Daily News)
Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" -- a journey through time, space and the life of a 1950s family -- and Mike Mills' "Beginners" -- about a son coming to grips with his father's late-in-life announcement that he's gay -- tied for Best Feature at the 21st annual Gotham Awards… the Gothams, which celebrate the best in independent film, are affiliated with the nonprofit Independent Film Project.
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11-29-11 Coriolanus Reverberates in Today's Strife-filled Times
(SignOnSanDiego)
Of the many politicians we've seen undone by scandal and mismanaged crises, we've not yet seen one dare try to fight a media storm by calling the common people "measles." Leaders with deaf ears and publics that sway capriciously are eternal themes that certainly reverberate in today's strife-filled times. It's no wonder Ralph Fiennes saw fit to transport Shakespeare's tragedy (not one of his highest regarded) from its fifth century BC setting to a contemporary world… The gritty first half of the film is largely shot handheld, which, while surely a fitting style for a film about war and political tumult, grows tiresome and overused. There's a feeling of rushing and of some clunky contemporizing.
Fiennes plays Coriolanus with all-consuming rage, which overshadows the character's other qualities. While he does seem, like Hamlet, displaced from his natural role, Coriolanus' humility doesn't quite come through. The pace of the camera and the storytelling improves considerably in the second half, or the play's fourth and fifth acts. The whole production finds its balance and Fiennes' performance grows fuller, finally bursting forth in a late rush of sympathy at the end. [Also includes excellent description of setting and plot].
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11-27-11 Jessica is Riveting as Ever in Coriolanus
(New York Magazine)
Fiennes and Logan haven't made a definitive Coriolanus, but they've made a sensationally gripping one. They have the pulse of the play, its firm martial beats and its messy political clatter. They tell a good story…Fiennes shoots these sequences with handheld cameras and gets in the warriors' faces, chief among them his own, a scowling mask with a map of ugly scars. Those scars have dramatic weight…how much more at home Coriolanus is in the presence of his bitterest Volscian enemy, Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler), than with anyone else, including his stunner of a wife (Jessica Chastain, riveting as ever). As her son's most vigorous political promoter, Volumnia is also his most effective saboteur-not to mention the scariest political matriarch this side of Angela Lansbury in The Manchurian Candidate…But there isn't a performance misjudged or a line misspoken. True, it's bizarre to hear Shakespeare's language in the mouths of TV newsreaders and commentators on the Roman-Volscian conflict.
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11-24-11 Jessica Will do Motocross Again
(Metro)
I took a motocross course. That didn't go so well. I thought: 'Oh, I'm getting tired' and two minutes later I had an accident and tore my cruciate ligament. But I will go back and do that again because I can't allow the last time I was on a motorcycle to be 'The Accident'.
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11-23-11 How Jessica became a Success in One Year
(LOVEFiLM)
It's not often the movies produce a genuine "over night star", but Jessica Chastain fits the bill. It's been a Champagne year for the American actress, who has gone from a mere blip on the cultural radar to delivering acclaimed performances in some of the most-talked about films of the moment on what feels like a monthly basis…Back in 2006 she starred in a US independent film, Jolene - a road movie about the adventures of a wide-eyed free spirit between the ages of 16 and 26 (she was 25 at the time). The movie premiered at the Seattle Film Festival in 2008 but didn't get any distribution until October 2010, when Chastain's career was starting to generate some buzz. And that's something to bear in mind when considering her "year". Her scenes in Al Pacino's documentary Wilde Salome (which premiered in Venice in September) was shot in 2006 and 2007. Pacino apparently recommended his Salome to Malick, who filmed Tree of Life in 2008. The Debt was shot in 2009. Coriolanus, Take Shelter, Texas Killing Fields and The Help in 2010. It's a bizarre quirk of fate that they should all come into release within such a short window, a bunching effect that explains why Chastain has suddenly become inescapable.
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11-22-11 Jessica on List for BAFTA Award Nomination
(Orange UK News)
This year's Rising Star Award nominees have been announced - and once again the shortlist boasts a formidable array of acting talent from across the globe. The eight nominees are Chris O'Dowd, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Hemsworth, Adam Deacon, Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain…On Tuesday 17 January the eight nominees will be whittled down to five at the BAFTAs nominations announcement, and members of the general public will be allowed to vote for their favourite.
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11-21-11 Jessica Adds Star Power to Marrakesh International Film Festival Jury
(Hollywood Reporter)
Moroccan red carpets will sparkle when the 11th annual Marrakesh International Film Festival kicks off on December 2nd with an eclectic selection of titles from across the globe and a star-powered jury.
Jessica Chastain will add some new Hollywood glam to Emir Kusturica's jury.
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11-17-11 Jessica Possible Oscar Nominee for Supporting Actress
(ComingSoon.net)
Now it's time to get to the supporting actor and actress categories, which are both a much more wide open race than any previous year in memory. Very often, the supporting categories are a place where anything goes and there's always room for surprises, especially in the weeks leading up to the Oscars, but there are also very specific types to look for that help suss out the many great performances…This has been a terrific year for actress Jessica Chastain with strong leading roles in a number of films including The Debt, but we think she's more likely to be pushed in one of her supporting roles, whether it's her comedic bits in The Help or the family drama of Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life or Jeff Nichols' Take Shelter. She's terrific in all three, but she also seems to be busy enough that these roles could just make Academy members aware of her when she plays more significant roles... such as the role of Princess Diana, a casting announcement made in the last few weeks, which could see her getting a nomination in the lead character.
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11-16-11 Mama Wrapping Up Production
(Latino Review)
Director Guillermo del Toro's upcoming Kaiju honoring monster vs. giant robot clash has started shooting this past Monday…Bringing up another film he's attached to, he said: "We are wrapping production on a smaller, very powerful horror film called Mama, which I am producing." The film is directed by Andres Muschietti. The plots follows a couple (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Jessica Chastain) who take in their nieces who had been living in the forest for several years. It soon becomes apparent that a supernatural force didn't want them to leave. Despite being near the end of shooting, the film only has a tentative 2012 release date.
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11-16-11 Oprah Winfrey Identifies with The Help
(Alt Film Guide)
While onstage accepting her award, Winfrey mentioned Taylor's The Help, a likely Best Picture Oscar contender. The show business magnate said that The Help was like the story of her family, as both her mother and her grandmother had been maids to Southern white families.
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11-15-11 Wettest County to Release on April 20, 2012
(Collider.com)
The Weinstein Company has set John Hillcoat's The Wettest County for April 20, 2012. Nick Cave (The Proposition) wrote the script based Matt Bondourant's novel about two brothers (played by Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy) who become bootleggers in the South during Prohibition…It looked like TWC would be setting the movie up for an awards run, but the studio already has its line-up set with The Artist, The Iron Lady, and My Week with Marilyn. That doesn't mean that Wettest County is bad, but it may not be appealing to Academy voters. Neither were Hillcoat's previous films, The Proposition and The Road.
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11-15-11 Tree of Life Plays at Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia
(Hollywood Reporter)
Terrence Malick's Palme d'Or winner The Tree of Life, starring Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and Sean Penn, will close the 15th edition of Estonia's Black Nights Film Festival, which runs Nov. 16-30.
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11-14-11 Horizons to Shoot in Baton Rouge
(Greater Baton Rouge Business Report)
Tom Cruise will shoot the $100 million sci-fi film Horizons in Baton Rouge next year. Universal Pictures has set up an office at Celtic Media Centre, and construction is under way for the film's sets…Horizons will utilize multiple stages through June and one stage through mid-August of 2012. Principal photography begins in March.
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11-13-11 Jessica with Al Pacino at Wilde Salome Premier (Photo)
(BBC News)
Al Pacino attended the premiere of Wilde Salome with his girlfriend Lucia Sola (left) and the actress Jessica Chastain who plays Salome...Oscar and Al Pacino will be on BBC Radio 4 at 16:00 GMT on Monday 14 November 2011.
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11-13-11 The Help Led to Caught in Flight
(Express.co.uk)
Jessica Chastain, who appeared opposite Brad Pitt in The Tree Of Life, will star in Caught In Flight, a British production pitched as a "love story between a princess locked in a tower and an ordinary man".
The 30-year-old redhead has had a string of acclaimed performances this year, including thriller The Debt. It was her role as a vulnerable society girl in Oscar-tipped drama The Help, however, that persuaded producers she would make a perfect princess. "They saw definite flashes of Diana," said a Hollywood source. "She's beautiful, beguiling and dangerous, and those were the qualities they were looking for."
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11-13-11 What? Who is Jennifer Chastain?
(Sydney Morning Herald)
[Helen] Mirren, though, insists she never saw herself as sexy. She's self-deprecating when she describes Jennifer Chastain, who plays the younger version of her character in The Debt, as ''much, much more beautiful'' than she was at her age.
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11-11-11 Jessica Covers Asos Magazine
(StyleBistro)
American film and television actress Jessica Chastain graces cover page of Asos magazine's December 2011 issue. Photographed by Alex Sainsbury, 30-year-old star is posing on cover, wearing a cute white dress with collar adorned by pearls and stones.
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11-11-11 Jessica Nominated for SAG Best Actress Award
(GoldDerby)
Ten of the 17 winners of Supporting Actress at the SAG Awards went on to claim the same award at the Oscars. And Kate Winslet ("The Reader") got a bump up to Best Actress at the Academy Awards. She is contending in this category again for "Carnage."… Of the ladies never nominated before, the list includes…Jessica Chastain ("The Help," "Take Shelter," and "The Tree of Life").
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11-08-11 Jessica Likes Fashion
(People)
"There are some dresses that are so beautiful, the detail is so magnificent, but I can't give them the justice they deserve,"… Despite these self-professed shortcomings (she's only 5-foot-4), the redhead beauty says she still loves fashion. "I always loved [it]," she laughs. "I just couldn't afford it."
Flash forward five years, and the star, who also appeared in this year's The Tree of Life alongside Brad Pitt, has a healthy appetite for the stuff. "I absolutely adore [Louis] Vuitton," she gushes. "I went to the show last year and it was such a celebration of the female body"
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11-06-11 Jessica Continues to Avoid Being Pigeonholed as Princess Diana in Caught in Flight
(Indie Wire)
2011's omnipresent Jessica Chastain will dye her hair and cut it short, taking the lead as Princess Diana in "Caught In Flight," which is sure to be a highly controversial take on her life. Written by Steven Jeffreys ("The Libertine"), the film will focus on Diana's affair with Dr. Hasnat Kahn that lasted from 1995 until a few months before her death in 1997… It's certainly a big gear change for Chastain, who will have to wear a British accent for the first time onscreen, in addition to undergoing a complete transformation into a public figure known and beloved by millions. With this picture, the sci-fi spectacle "Horizons" and the Guillermo Del Toro produced horror "Mama" on the way, Chastain refuses to be pigeonholed, with her upcoming roles among her most interesting yet.
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11-06-11 Jessica to Portray Princess Diana in Caught in Flight
(Indie Wire)
Many of the deals announced at the American Film Market will never get made. One hot ticket item that could go forward is current it-girl Jessica Chastain starring as Princess Diana in Caught in Flight, reports Liza Forman. California beauty Jessica Chastain (Take Shelter, The Help, The Tree of Life), is to play the late Diana, Princess of Wales in Caught in Flight, a controversial love story based on a real-life affair that the princess long kept under wraps. To be directed by Germany's Oliver Hirschbiegel.
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11-04-11 Jessica is Feature Film Juror for Marrakech Film Festival
(Screen International)
The Marrakech Film Festival, which runs December 2-10, will be bookended by Moroccan films The Rif Lover and Death For Sale…Serbian director Emir Kusturica will head up the feature film jury, which will also be made up of Jessica Chastain, Asghar Farhadi, Nicole Garcia, Abdelkader Lagtâa, Brillante Ma. Mendoza, Radu Mihaileanu, Maya Sansa, Aparna Sen.
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11-03-11 Update on The Burial
(Best Movies Ever Entertainment News)
The one film we're assuming could be hitting screens next year is already in the can and it stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel Weisz, Javier Bardem, Barry Pepper, Charles Baker and Jessica Chastain. Reshoots were done this past spring so that leaves Malick plenty of time in edit to have this out in time for a Cannes premiere…Details have surfaced since last year, but the LA Times uncovered this much which sounds more in line with a Malick film. 'The Burial' aka 'Untitled Terrence Malick Project' "concerns a philanderer (Affleck) who, feeling at loose ends, travels to Paris, where he enters a hot-and-heavy affair with a European woman (Kurylenko). Said Lothario returns home to Oklahoma, where he marries the European woman (in part for visa reasons). When the relationship founders, he rekindles a romance with a hometown girl (McAdams) with whom he's had a long history."…Knowing that he's got two films to shoot in 2012, I have a feeling that Malick will be getting this one out in time, especially since StudioCanal have already purchased the UK distrib rights. Don't be shocked that Malick held on to U.S. rights waiting for a Cannes premiere.
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11-02-11 Wilde Salome Wins Queer Lion Award at Venice Festival
(Windy City Times)
The Al Pacino film Wilde Salome won the fifth annual Queer Lion award at the 68th annual Venice Film Festival, according to On Top Magazine. Twelve movies vied for the prize that recognizes films with queer elements at the festival. The film, which co-stars Jessica Chastain, is described on its website as "an experimental documentary that journeys into the mind of a film icon, and his fascination for a piece of literature that transcends time, and opens the door to a rising star."
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11-01-11 Whisperings on The Burial Plot
(24Frames)
There have been scattered reports about it, but according to a person who read the script, it's a love triangle with an international subtext. It's also the only film Malick has ever done that's set in the same time as the period in which he's making it. Here's the breakdown, with the caveat that things could change drastically from script to screen…Basically, it concerns a philanderer (Affleck) who, feeling at loose ends, travels to Paris, where he enters a hot-and-heavy affair with a European woman (Olga Kurylenko). Said Lothario returns home to Oklahoma, where he marries the European woman (in part for visa reasons). When the relationship founders, he rekindles a romance with a hometown girl (Rachel McAdams) with whom he's had a long history. According to the person who read the script, there's a bit of a happier ending than some other Malick movies (or at least a less ambiguous one than at the end of "Tree"). And a person who saw the footage said there's also the trademark visual showiness--shots of Affleck and McAdams in Malick's trademark man-in-nature style--as well as intriguing supporting actors: Javier Bardem, for instance, plays a priest whom Affleck's Lothario visits for advice.
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11-01-11 Jessica on Cover of Asos Magazine
(Just Jared)
Jessica Chastain graces the cover of Asos magazine's December 2011 issue.
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11-01-11 Michael Sheen Joins The Burial
(The Press Association)
Michael Sheen is rumoured to be in Terrence Malick's upcoming movie. The British star - who will next be seen in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - confirmed that he would be collaborating with the Tree Of Life filmmaker some time this year, but refused to divulge further details…Michael's supposed role would reunite him with his real-life girlfriend and Midnight In Paris co-star Rachel McAdams. Going by the rumoured title of The Burial, the film already stars Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel Weisz, Barry Pepper, Charles Baker and Jessica Chastain. American actress Amanda Peet also revealed she has a part in Terrence's film.
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10-31-11 Jessica's Private Life not Changed by Her Movie Successes
(RollingStone.com)
Her résumé is bursting…and yet she still drives a 14-year-old Toyota, calls her mom before she makes major purchases (like she did with her car), rides the subway and works out at the local gym. "I'm not going to be the girl with the private yoga instructor at my house," she says. "I don't want anyone to think, 'Oh, she's famous, she's different than me.'" Still, Chastain, who had a sturdy, down-to-earth upbringing in Northern California with four siblings, a vegan-chef mom and a firefighter dad, can't deny her ubiquity: "I feel like I'm everywhere. But my personal life hasn't changed. I think only three people have come up to me in the past six months. Which is too bad, because I love to meet people. I wouldn't be mean to them."
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10-31-11 Update on Malick's The Burial
(Indie Wire)
It's hard to believe, but Terrence Malick essentially has three movies on the way, something we never thought we'd type...the already wrapped, and still untitled drama with Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem, Barry Pepper, Charles Baker and in a small role, Jessica Chastain. Of the trio of pictures, this one seems to be the one closest to the finish line and it look like Malick is now getting the music together for movie. While he's worked with composers in the past like Alexandre Desplat, Hans Zimmer, Ennio Morricone and contentiously, James Horner, it appears he's taking a different tack this time around. Malick-obsessive blog All Things Shining are reporting that American Indian classical composer Jerod Tate is recording an orchestral soundtrack to the film…Malick himself said he was "rushing" towards a final mix on the film (a word we never thought we'd hear him use) and Optimum in the U.K. had picked up the movie over the summer for a 2012 release, so fingers crossed that sticks.
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10-30-11 Jessica in Oscar Running for Three Movies
(Daily Herald)
Award season sometimes brings the occasional star with a pair of movies in the running, but this year more than a half-dozen performers could find their biggest rival staring at them in the mirror. The list of acting award hopefuls with multiple movies is long and diverse: Brad Pitt, Carey Mulligan, Viola Davis, Ryan Gosling, Jessica Chastain, Michael Fassbender and George Clooney…Chastain, Davis's "The Help" co-star, is in the running for her roles in two other films besides the civil-rights tale - "The Tree of Life" and the supernatural drama "Take Shelter."
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10-30-11 Coriolanus Changes Release Date to December 2, 2011
(phillyBurbs.com)
With so many movies on the way, the holiday cinematic season is kicking off earlier than ever - on the weekend after Halloween. Expect around four dozen diverse titles to arrive between Friday and Dec. 25…"Coriolanus," with Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler and Jessica Chastain in an R-rated, modern-dress drama based on the Shakespeare play about a leader whose toxic orders could lead to the downfall of Rome. Fiennes made his directing debut. (Dec. 2)
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10-30-11 Jolene to Play this Week on Showtime
(Pittsburgh Post Gazette)
Television movies for the week of Oct. 30 (Oct. 30-Nov. 5): Jolene '08. Jessica Chastain. A teenage orphan spends ten years traveling to experience life. (R) (2:05) SHO: Tue. 7:55 P.M., Sat. 2:05 A.M.
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10-28-11 Jessica Avoids Bullies
(Film News)
Jessica Chastain's mother has banned her from reading things about herself. The 30-year-old actress was bullied for having red hair when she was at school. As she grew up people stopped making nasty remarks, but since finding fame she's had to deal with criticism again. The star's mother has become so tired of seeing her upset she felt she had to step in. "There is this anonymous bullying that happens, people feel that they can say mean, mean things. The bullying aspect coming back is really shocking and strange," Jessica explained. "My mom told me I'm not allowed to look anymore. She said, 'From now on, I will look and I will let you know if there's something you need to address, but it's not healthy.' And she's right. It's not healthy for me to look at mean things people say."
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10-26-11 Three More Read for Additional Female Role in Tom Cruise Science Fiction Film Oblivion
(Deadline.com)
Jessica Chastain already signed on for one of two plum roles, and I'm told the studio will read three actresses for the other female lead this weekend…Hayley Atwell, Diane Kruger, and Kate Beckinsale have made it to the lightning round to play a mysterious young woman who crash-lands on earth much to the shock of Cruise's character.
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10-26-11 Why Was The Help so Successful?
(BBC)
The Help, a heart-tugging drama about black housekeepers working in 1960s Mississippi, was the surprise hit at US cinemas this summer…this modestly budgeted period piece - based on a best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett - romped home to top the North American box office chart for three consecutive weeks. Its takings in the US and Canada now stand in excess of $165m (£104.5m), prompting many in the industry to speculate on why it connected with audiences…"It shows that everyone wants a story," says Tate Taylor, an actor turned director who, prior to The Help, had only one feature film to his credit. "They want to go somewhere and be transported and not rely on robots and computer generation."… Davis, who plays a domestic servant persuaded by a young journalist to spill the beans about her demanding white employers, insists this is only part of the picture. Viola Davis (r) plays Aibileen, a long-serving maid in a Mississippi household "The thing that really amazes me about this movie is the number of young men that have been moved by the story," she continues. "I think it's because they see their mothers [in the characters]. They see what they have contributed and given to create a life for them." "It ended up being the 'four quadrant' film no one expected," says Taylor, employing a marketing term often used to describe a film that appeals to people of both sexes aged both over and under 25.
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10-21-11 Editor David Leonard Cuts Pacino's Wilde Salome
(Below the Line)
Editor David Leonard recently cut Al Pacino's Wilde Salome…The film, which premiered at The Venice Film Festival to a standing ovation, weaves together stunning cinematography with documentary-style footage to create a complex and illuminating examination of Oscar Wilde, the man, and Salome, his once-banned play about illicit love and brutal revenge…The innovative exploration of the writer and his play, and an actor and a roll crosses the traditional boundaries of filmmaking, weaving together three distinct threads of content: A cinema verite-style documentary about the making of the film and recreations of pivotal touch-points in Wilde's life, the film of the play itself, which is shot on 35mm film, and documentary footage shot with a SD video camera that followed Pacino to Ireland, England, and France as he researched the writer's life and interviewed experts about his subject…the challenge was not only to capture the visceral feel Pacino wanted to achieve, but to reach a balance and fluidity between the documentary-style footage and the dramatic film…At the same time that he was directing the film and playing the role of King Herod opposite Jessica Chastain as Salome, he was performing the same part on stage in the 2006 production of Salome, also opposite Chastain.
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10-21-11 BBC Will Show Pacino's Salome Documentary
(The Independent)
Next month Al Pacino is to entertain a different audience when he fronts programming for BBC Radio 4. A one-off documentary will see him reflecting on his work as a director, specifically focusing on his latest feature-length project, Wilde's Salome, which is based on Oscar Wilde's 1891 one-act play.
It is partly a documentary about Pacino's own experiences of making the movie, but also features filmed performances of the play itself, in which the actor appears alongside Jessica Chastain…Pacino acted in a Broadway production of Salome in 2003, and later in Los Angeles in 2006. He filmed the latter performance and edited it together with interviews about Wilde with Gore Vidal, Tom Stoppard and Bono…A BBC spokesman said: "This programme will explore what inspired Pacino in his interpretation on film. [He] uses a mix of documentary, fiction and improvisation to get to the root of the story, and this programme will try to find out the motivation for this unusual approach." The programme will be broadcast on 14 November.
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10-20-11 Take Shelter and Tree of Life Nominated for Gotham Awards
(Indie Wire)
The 21st Gotham Independent Film Award nominations have been announced…That category [Breakthrough Actress] saw perhaps the biggest of the nominations' many surprises in who didn't make the cut: 2011 it girl Jessica Chastain, who's featured in two of the best feature nominees, "Take Shelter" and "The Tree of Life."…Best Feature: Take Shelter, The Tree of Life…Best Ensemble Performance: Take Shelter Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Tova Stewart, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon, Kathy Baker, Ray McKinnon, Lisagay Hamilton, Robert Longstreet (Sony Pictures Classics).
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10-19-11 Jessica Must Choose which Movie to Push for Oscar's Best Supporting Actor Bid
(GoldDerby)
Jessica Chastain is the uncontestable breakthrough performer of the year, but she must quickly decide which of her several brilliant performances to tout for awards consideration. She could easily manage an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for "The Tree of Life," "Take Shelter," or "The Help." Unfortunately, Academy rules dictate that performers may only receive one nomination per category each year…"The Tree of Life," directed by Terrence Malick, presently seems like her best bet…it is worth noting that Malick has yet to direct any actor to an Oscar nominations though his last three films…Chastain's sublime performance in "Take Shelter" may be even friendlier to Oscar voters…She has numerous outstanding scenes opposite Shannon, like when she tearfully confronts him about taking out an exorbitant bank loan without consulting her. Later, she must convince him to open their storm shelter after he's convinced the outside world has been swept away…Finally, Chastain may consider her more lightweight performance in box office success and Best Picture contender "The Help."… "The Help" is not her best bet. Co-star Octavia Spencer, with whom she shares most of her screentime, is a frontrunner in the supporting category…It is pivotal that Chastain picks which performance to push now. Many performers have fallen prey to vote-splitting.
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10-19-11 Take Shelter gets UK Distributer
(Hollywood Reporter)
The Works U.K. Distribution has corralled all U.K. distribution rights to Jeff Nichols' Take Shelter.
The movie is set to have its British premiere later this week during the BFI London Film Festival…The movie unspooled at this year's Sundance Film Festival where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.
The film went on to win the Cannes 2011 Critics Week Grand Prize and FIPRESCI Award and was most recently awarded the Grand Prize at the Deauville Film Festival and Best Film at the Zurich Film Festival.
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10-18-11 First Report on Wettest County
(Latino Review)
Apparently there was a couple a screenings in New York City for some upcoming films, one of them was for John Hillcoat's "The Wettest County in The World" starring Shia LeBeouf and Tom Hardy. The film is a crime-drama centered on a family of Depression-era bootleggers in the American South…Wettest County is actually based on a true story of three brothers (LaBeouf, Tom Hardy and Jason Clarke) who are Depression era bootleggers in the South. They're in an illegal business as the authorities begin to crack down with Prohibition. In every illegal business what happens? You have to get down and dirty which the brothers eventually do when some outsiders from Chicago come and basically try to corner their business.
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10-18-11 How Director Fiennes Found Jessica
(Flicks and bits)
I was introduced to Jessica by someone who was at one point interested in financing the film, that didn't happen but I met her, having only seen her in a snippet of her Salome. Virgilia is a hard part because she doesn't have a lot to say, but she is the wife of Coriolanus, and she is present in fact by her silence, Coriolanus calls her, 'My gracious silence.' I think she is possibly the only character who carries love in the play, and I knew we needed someone with an effortless, emotional translucence - and that's what this wonderful actress carries…I had the privilege of seeing her play Desdemona on stage, I think Desdemona's one of those parts where you have to have this quality, it cannot be acted. She had it, and until then I had never seen it, so I'd seen the best Desdemona ever in her.
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10-17-11 More Oscar Talk about Jessica
(HitFix)
The supporting actress field is notable for consistently allowing for multiple performers in one film to slide in. Recent examples have come in films like "Almost Famous," "Gosford Park," "Chicago," "Babel," "Doubt," "Up in the Air" and just last year in "The Fighter." With that in mind, Jessica Chastain is having a bang-up year and it would just seem wrong if she were to miss out on some recognition, and by many accounts, she's the best part of "The Help." I'm thinking maybe that can happen. Chastain also shows up, as if we need to mention it yet again, in "Take Shelter," "The Tree of Life," "The Debt" and "Coriolanus," in order of potential for recognition. Quite the slate.
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10-17-11 Jessica Has Five Movies in Top 75
(Chastain Central announcement)
For the weekend of October 14, Jessica had five movies in the top 75. The Help (#14), The Debt (#27), Take Shelter (#31), Texas Killing Fields (#65), and Tree of Life (#71). The Help was in its 10th week; The Debt in its 7th week; and Tree of Life in its 21st week. All were down from much higher earlier rankings. Take Shelter was in its 3rd week, and Texas Killing Fields was in its 1st. Both were on their way up from the beginnings of limited releases.
To Index
10-16-11 Jessica's Character in Killing Fields based on Real-life Detective Pam Mitchell
(Daily News - Galveston County)
Ferrarone said he was looking for a female detective who was "tough, but didn't look tough" to base the lead female character. Goetschius suggested La Marque Detective Pam Mitchell…Mitchell plans to see the movie for the first time this weekend. She and Land were quick to point out, too, that unlike the movie where Mike and Pam are divorced, the two had nothing but a professional relationship when the two worked in law enforcement in Galveston County. Mitchell did get a kick seeing Jessica Chastain portray her. "She was trying to figure out how I was this tough detective who would have perfect, long fingernails," Mitchell said. "She asked how'd I shoot a gun, and I told her, 'Not with my finger nails.'"
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10-15-11 Jessica's Killing Fields Interrogation Scene Released as Teaser
(The Epoch Times)
Though largely underutilized, at least Jessica Chastain's Stall has a cool interrogation scene (that not surprisingly has been released as a teaser).
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10-14-11 Sony Pictures Pushes Jessica as Best Supporting Actress for The Debt
(hollywoodreporter)
Sony Pictures Classics sent out screeners of Jeff Nichols's harrowing drama Take Shelter earlier today to all of the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Broadcast Film Critics Association, and Los Angeles Film Critics Association…The studio hopes that the film…will be recognized by awards voters in a number of categories, but especially best actor (Michael Shannon, who gives a tour de force performance), best supporting actress (the ubiquitous Jessica Chastain, who is also being pushed in that category by Fox Searchlight for The Tree of Life and Disney for The Help), and best original screenplay (also Nichols).
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10-14-11 Jessica Cast in Lead Role of The Darling Adaptation by Russell Banks
(Calgary Herald)
Quebec director Denis Villeneuve is set to direct Banks' own screenplay adaptation of his 2004 novel The Darling, which tells the story of a former member of the Weather Underground who marries a Liberian government official while on the run from American law enforcement. Villeneuve is best-known for his harrowing 2010 film Incendies. Jessica Chastain, last seen in The Help, has been cast in the main role, Banks says. At one point, Martin Scorsese and Cate Blanchette were attached to a film version of The Darling.
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10-14-11 Chloe Moretz Talks about Jessica
(Huffington Post )
How was it working with such big co-stars, like Sam Worthington and Jessica Chastain? It was amazing. I absolutely love Jessica Chastain. And actually, when I worked with her, she hadn't fully broken out yet with all of her movies that are out now. So when I met her I was like, 'What are you up to?' And she named about 15,000 movies and I was like, 'Oh wow, you've been very busy.' And then I realized how amazing she was at acting. She just transformed that character. And I know that character -- she actually based it on an actual woman. I thought that was so cool that she kept in contact with that woman and sent emails to her and they went to lunch and stuff. I think Jessica is such a phenomenal actress.
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10-14-11 The Chastain Curse
(Sydney Morning Herald)
''Last year, we were joking that there was a Chastain curse,'' she says. ''I'd done 11 films in four years and for some reason they'd all been paused. I'd tell my friends and family, 'I swear to you, I'm in this movie with Brad Pitt!' Or I'd meet with a filmmaker and I'd go, 'I really want to do your movie - but if you put me in it, it may not come out for years.''' Now Chastain is cursed instead with a never-ending promotional tour of duty. ''Sundance, Berlin, two films in Cannes, two films in Deauville, two films in Venice, two films in Toronto,'' she says, looking back on the year. ''I'm promoting five movies this month. My publicist said she's never seen that before. I looked at my whole schedule and I got freaked out, so now I just look at three days. What am I doing the next three days? That's enough.''
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10-13-11 Take Shelter to Screen at Three Rivers Film Festival
(Pittsburgh Post Gazette)
A number of people have asked when "Take Shelter" is coming to town. It will have a single screening during the Three Rivers Film Festival and, I would imagine, return for a regular run somewhere in Pittsburgh. Date and place to be determined. If you are eager to see Michael Shannon as an Ohio husband and father who starts to have apocalyptic visions, mark this date and place on your calendar: Friday, Nov. 11 at 9:15 p.m. at the Regent Square Theater at 1035 S. Braddock Ave.
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10-13-11 Jessica Talks about Filming Take Shelter
(Winnipeg Free Press)
Jessica Chastain says there were indications early on that Shannon's performance was special.
Back when they shot the film, she says a crowd of about 100 extras erupted in applause after watching Shannon command a pivotal scene in which he explodes with emotion. "After the first take they all clapped - they all just lost it," Chastain said…Chastain plays the iron-willed Samantha, a devoted wife who watches helplessly as her husband succumbs ever deeper into his fears...The key was keeping it all from veering into melodrama, says Chastain, who credits Nichols with achieving a delicate balancing act.
"As serious as the situation could be he's very subtle and sensitive in his way of telling a story," she says.
Samantha, too, is a delicate bundle of contradictions, notes Chastain. She appears as a simple, loving wife as the film opens, but as tensions escalate, the layers come off and she takes on a more central - and grounded - role in the story. "Samantha doesn't suffer fools - she rules the roost in her family, she wears the pants, she says what's going to happen, when it's going to happen, she is definitely a strong woman," notes Chastain, who adds that she and Shannon spent much of their off-screen time developing a familial bond by playing with Tova Stewart, who plays their onscreen daughter.
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10-13-11 The Making of Texas Killing Fields
(Daily Beast)
Mann spoke about discovering the story. Ten years ago, her father developed the script with screenwriter Don Ferrarone, who heard about the crimes in Texas when he was working as a DEA agent. (He later switched careers and has worked as a consultant or producer on such movies as Miami Vice, Man on Fire, and Déjà Vu.) But the project languished until Ami decided to revive it. She secured financing once Sam Worthington agreed to star as one of the detectives investigating the murders. Worthington persuaded his co-star from The Debt, this year's "It" girl Jessica Chastain, to take a supporting role as his ex-wife and fellow cop…In some ways, Texas Killing Fields was a family affair. Her father was one of the producers, and her half-sister, Aran Reo Mann, was the production designer who helped Ami to find the eerie locations and construct the beautifully detailed sets. Both of them made important contributions.
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10-13-11 Jessica Still Considered Oscar Potential since January
(GoldDerby)
Four ingenues are in the thick of the Oscar race: "Oscar watchers have been wondering about 'the next big thing' since January when hype began to coalesce around four relatively "new" women (Felicity Jones, Elizabeth Olsen, Jessica Chastain, and Rooney Mara)…Cut to: nine months later and the same four women are still being talked up as potential Oscar nominees."
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10-13-11 IT Girl Does not Cling to Fame and Success
(CTV.ca)
Before her Hollywood breakthrough year is even over, critics are already calling Chastain the best actress of her generation. In little more than a year Chastain has gone from being an unknown in Hollywood to being crowned Tinseltown's new "It" girl… "If I were 20 and all this happened I'd try to cling to it. Now I know it goes away. Actors have great years. They have lean years. That knowledge is what keeps me sane…There's fame, then there's the job," said Chastain. "I've made 11 films in the past five years and now they're all coming out at once. I just hope people won't get sick of me."
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10-12-11 Wettest County Could Open in Limited Release in December
(Indie Wire)
They've been quietly putting on test screenings of John Hillcoat's prohibition-era crime drama "The Wettest County in the World," which stars Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain, Guy Pearce and Mia Wasikowska among others. If you've myopically followed 'Wettest County' reports, you'll have seen some that suggested the film could come out in limited release in December and then go wider in January just so it could qualify for Oscars. While it's not 100% that this is what TWC is potentially cooking, we wouldn't be the first that has theorized Harvey is taking a step back to survey his 2011 Oscar perspectives and trying to ascertain if he needs to throw another film into the fray.
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10-12-11 Director Ami Canaan Mann on Casting Sam and Jessica in Killing Fields
(MovieWeb)
I just have to say, I'm so lucky to have gotten this incredible cast. Sam was the first one on board. He read the script and responded to it, we met and he signed on. I actually hadn't known him from anything except this little film he did in Australia called Somersault. I saw it a long time ago and thought he was just great in it…Jessica, none of the movies she's in right now were available. I had seen her in this movie called Jolene, and thought she was great.
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10-11-11 The Debt Blu-ray Available December 6
(TheHDRoom)
Universal Studios Home Entertainment will release the thriller The Debt, directed by John Madden and starring the ageless action wonder Helen Mirren, Avatar's Sam Worthington, Tom Wilkinson, Ciaran Hinds, Jesper Christensen, Jessica Chastain and Marton Csokas, on Blu-ray and DVD on December 6.
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10-09-11 Jessica the IT Girl
(London Free Press)
The one person who can rightfully make the "It Girl" claim is none other than (drum roll, please) Jessica Chastain. Like many "It Girls" past, the name may not instantly ring a bell, but, trust us, it will soon enough. Over the past few months, you might have seen her in The Help, where she played the role of Octavia Spencer's naïve, socially outcast employer. Or, you may have possibly seen her in Terrence Malick's tricky-to-decipher The Tree of Life, in which she was cast as a grieving mother, married to Brad Pitt, in 1950's Texas. Or, you could have caught her in The Debt, where, cast as a young Helen Mirren, she played an agent for Israel's Mossad, tracking a Nazi war criminal in '60s-era Berlin. But chances are, given how different Chastain looked in each of the above roles, you probably didn't realize she was the same person. And that's just for starters…we've got a feeling we'll have plenty of time to catch up with the hard-working actress in the years to come. Jessica Chastain -- the "It Girl" who just won't quit.
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10-07-11 Santa Fe Film Festival to Show Coriolanus
(Albuquerque Journal)
The Santa Fe Film Festival is back with a lineup of 23 feature films, two of them starring Rachel Weisz and Ralph Fiennes, and five series of shorts. Billing itself as a four-day celebration of "the best in independent world cinema," the festival runs Oct. 20-23 in a staggered schedule at The Screen and the Center for Contemporary Arts, with the closing film at the Lensic Performing Arts Center…"Coriolanus" marks Ralph Fiennes' directorial debut with a cast that includes Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox and Jessica Chastain. Fiennes updates Shakespeare's play about a war hero exiled by his own people, compelling him to ally himself with his sworn enemy in order to exact revenge.
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10-05-11 Jessica in Oscar Campaigns for Tree of Life and The Help
(Entertainment Weekly)
Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain - will be campaigned in the supporting categories this awards season. It's a strategy that's been used for several ensemble films in the recent past…For Pitt, the move heads off any potential vote splitting between his performances in Tree of Life and Moneyball, since the latter is clearly a lead role. But for Chastain, it's muddier: The actress, who'll end up costarring in six films released in 2011, will now be the recipient of supporting campaigns for Tree and The Help, just for starters.
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10-05-11 Jessica on Designer Clothes
(Crushable)
Is dressing for the red carpet fun for you, or is it a source of stress? I'm pretty shy, so taking photographs on the red carpet, especially in the beginning, was very intimidating. That red carpet at Cannes….what an introduction! It's the biggest red carpet there is...I love clothes; I love fashion. Clothes are very emotional to me and to have designers offer me dresses and beautiful things to wear makes that whole experience all the better. So it's gotten easier. So many actresses do fashion ad campaigns now. Would you? Absolutely. Even with my red carpet looks and magazine shoots, I try to not look the same all the time. I try to change my look a lot and play different roles. My job as an actor is to be a storyteller, so I think for a campaign it would be very exciting to work with a designer and a label to do something that was telling a story. Not just "Jessica wearing a designer". Have you been working with a stylist? I work with Elizabeth Stewart. She is wonderful because she's a stylist who dresses her clients for them and not for her…When you have six films coming out in a matter of six months and you have so many events, it's really helpful to have someone.
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10-05-11 The Help Blu-ray Due December 6
(Flix 66)
The film is hitting Blu-ray on December 6th. Special features on the disc include two deleted scenes, and "The Living Proof" music video by Mary J. Blige. The Blu-ray will also have three exclusive features, including The Making of the Help featurette, In Their Own Words featurette and three additional deleted scenes not included on the DVD. The Tate Taylor directed film stars Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Allison Janney, Jessica Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard.
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10-03-11 Tree of Life Available on Blu-ray
(We Are Movie Geeks)
Bring home acclaimed writer/director Terrence Malick's (Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, The New World) thought provoking film experience THE TREE OF LIFE, available exclusively on Blu-ray Disc Combo Pack October 11 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment…The Blu-ray Disc presentation utilizes maximum bit rate encoding and 7.1 audio and a 2.0 stereo mix to bring Malick's visually stunning masterpiece to life providing consumers with a premium cinematic viewing experience for the home. An exclusive 30-minute documentary on the making of the film, Exploring The Tree of Life, allows fans to dig even deeper into Malick's visionary work and his cinematic legacy through interviews with his collaborators and cast members as well as with directors Christopher Nolan and David Fincher who share an appreciation for his work…THE TREE OF LIFE Blu-ray Combo Pack includes a bonus DVD and Digital Copy version of the film. [article includes six clips from Tree of Life]
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10-03-11 Three Clips from Take Shelter Released
(Up and Comers)
Wow. Jeff Nichols' supernatural drama "Take Shelter" already ranked high on our list of anticipated fall movies, but these three new clips released today from the film has built that anticipation even more. Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain, two of the most talented and promising of the next generation of Great Actors, play Curtis and Samantha…The third clip, featuring an argument that's clearly been boiling up and over, is particularly astonishing. Chastain plays a housewife for the third time this year (following Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" and Civil Rights-era ensemble drama "The Help") but has once again created and disappeared into an altogether different persona.
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10-02-11 Take Shelter Opens Impressively in Limited Release
(Indie Wire)
It was a busy weekend at the specialty box office with 5 new films reporting their limited debuts. According to estimates provided by Rentrak earlier today, it was Jeff Nichols' "Take Shelter" that was the clear winner of the lot. The Sony Pictures Classics release - which made its debut at Sundance earlier this year and has been winning raves at festivals ever since - grossed $56,171 from its 3 debut screens, averaging an impressive $18,724…Beyond "Shelter," good news was somewhat hard to come by.
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10-01-11 Take Shelter Wins Golden Eye Award for International Feature Film at Zurich Film Festival
(AFP)
Organisers of the seventh Zurich Film Festival awarded two Americans, an Austrian and a Swiss movie maker with the coveted Golden Eye award on Saturday, a statement said. American director Jeff Nichols won the international feature film category for his thriller "Take Shelter", which was also awarded at the Festival of American Film in Deauville, France, last month, and the Cannes Film Festival in May. The film starring Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Tova Stewart, Shea Whigham and Katy Mixon, portrays the life an unassuming man afflicted by nightmares.
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09-30-11 Jessica's Introduction to Tree of Life
(A.V. Club Chicago)
I got the part before I was allowed to read the script. I'd been auditioning for months, and I didn't quite know what the character was. But when I read the script, it was very intimidating. It took me a little over four hours to read. It's massive, and it's very similar to what the film is. All the history, the creation of the world, all that's in there. And when I finished, I thought, "How am I going to play this woman? She's just the embodiment of grace." She's a representation of the spirit. I went to Juilliard, and there was a fantastic course there called "Approaching The Play," and it's all these things you can do starting out. It's like these questions: "Who am I? What am I? What's my favorite music? When was I born? What's my relationship with my parents?" So I absolutely do that on every film. I know my character's favorite color. I know what music she has on her iPod. Not that Mrs. O'Brien has an iPod. I felt for Mrs. O'Brien it was so important that I do that, because I had to kind of create this-even though it was all in the subtext, and the mystery of what the film was, because you don't see it explained to you-I had to make her as full of a woman as I could. And give her a first name, and do all those things. But also, I realized, you can do all that, but then you have to actively do something. For me, I found, "What makes her tick? What is something I can play?" and it's absolutely the relationship she has with her kids. I could be active in scenes, protecting them, caring for them, encouraging them, giving me things that create and propel me forward.
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09-30-11 When Jessica Met Ralph Fiennes at Julliard
(A.V. Club Chicago)
When I was at Juilliard, Ralph Fiennes, Philip Seymour Hoffman, David Suchet, and Fiona Shaw came in and spoke. Not a workshop, per se, but a Q&A. When they were there, I was so excited at the prospect of being an actor and what my career would bring. And when we got out, I've since worked with all of them. That's a big thing. It's an emotional thing to be on a set and look over and be like, "Ralph Fiennes is directing right now. I'm playing his wife in this film." And it wasn't that long ago, seven years ago, he was there at Juilliard and I was dreaming of this moment. Or Philip Seymour Hoffman. So it's really an emotional and inspiring thing for me every time that happens.
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09-29-11 Take Shelter is about Marriage and Trust-Not Apocalypse or Schizophrenia
(AskMen)
Jessica Chastain:…The film is not about the apocalypse or schizophrenia; it's about marriage. Marriage and faith. Samantha and Curtis are an example of having faith in someone. He has faith in her that he can tell her what no one else knows, and she has the faith in him that he is a good person even in those difficult scenes at the end. Faith till the end. One thing I was nervous about: There are certain Hollywood films about schizophrenia or the end of the world, and all the bells and whistles about telling that story. Jeff told me that it wasn't that. He said the most important moment in the film was the look between them at the very end. In that scene, there is a look. If that look doesn't work, the whole film doesn't work.
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09-29-11 Take Shelter to Open in Three Theaters
(Hollywood Reporter)
Notable specialty releases opening this weekend include Jeff Nichols' critically acclaimed Take Shelter, starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain. Sony Pictures Classics is launching the pic in three theaters in New York and Los Angeles.
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09-29-11 Jeff Nichol's Ten Minute Conversation with Terrence Malick about Jessica
(IFC)
My executive producer, Sarah Green, produced "Tree of Life." She's the one who recommended Jessica, but it was a very difficult thing for me to judge because I hadn't seen her in anything. She said "Well maybe you can sit down with Terry." So she arranged it. He was extremely generous and polite. From the 10 minute meeting I had with him, he struck me as a very sensitive, very sweet man. He spoke about Jessica very highly, and from my perspective that was all I really needed. But just for the sake of things, I flew out to L.A. and met her. She was lovely, but I still hadn't seen her act. And it wasn't until we were on set and started rolling the camera that I did.
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09-29-11 Short Clip from Jessica's First Credited Film Role (on ER)
(Moviefone)
In her first credited role, Chastain plays the friend of a person being operated on by Dr. Corday in the ER -- which I suppose describes about 50 percent of the guest stars on 'ER.' It's hard to get a sense of the future Oscar contender's talents from this clip, though -- for what it's worth -- when Chastain is asked to leave and explains that she wants to stay with her friend.
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09-29-11 Jessica Negotiates with Jeff Nichols about Slapping Michael Shannon
(Complex.com)
I would never hit someone. [Laughs.] I had so much trouble even doing that scene. Because I adore Mike so much, and the idea is that I'm supposed to hit him goes against how much I hate violence. And that slap is like a real slap, so we're talking about it and we're talking about it in rehearsal, and I said to Jeff, "You need to promise me that you're only going to ask me to do this three times. If you make this promise, I will promise you that, every single time, I will hit him very hard." [Laughs.] That way, I knew I'd only have to do it three times, and I can do it three times. The fourth time, though, would be pretty rough. I knew that if we did the scene more times than that, I'd end up holding back after a certain point because I'd want to protect Mike. The more you hit someone, it's just awful… We did it in exactly three takes. Jeff kept his word.
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09-29-11 Jessica's Thoughts on Fashion
(Monsters and Critics)
Fashion to me is costumes, it's not about this is the cool brand, or this is the best silhouette on me. I like fashion where it tells stories each time…I did the cover of W magazine and they dressed me up as David Bowie, I love to show different sides of myself and that's why I love fashion. I love working with designers. It's not about the prettiest dress it's about being interesting. What does this dress say? Fashion to me is like a piece of music or a painting. I like it when it means something.
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09-29-11 Jessica Confirms Michael Shannon not a Jerk
(Monsters and Critics)
When I got the script sent to me I was doing a play [Othello] at the Labyrinth Theatre Company with Phillip Seymour Hoffman and they had all worked with Mike. I asked and they all said he was great. I read the script and I asked if he was a nice guy or a son-of-a-bitch. I knew it would be an intense shoot and life is too short to work with a jerk, so thank God they said he was lovely and they couldn't have been more complementary of him as an actor and how generous he was and it was true when I got there.
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09-29-11 Jessica Started Gaining Weight for The Help while on the Take Shelter Shoot
(Monsters and Critics)
The last week of shooting Take Shelter, the boys were teasing me because I was eating so much and I was like "I have to pack on the pounds". If you look you can see my character here and in The Help, you wonder how it happened. She's very skinny here. There was something I wanted to look like, as though they were living hand to mouth, this kind of weary life. The week before I left I started eating chips, anything off the craft services table, all day long, everything! Then I went to The Help and I had two weeks there and so three weeks in total to pack it on and while I was filming.
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09-28-11 Jessica Talks about Success and Past Disappointment
(Ology)
It's great to be in my shoes right now. It's a very rare thing for an actor to be busy. It's an even rarer thing for an actress to be busy. So, as much as I'm tired and everything, I say it with a smile. And it's not like an overnight thing for me, because I went to Julliard, I was in the theater world, I trained. I've been making movies for four years, and they've been delayed. So, there's been four years of a lot of disappointments. There were so many things… all these false starts…Now, of course, all of them [her movies] have come out within a six month period. Ironic, isn't it? It's always a feast or a famine. But it's great, and of course I'm glad I'm not a teenager. I'm wiser because I've been through the famine. I know this doesn't last. I'm so happy to be an actor, but I'd be just as happy doing Off-Broadway. As long as I could support myself. I know this is going to go away. I'm okay with that.
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09-28-11 Take Shelter Plays at Kansas International Film Festival
(Kansas City Star)
This year's fest runs Friday through Oct. 6. Each film will play once, except the winners of the two jury awards…This year the festival starts with potential Oscar contenders or Sundance hits like "Take Shelter," starring Michael Shannon from "Boardwalk Empire," who plays a man afflicted by apocalyptic visions, and It Girl Jessica Chastain ("The Help," "The Tree of Life"). It screens at 8 p.m. Friday.
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09-28-11 Take Shelter is Critic Wire's Pick of the Week
(Indie Wire)
Coming off an acclaimed run on the festival circuit, Jeff Nichols' psychological drama "Take Shelter" opens in limited release this weekend via Sony Pictures Classics, and it's the pick of the week, according to the folks polled on criticWIRE.
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09-28-11 Jessica Chastain is Dazzling!
(Salon)
Jessica Chastain may not yet qualify as a movie star, but within seconds of meeting her you completely understand why every casting agent in Hollywood is convinced she will become one. To put it bluntly, she is dazzling -- and I'm talking more about her manner and presence than her beauty, although she's exceptionally pretty, with flaming red hair and pale, translucent skin. She's vivacious and charming, seemingly without effort, and has the kind of spectacular smile that uplifts everyone's spirits within a 50-foot radius.
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09-28-11 Is There Kinship Between the Wives in Tree of Life and Take Shelter? Jessica answers…
(Salon)
You know, I see more difference between these characters, because Mrs. O'Brien in "Tree of Life" is the representation of grace, whereas I feel like Samantha in "Take Shelter" is closer to nature. She has a lot of nature in her. The most dangerous animal in the wild kingdom is the mother grizzly, or, like, the female tiger. They're the ones who do all the killing. I think Samantha is more like that. Nobody messes with her family, nobody hurts her child. In fact, she reacts with violence, she hits her husband in the face. She's very, very strong. She's the head of the household, really. He makes the money, but she makes the rules. For me, they are completely different women, but I can understand what people see there: They're both women who stick with their husbands, they're both powerful and committed mothers.
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09-28-11 No Time for Conversation before Filming Take Shelter
(Salon)
We had no time to shoot this film! So we couldn't have a lot of discussion. We really had to be quick. I met Mike [Shannon] on Saturday night, I think it was. On Sunday, we hung out with Tova Stewart, who plays our daughter, for a little bit, and then on Monday we were filming the doctor scene that comes at the end of the film. We had never met before, and for a movie that Jeff says is about marriage and faith, that's a scary thing. You go in there and you think, OK, I have to make this relationship as real as possible...I'd had the script for a while, but I was mostly concerned with the relationship between Mike and me, between Curtis and Samantha. I mean, the whole film hinges on this relationship. What does this man have at stake, what does he stand to lose? If that's not there or that's not strong, then the film doesn't work.
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09-27-11 Coriolanus Plays at San Diego Film Festival
(SanDiego.com)
The 2011 San Diego Film Festival begins on Wednesday, September 28 and runs through Sunday, October 2 at the Reading Gaslamp Theater in the heart of downtown. Of all the local film festivals, SDFF feels most like a glitzy Hollywood event, hosting almost as many lavish parties as feature films in stunningly ornate locales…But it's Thursday night's film that has me excited. Actor/director Ralph Fiennes's modernization of Shakespeare's Coriolanus should be the festival's most interesting entry. From the looks of the trailer, Fiennes has updated the story as a bona-fide combat film sporting a monster ensemble cast including Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, Jessica Chastain, and Brian Cox.
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09-27-11 Jessica Discovered by Marthe Keller in a Small Off-Broadway Production
(The Guardian)
She spent three years in TV and stage roles, before being noticed in a small off-Broadway production by Marthe Keller, who had co-starred with Al Pacino in the 1977 Sydney Pollack movie Bobby Deerfield. Keller mentioned Chastain to Pacino, who needed an unknown to play the lead in his stage production of Oscar Wilde's Salomé. "You should see this girl," Keller told Pacino. Next, Chastain got a call, out of the blue, asking her to come and audition for Pacino. The first thing Pacino's director said was, "Why should I know you?", Chastain recalls. "The second was, 'Let me see you dance.' It was like a dare and I didn't want her to win. So I got up and danced. There was no music. Nothing." She got the part and her movie career began. "When you're on stage with Al Pacino, everyone in Hollywood comes to see it," she says. "That's when I started to get film auditions."
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09-27-11 Jessica Works with Her Hero Ralph Fiennes
(The Guardian)
Her first "grown-up" idols were European actors such as Kristin Scott Thomas, Ralph Fiennes and Isabelle Huppert. "I'd never seen love scenes like The English Patient before. Or in Schindler's List - I was shocked how the character [Fiennes] played could be so vile, but at the same time so lovesick. I thought that was a beautiful dichotomy. It was the first time I realised acting was about more than just being in films: it was about playing complicated, very human characters. That was the awakening for me." How did she find working with Fiennes on Coriolanus? "Being in a room with him and Vanessa Redgrave and watching them do Shakespeare, I learned a lot," she says. "I saw him in The Tempest last night, too." Did she tell him he was her hero? "No, I'd be too shy. I'm sure he'll find out at some point." He will now.
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09-27-11 Jessica's Busy Promotional Schedule
(The Guardian)
Although it's a drizzly London morning, Chastain looks as if she's just stepped in from a 1950s garden party: she's wearing a sleeveless turquoise dress that sets off her red hair. Her feet are squeezed into patent-leather heels and, despite the fact she has yet another day of interviews ahead of her, she's brimming with enthusiasm…cursed with a never-ending promotional tour of duty. "Sundance, Berlin, two films in Cannes, two films in Deauville, two films in Venice, two films in Toronto," she says, looking back over the year. "I'm promoting five movies this month. My publicist said she's never seen that before. I looked at my whole schedule and I got freaked out, so now I just look at three days. What am I doing the next three days? That's enough." There are, however, no visible signs of weariness. "I'm such a fan of movies," she says. "I love actors. I love directors. I love talking about them. I become like a geeky schoolgirl. I even love doing press." Either she's totally genuine or she's a very good actor. Or both.
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09-27-11 Jessica is an Inspiration to Actress Meaghan Martin
(Wetpaint)
Meaghan Martin is…Wendy Darling in Alloy's modern retelling of Peter Pan, Wendy…Who are your acting inspirations? Jessica Chastain is a huge inspiration of mine currently, I have a weird obsession with her. As well as Anne Hathaway - I've always really idolized her. Marion Cotillard, Emma Stone. I love when actresses can take on any sort of role, where they walk in and play every type of character.
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09-27-11 Horizons: Trying to Cut through Plot Confusion
(Film School Rejects)
The story centers on the character that Cruise will play, a repairman named Jak. But Jak's life is just a smidge different than that of any other sort of repairman, because he lives in a future where an alien invasion has irradiated the Earth so severely that it is no longer inhabitable. The population of the planet now lives in the clouds, and Jak's job entails routinely going to the surface of the dead Earth to repair drones that are tasked with keeping the planet safe from another attack. But on one such mission, Jak finds a woman on the surface, and her appearance changes everything for him. Chastain will reportedly play "Cruise's lover and partner, who tethers him to the world above the clouds while he's doing repairwork. She becomes none-too-happy when she discovers he has fallen for another woman." Of course, in writing about the project, I've come to know that there at least two leading lady roles - Chastain's role as Victoria (the name reported from the graphic novel), and another lady named Julia, who is explained as being Jak's fiancee before the invasion that destroyed Earth. And since we know that the story centers on Jak going back to Earth and meeting a crash-landed lady, that could be either a whole other role, or well, this is all just speculation, but possibly Julia herself. This is all hard to say, however, as though the script is based on Kosinski's graphic novel "Oblivion," and book hasn't been released yet, so many stories on the plot seem to differ just slightly enough to lead to confusion.
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09-27-11 Horizons is Jessica's First Big-Budget Film
(NBC Miami)
"Horizons" represents Chastain's first foray into the world of big-budget moviemaking, which is pretty incredible when you consider how quickly her star has risen. Well played, Ms. Chastain.
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09-27-11 Hints for Jessica on Working with Tom Cruise
(Yahoo's The Projector)
Co-starring opposite Cruise is excellent for a lady's career, so we heretofore submit to our Chastain Overlord and hope that her reign will be a peaceful one. Still, it ain't all strawberries and sunshine for Cruise co-stars. Here are some helpful tips for Projector Crush Chastain, on how to successfully navigate a shoot with His Cruiseness. 1. No heels. 2. It's very likely the film will wrap production around July, which happens to be the month that Cruise turns 50. This is not to be mentioned under any circumstances. 3. It is not strange that everyone on set is required to wear a T-shirt with this image. Nope. Just nod and go along with it. 4. Occasionally you will be asked to fan Katie and carry a large piece of plywood for here protection, if you happen to end up on the same side of Katie as the sun. 5. Just let him wear the eyepatch. He likes it. 6. Seriously, no heels.
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09-27-11 Is Jessica Emma Stone's Casting Shadow?
(Orlando Sentinel)
Every role that Emma Stone is too young or too booked to take, Chastain's name comes up for. Well, and [Olivia] Wilde's, though her heat is based on simple, um, heat.
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09-26-11 Jessica Wins a Slot Opposite Tom Cruise in Horizons
(Variety)
After a long search, Joseph Kosinski has settled on Jessica Chastain for one of two female leads in Universal's untitled sci-fier starring Tom Cruise. Previously titled "Oblivion" and/or "Horizons," pic revolves around a soldier stationed on a future Earth, the surface of which was destroyed by aliens. When he discovers a mysterious woman in a crash-landed pod, it sets off a chain of events that cause him to question everything he knows...Production is expected to start this winter; Universal is slating the film to bow July 19, 2013. Disney dropped the pic in March, but Universal picked it up and has made it a top priority, especially with Cruise's longstanding attachment. Variety first reported in August that Chastain was one of several actresses who tested with Cruise.
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09-26-11 Horizons' Plot Information Somewhat Confusing
(Collider.com)
The history of Horizons/Oblivion is a little cloudy in its own right, as it was picked up Disney after the success of Kosinski's TRON: Legacy, then promptly dropped and scooped up again by Universal. Kosinski's graphic novel, of which Horizons is based on, was originally billed as "set on a future Earth, where civilization lives above the clouds and scavengers collect ancient artifacts from the polluted surface below. When one young scavenger finds a crashed spacecraft planetside, it lead him on a journey filled with romance and adventure;" and then later, vaguely described as "a soldier assigned to patrol a desolate planet who meets a mysterious traveler."
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09-26-11 Take Shelter Digital Soundtrack Now Available
(Indie Wire)
Another great soundtrack becomes available digitally tomorrow, David Wingo's haunting and moody score to one of the better films of the year so far, "Take Shelter," starring Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon. Known in indie-rock circles for his work in the atmospheric and folky outfit Ola Podrida, plus his collaborations with former American Analog Set founder Andrew Kenny on his new project, The Wooden Birds, Wingo first caught The Playlist's ear in 2000 for his moving acoustic work on David Gordon Green's remarkable debut, "George Washington".
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09-26-11 Jessica to Receive Hollywood Breakthrough Actress Award
(Hollywoodnews.com)
The 15th annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards, presented by Starz Entertainment and hosted by this Web site's parent company, has chosen to honor Gordon-Levitt with its Hollywood Breakthrough Actor Award this year for his performance in "50/50." He'll accept the award during the annual ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on Oct. 24. In addition, Christopher Plummer ("Beginners") will receive this year's Hollywood Supporting Actor Award, Jessica Chastain ("Coriolanus," "The Debt," "The Help," "Take Shelter," and "The Tree of Life") will receive the Hollywood Breakthrough Actress Award, and Felicity Jones ("Like Crazy") has been named the recipient of this year's New Hollywood Award.
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09-26-11 Jessica Dreams of being part of Ukulele Group
(Contactmusic.com)
Jessica Chastain has dreams of hitting the pop charts as a member of a ukelele-playing supergroup.
The actress loves playing the instrument and she's keen to team up with fellow uke-allies Eddie Vedder and Ryan Gosling and banjo aficionado Steve Martin for an album of reworked indie hits.
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09-23-11 Jessica can be Nominated for Only One Supporting Actress Role
(GoldDerby)
What happens when an actor has multiple eligible performances vying in the same category? Academy rules dictate that only one performance may be nominated per category, which means actors and awards campaigners must make difficult decisions, or else do some fancy footwork…Pitt's wife in "The Tree of Life" is played by Jessica Chastain, who seems to have a major role in every other film being touted in this year's Oscar derby. The 30-year-old actress also appears as an outcast Southern belle in "The Help," Michael Shannon's wife in "Take Shelter," Virgilia in Ralph Fiennes's update of Shakespeare's "Coriolanus," and a Mossad agent in "The Debt." If we rule out her arguably lead performance in "The Debt" - which is probably an Oscar nonstarter anyway - that leaves her with four supporting performances to choose from.
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09-23-11 Jessica (and Ryan Gosling): Substance, not Flash
(Los Angeles Times)
Fortune may have favored Gosling and Chastain, who will both turn 31 in the coming months, with an unplanned confluence of performances on-screen - ones they could lose themselves in; ones so distinctive that we couldn't help but pay attention to - but it was talent, of the purer sort, that got them here. Creatures of an increasingly rare breed…They are actors who seem to come with complex interior lives, whatever the source. Their work is enriched and expansive without giving away all their secrets. Neither are in the tabloid business; when they're questioned on the red carpet, they tend to turn introspective, take the question seriously as if something more than a sound bite was wanted. Intelligence and elegance win out in a world dominated by cheap tricks, and you can't help but hope that will never change…when they both quietly suggest they don't want to make decisions based on money, it does not sound like posturing, so you actually believe them. Look at their work, the trajectory of their careers, and what you find is substance, not flash. How refreshing that we cannot predict what they will do next, though we increasingly want to see it.
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09-23-11 Jessica Drop-dead-gorgeous in Gold Lame at London The Debt Premier
(StyleBistro)
Jessica Chastain glowed in golden as she hit red carpet at UK premiere of The Debt in London, England on September 21. The 30-year-old American actress Jessica Chastain was looking drop-dead-gorgeous at the event in a shiny gold lame strapless Vivienne Westwood Spring 2012 dress. [several photos]
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09-22-11 Jessica Movies among the Oscars?
(USA Today)
Attendance is down, prices are up, and critics aren't expecting many pre-fall movies when the Academy Award nominations are announced Jan. 24. The awards will be handed out Feb. 26…Still, critics say, a few films should remain at the forefront of the academy's collective memory, including: The Help. It was the only drama to break out this summer, corralling $147 million so far. And with a raft of strong performances by Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Bryce Dallas Howard, look for the movie to get a Blind Side-like bounce next year. "It can't just be considered a dark horse at this point, but a front-runner," Bock says. The Tree of Life. Terrence Malick's elliptical look at a Texas family and the meaning of life had critics effusive after it took the Palme d'Or at Cannes. But audiences shrugged their shoulders, forking over $13 million for the $35 million drama with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. Kris Tapley, editor of the Oscar site Incontention.com, says Life should generate enough "passion votes" to nab a best-picture nomination. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. No one expects Harry to be conjuring an acceptance speech, but Mantz says the franchise could get a best-picture nomination for its body of work. "This has been an extraordinary series, from beginning to end. By honoring (Hallows), you honor the series."
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09-22-11 Helen Mirren Praises Jessica in The Debt
(Sky News)
Mirren plays a retired agent in the spy drama film, released on September 30, which last night had its London premiere. She says she owes her performance to co-star, Jessica Chastain, who plays a younger version of her character in the film. Set in the two different time eras, the story begins in 1997 and looks back to a mission undertaken by Rachel and two male Mossad agents to capture a Nazi war criminal in East Berlin in 1966. Mirren said: "I think in terms of this film I was incredibly lucky that I had the great, the wonderful talent of Jessica Chastain. "Ultimately the performance is Jessica's - because she sets it all up, the complexity of the character, she sets it up."
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09-21-11 Jessica Attends UK Premier of The Debt
(Accidental Sexiness)
The red carpet was on fire at The Curzon Mayfair for the UK premiere of The Debt on Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 in London, England. The films' stars were on-hand for the celebration including Dame Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, and Jessica Chastain. Also in attendance was Colin Firth who was accompanied by his beautiful wife Livia Giuggioli.
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09-20-11 The Help Wins Ensemble Award at Hollywood Film Awards
(Contactmusic.com)
The star-studded cast of hit movie The Help will reunite to accept an ensemble honour at the upcoming Hollywood Film Awards. Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Octavia Spencer and Emma Stone will be together onstage to pick up the Ensemble Award at the 15th annual ceremony, which kicks off the film awards season. The leading ladies of the drama will be joined by fellow castmembers Allison Janney, Chris Lowell, Ahna O'Reilly, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen and Cicely Tyson, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
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09-18-11 Look-alikes Jessica Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard Create Confusion at Toronto
(The Star-Ledger)
Between the premieres and press conferences, the stars and producers and directors went to parties - where they did even more patient promotional work. Friends and fellow redheads (and "The Help" co-stars) Bryce Dallas Howard and Jessica Chastain even showed up at the same party, which I have to admit embarrassed the heck out of me when I mistook one for the other. "Don't worry, you're the fifth person today who did that, and I take it as a compliment," Howard said. "Really, people have done it for years and it used to be our own private joke," Chastain chimed in. "And lately it's become a kind of public one."
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09-17-11 Coriolanus a Master-Class, Says Jessica
(Flicks and bits)
You've worked with Shakespeare's material before in your career, how did you find this different approach? Jessica Chastain: I went to Julliard and I studied Shakespeare for four years. But since I got out of school I didn't have the opportunity to revisit any of the plays. When I heard Ralph Fiennes was going to direct this, to me it's like taking a master-class, and that's why I wanted to be involved. I knew that just by looking at the script all of my scenes were going to be with either Ralph Fiennes or Vanessa Redgrave, and when I saw the cast developing, it's just everyone who's the best of the best, people at the top of their craft - I knew I would learn a lot from it. Working with an actor who's so sensitive, has such subtlety and passion in what they're doing. Then being directed by that, it can't help but inspire the best performance out of you…I've always chosen projects where I'd be working with actors that were better than me, with teachers, with people who have something to say. I love to talk about these films, so for me that has been the most wonderful part of it. I love talking about acting. I'm just such a fan of actors and film-makers, and I try to choose roles where I get to talk to great actors about acting and learn. So for me the press aspect is great because I love talking about other people and their performances and their process and all of that.
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09-16-11 Jessica is IT Girl of Toronto Film Festival
(The Province)
Best ingenue of 2011: Jessica Chastain. Dubbed the IT girl of the festival for her roles in Take Shelter and Coriolanus, as well as recent prize roles in The Tree of Life and The Help - the young actor was the hottest property in Toronto, but never felt insincere or arrogant. Accessible, kind and unfathomably humble in the face of megastardom, Chastain showed everyone what real class really looks like: Beautiful and human.
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09-16-11 Nice Three and a Half Minute Video Interview about Take Shelter and other Topics
(Indie Wire)
In our video chat, Chastain talks about acting without words for Malick and Nichols, and about how she got Shannon and Nichols to pay attention to her on set.
She is cheerfully exuberant, and why not: coming up are Texas Killing Fields with Sam Worthington, Wilde Salome with Al Pacino, Coriolanus with Ralph Fiennes, and a career likely to last after the "It Girl" buzz wears off.
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09-14-11 Jessica Plays Punk Band Bass Player in Mama
(National Post)
Chastain will be back in Toronto at the end of September for a three-month shoot on the horror film Mama, produced by Guillermo del Toro. "I play this bass guitar player in a punk band who became the guardian of these two girls," she says. "I've never played this kind of woman before and I've never been in this genre. It's a whole different style of acting that I'm excited to learn how to do."
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09-13-11 Fiennes Discusses Jessica as Salome, Desdemona, and Virgilia
(Flicks and bits)
I met Jessica Chastain, I was introduced to Jessica by someone who was at one point interested in financing the film, that didn't happen but I met her, having only seen her in a snippet of her Salome. Virgilia is a hard part because she doesn't have a lot to say, but she is the wife of Coriolanus, and she is present in fact by her silence, Coriolanus calls her, 'My gracious silence.' I think she is possibly the only character who carries love in the play, and I knew we needed someone with an effortless, emotional translucence - and that's what this wonderful actress carries, this is why clearly Terrence Malick cast her in 'The Tree of Life.' I had the privilege of seeing her play Desdemona on stage, I think Desdemona's one of those parts where you have to have this quality, it cannot be acted. She had it, and until then I had never seen it, so I'd seen the best Desdemona ever in her.
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09-13-11 The Jessica Chastain Curse
(Pittsburgh Post Gazette)
As for Chastain, it does seem like she's everywhere. "This has been such a very strange year for me. It was a bit of a joke in my life called the Chastain curse where I made 11 films in four and a half years and for some reason they would be stalled or companies would be sold and it was a bit of a comedy. "And then to have just the flip side of it where they all now come out within six months of each other, it's really feast or famine in this business, and this whole press aspect of the business has been baptism by fire for me."
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09-13-11 More About Mama
(Empire)
The Tree of Life actress Chastain became attached in July and now Coster-Waldau will play her husband. The film finds a couple - named Annabel and Lucas - facing real problem children when they take in Lucas' young nephews. The girls were abandoned in a forest for five years and it would seem that they've brought something back with them from the dark depths of the trees: something decidedly supernatural and dangerous…
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09-13-11 Jessica Not Yet into the Big Money
(nypost)
"I've treated myself to nothing with all the work I'm doing. Maybe Christmas I'll buy myself earrings. I'd like to do many things such as take care of my family in northern California, except I don't make that much money yet. I'm in mostly small independent films, not big blockbuster ones.
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09-12-11 Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Selected to Co-star with Jessica in Mama
(Collider.com)
Jessica Chastain now has a co-star for her upcoming horror film Mama. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who is positively menacing as Jaime Lannister on HBO's Game of Thrones, is now set to topline the Guillermo del Toro-produced horror film alongside Chastain, per Heat Vision's report. The film tells the story of a couple who take in their niece and nephew after the children were found living in the forest for five years. As horror stories tend to go, murderous events unfold and it's clear that some supernatural force is bent on tormenting the kids.
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09-12-11 Jessica says Coriolanus was like Taking a Master Class
(National Post)
The ubiquitous Chastain, impeccably groomed and demure beside Butler, pointed out that her Julliard training had her studying Shakespeare for four years, and likened her involvement in Coriolanus to "taking a master class."
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09-12-11 Jessica on Jeff Nichols and Vanessa Redgrave
(The Gossip Girls)
When I first met (director) Jeff Nichols for Take Shelter, I warned him there was a Chastain curse and told him, 'If you cast me, the film probably won't come out for three or four years. You seem like a nice guy so I'm giving you the heads-up.'…I got to be in a room with Vanessa Redgrave and Ralph Fiennes and see them do Shakespeare. In 30 years, I'm going to be able to say, 'I worked with Vanessa Redgrave!' This is why I'm an actor.
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09-11-11 Wilde Salome Well Received at Venice Festival
(We Got This Covered)
Al Pacino, who presented his documentary/feature film/thesis film on Oscar Wilde and his play of Salome, titled Wilde Salome, won the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award, for his life time achievement in film. Pacino's passion project that took over half a decade to make, and stars The Tree Of Life star Jessica Chastain, was received incredibley well at the festival.
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09-11-11 Take Shelter Wins Grand Prize at Deauville American Film Festival
(Contactmusic.com)
Director Jeff Nichols' drama Take Shelter won the top honour at the prestigious Deauville American Film Festival's close on Saturday…The film, starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain, saw off competition from 13 other entries to win the grand prize at the showcase in Deauville, France… Chastain won the New Hollywood trophy at the start of the festival.
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09-10-11 Jessica in Salomé Different from Jessica in Tree of Life
(The Independent)
By all normal criteria, Al Pacino's documentary Wilde Salome - about playing Herod on stage - was a wildly self-indulgent project by a dreadful old ham. But it's also a winning, crazily spirited outing by an irrepressible enthusiast who knows he's a comic turn. The revelation is Jessica Chastain as a ferocious Salomé. Who would have guessed from her levitating mom in The Tree of Life?
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09-10-11 Texas Killing Fields is Run of the Mill Police Story
(Cine-Vue)
Ami Canaan Mann's (daughter of Michael Mann) debut film Texas Killing Fields (2011) is a run-of-the-mill police procedural, which really has no place this year's Venice Film Festival. Detectives Souder (Sam Worthington) and Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) are investigating a series of abductions and murders of young women. The older detective is gripped by an almost religious sense of mission whereas Souder for all his in-your-face attitude, fights shy of drifting out of their jurisdiction. This latter point is particularly problematic as the Texas Killing Fields - the dumping ground where most the bodies are found - are in his ex-wife's jurisdiction. Jessica Chastain plays the role of the feisty police officer with verve… Texas Killing Fields' cast performances are all strong, particularly Sam Worthington…
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09-09-11 Jessica Supports Bryce Dallas Howard at Toronto International Film Festival
(USA Today)
Bryce Dallas Howard, who's six months pregnant with her second child, is here for two films. There's Restless, which she produced, about a terminal cancer patient. And there's 50/50, which she stars in, about a possible terminal cancer patient…Jessica Chastain, in a stunning gold Derek Lam frock, turned up to support Howard. The two co-starred in this summer's hit The Help.
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09-09-11 A First Look at The Texas Killing Fields (Venice Film Festival)
(WhatCulture!)
The film follows Texas City homicide detectives Mike Souder (Sam Worthington) and Brian Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) while they are trying to solve one of their cases (Maan has previously claimed that there's still 27 cold cases in Texas) and outside their jurisdiction there is what the locals call the Killing Fields, a muddy area where many bodies of missing women are regularly found. Detective Pam, played by Jessica Chastain present at this years festival also in Al Pacino's film in the role of Salome, is in charge of the murder investigation and she asks for Brian's help. Things are made more complicated because Brian and Mike are trying to protect little Anne Sliger (Chloe Moretz), a sweet little blonde angel who's mother "entertain men" in the house therefore forcing the kid to always be on her own in the streets.
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09-09-11 The Help Plays at Zurich Film Festival
(GenevaLunch)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - Ten world premieres and 96 films from around the world will feature during the Zurich Film Festival 22 September to 2 October and the lineup includes several big names in the cinema world. The opening night film is "Contagion" by Steven Soderbergh, starring Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Bryan Cranston, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law. Equally star-studded is the 2011 summer hit in the US, "The Help", directed by Tate Taylor, with Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney, Chris Lowell and Sissy Spacek.
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09-07-11 Jessica has Three Movies on Labor Day Weekend Chart
(Chastain Central Announcement)
According to Box Office Mojo, Labor Day weekend ended with The Help in its fourth week at #1 for the third week in a row. The #2 film was The Debt in its first week. The Tree of Life was still on the charts in its fifteenth week at #48.
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09-07-11 Jessica has Two Films at London Film Festival
(OntheBox)
Quite a few actors have two films at the festival this year including George Clooney who has The Ides Of March (also starring current favourite Ryan Gosling) and The Descendants; Michael Fassbender who stars in Steve McQueen's new film Shame about sex addiction and A Dangerous Method, David Cronenberg's new film about revolutionary pshychotherapist Karl Jung…Also appearing in two films is Jessica Chastain - Coriolanus, directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes and also starring Gerard Butler, and Take Shelter about the building of a tornado bunker.
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09-06-11 Lee Elliott an Early Stage Teacher of Jessica Chastain
(New Philadelphia Times Reporter)
During 28 years of living in Sacramento, I directed more than 100 plays and musicals in high school, college and community theater. I thought every one was my favorite. My students included, Kate Levering who played the lead in the Broadway revival of "42nd Street," and is now on "Drop Dead Diva," Jessica Chastain, currently one of the stars of "The Help" and "The Debt," Mandisa, of "American Idol" fame, and Shannon O'Hurley, who has had a long film career. I am extremely proud of their successes and the many other actors who have made theater their business after they finished playing leads in our high school plays.
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09-06-11 Jessica Attends Toronto International Film Festival
(Sacramento Bee)
Favorites from the Sundance Film Festival making a stop at TIFF include Jeff Nichols' drama "Take Shelter," with Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain.
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09-05-11 Did Jessica Chastain in The Help Boost Viewers for The Debt?
(Los Angeles Times)
Is there a Jessica Chastain effect at play at the box office? That's what some industry executives deduced after "The Help" and "The Debt" -- both of which the actress stars in - were the top two choices among moviegoers at the multiplex this weekend. "So many people have seen Jessica's performance in 'The Help,' that I think it helped us that she was a familiar face that some people were happy to see again," said Jack Foley, president of domestic distribution for Focus Features, which released "The Debt." "We put our trailer up on 'The Help' -- because we knew that for adult moviegoers going to the movie theater, it was going to be, 'Now we've seen 'The Help,' what can we see this weekend?'"
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09-04-11 Jessica Inspired Pacino's Wilde Salome
(The Associated Press)
Al Pacino's movie "Wilde Salome" is a complicated examination of Oscar Wilde's once-forbidden play about illicit love and revenge. But his inspiration was simple: Jessica Chastain. "There is Jessica Chastain, who I really believe is the reason I made the movie," Pacino said Sunday ahead of the film's long-awaited world premier in a side event at the Venice Film Festival. "As soon as I met her, and saw her, I thought: This is the person to play 'Salome' and I must get her to play it before the world picks up on her - which it has done - and turns her into the next big star."
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09-04-11 The Help and The Debt are #1 and #2 on Weekend Chart
(Just Jared)
Emma Stone's The Help kept its top spot at the box office for the third week in a row, bringing in an estimated $14.2 million in ticket sales. Second place went to The Debt, starring Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, and Jessica Chastain, with an estimated $9.7 million. Variety reports that the film exceeded box office expectations!
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09-04-11 One Principle Reason to see Wilde Salome: Jessica Chastain
(Indie Wire)
It's an ambitious project… and it's no surprise that it's taken five years to see the project through to completion (as is clear from the ugly DV footage that makes up much of the candid section of the film)…there's one principle reason to see "Wilde Salome," and the clue is in the second part of the title. Pacino (and, we assume, Parsons) can claim bragging rights on Jessica Chastain, who plays the title role in the production; she was cast in the stage version way back in 2006, long before her current omnipresence, when all she had to her name were a handful of TV credits on the likes of "E.R." and "Veronica Mars." Not only does Chastain (only 25 at time of filming) exude star quality and a serious-minded work ethic in the behind-the-scenes footage, but she's also sensationally, jaw-droppingly good as Salome. It's a far cry from her ethereal turn in "The Tree of Life," the actress moving effortlessly between the innocent, the seductress and the monster. It's impossible to take your eyes off her when she's on screen, and it firmly reinforces what's become more and more clear over the course of 2011; that she's a truly precious talent, and one that will only go on to do more and more impressive work over the years. It remains to be seen if the film gets even the kind of limited release that "Looking for Richard" received-it's a much more niche piece of work, and being much less well realized, is unlikely to attract even much of an arthouse crowd. But even if it ends up airing on PBS years from now, it's worth checking out, if only for the acting fireworks.
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09-03-11 Jessica Honors Al Pacino at Venice Film Festival
(Just Jared)
Jessica Chastain attends a dinner to honor Al Pacino held at Centurion Palace on Saturday (September 3) in Venice, Italy…Jessica starred in Al's film, Wilde Salome, which screened at the festival. Along with starring in the film, Al also took on the role of director.
The day before, Jessica was given the Gucci Award as part of the Venice Film Festival, which is awarded to a woman who has demonstrated outstanding
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09-03-11 Jessica Wins Gucci Award
(Daily Beast)
The actress Jessica Chastain was awarded the inaugural Gucci Award for Women in Cinema for her performance in Terrence Malick's film The Tree of Life Friday night in Venice, at a private black-tie dinner hosted by Gucci Creative Director Frida Giannini at the Cipriani Hotel. Chastain was among five nominees, including cinematographer Caroline Champetier, screenwriter Federica Pontremoli, producer Nansun Shi and director Athina Tsangari. The new annual award recognizes an outstanding artistic achievement by a woman in filmmaking, and in celebration, Gucci will make a grant of $25,000 to the Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film at NYU Tisch School of the Arts in Chastain's name. Madonna, who presented Chastain with the award, said, "Tonight's the beginning of something very special." [photo of Jessica and Madonna]
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09-03-11 Jessica Interviews and Covers for Los Angeles Times
(Just Jared)
Jessica Chastain graces the cover of Los Angeles Times magazine's September 4th issue.
The 30-year-old The Help actress is featured on one of four covers, which also feature True Blood's Deborah Ann Woll, Fright Night's Imogen Poots, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World's Mary Elizabeth Winstead…"You know, over the past four years, I've made 11 films, and I always approach things with the idea of, 'Who's going to be my teacher on this set? What am I gonna learn?'"
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09-03-11 Madonna Presents 2011 Gucci Award to Jessica Chastain in Venice on September 2
(Just Jared)
Madonna and Abbie Cornish attend the 2011 Gucci Award for Women in Cinema held at Hotel Cipriani on Friday (September 2) in Venice, Italy. The 53-year-old entertainer presented the award for outstanding artistic achievement to rising star Jessica Chastain.
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09-02-11 Jessica Talks on Video about The Debt and Playing Helen Mirren's Character
(HitFix)
I have no doubt that Chastain is someone we're going to see a lot of in years to come, and it's exciting right now to see each of these films come out and see some new facet of her talent. Sometimes, moments like this tend to be all hype with nothing to back it up, but Chastain strikes me as the real deal, a gifted chameleon who has managed so far to transform completely from role to role.
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09-01-11 Coriolanus Release Moved to January 13, 2012
(Collider.com)
The Weinstein Company pushed Ralph Fiennes' Shakespeare adaptation Coriolanus from December 2 to January 13, 2012. I imagine they may sneak a limited release in before the end of the year to qualify for the Oscars, but the move suggests TWC will focus on My Week With Marilyn, The Artist, W.E., and The Iron Lady for the Oscar push.
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09-01-11 Four New Clips of The Fields; One Features Jessica
(Indie Wire)
We'll have a review from Venice soon, but if you're not on the Lido, the film will hit theaters on October 14th (recently moved back one week from its previously announced October 7th bow). Check out the clips.
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09-01-11 How Wilde Salome was Filmed and Jessica's thoughts on Pacino
(Variety)
When the 2006 announcement went out that Al Pacino would star in a limited production of Oscar Wilde's "Salome" at the Wadsworth Theater, the entire run sold out in 45 minutes. Part of that has to do with an audience's desire to see one of the unquestionably great movie stars of the past 40 years up close and personal... He settled on the Wadsworth production after landing the gifted young Juilliard grad, Jessica Chastain, to play Salome. But the real fun began when he decided to film it. He shot on a soundstage and in the Mojave desert during the day while the company played the Wadsworth at night. The hours, the travel, an increasingly entangled schedule on a tight budget, all soon gathered into the pitch of a fine madness, with Pacino at the center... "He taught me two things about film acting," Chastain says. "He told me that the camera will pick up what you're thinking, so it's important to stay mentally focused. He said you have to love the camera. Where a lot of actors aren't physically comfortable with it, you have to love it and understand it as an extension of your body. I see myself as a student willing to learn. He helped me on the journey."
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09-01-11 Sam Worthington Wants Multi-picture Deal With Jessica
(Buzzine)
To me, it's just that they're good stories that I want to tell. I'm not sitting there thinking, "This is going to showcase me as an actor!" I think that's kind of indulgent. I think it's got to be: can I bring something to this story that can entertain someone at the cinema? With the opportunity to work with someone like Jessica [Chastain] again, I was like, I want a two-, three- five-, ten-picture deal. I love it. She brings out the best in me. But it's up to everyone else to figure out whether I've done a good job or not.
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08-31-11 Jessica Did Take Shelter for $100 per Day (and Other Topics)
(Reuters)
You mentioned making "Take Shelter" for $100 a day. "We had no money. We had four six-day weeks for 'Take Shelter.' And I went straight from the set of 'Take Shelter' to 'The Help,' which was all heart…I hope I'm going to be the actor that people won't know what to do with. Maybe that means I'll be really bad in some films. And I'm willing to be bad in some films, because the actors that I truly love do things like that. Do the scripts you're seeing these days tend to be one particular kind of role? "I think people are really confused. For a long time, even right when 'Tree of Life' came out, I was getting so many scripts where it was the stand-by-your-man woman. And I was thinking, here we go with the typecasting, it's already started. The great thing is I'm now starting to get scripts where the female characters are incredibly complex"…In June I went to the Palm Springs Shorts Festival, where I saw a short film, 'The Westerner,' that starred...Daniel. You Chastains are inescapable this year. [laughs] "Oh, I thought he was so good in that film. He breaks my heart. I asked him afterward, 'Do you think this is something you might want to do?' 'Nope.' 'You don't want to make any more films?' 'No, I'm good.'"
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08-31-11 Jessica Propels The Debt in Two Ways
(HitFix)
The film played at last year's Toronto Film Festival, and then promptly dropped off the radar completely. Now, after a quick distributor shift, Focus Features is putting the film out, and they benefit from the delay thanks to the fact that Jessica Chastain went from being an unknown quality to being one of the stars of a big summer hit and one of the most-discussed arthouse releases of the year…It must be a terrifying challenge for a young actress just defining themselves onscreen to be asked to play a young Helen Mirren, but Chastain seems to me to be the real deal, someone who embraces a challenge, and since the film is really about Rachel, both of the actors have to play the same character. We need to see the choices of one reflected in the actions of the other, and it works. Chastain is very good, and there is a righteous fire in the way she plays the part. These are young people, driven by anger and sorrow, and there are moments where Rachel makes some pretty unsympathetic choices. Chastain makes sense of those moments, emotionally, and her performance is so strong that she creates a sense of gravity, with Csokas and Worthington caught in her orbit, reacting to her. She drives the film, but Worthington is very good here, using his quiet smolder to suggest a young man already hollowed out by his desire for revenge.
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08-31-11 The Help Passes $100 Million in USA
(MarketWatch)
DreamWorks Pictures announced today that its inspiring film "The Help" has surpassed the $100 million mark at the domestic box office…Ever since opening in the U.S. on August 10th, "The Help" has been a strong contender for the top spot on the domestic box office chart and has resonated with audiences around the country, sparking conversation and comments across all media platforms from such notables as Oprah, Scott Fujita, Tyler Perry, Russell Simmons, Katy Perry, Diane Sawyer, Jason Whitlock, Jackie Jackson and others…Adds Dave Hollis, Executive Vice President, Motion Picture Sales & Distribution, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, "This achievement is a testament to an amazing ensemble cast and a wonderfully told story that has played well to men and women, young and old, resonating in a cross-section of all theaters be they urban, upscale or heartland. The viral power of word-of-mouth has us hopeful that we'll continue to see 'The Help' exposed to as broad an audience as possible in the coming months."
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08-31-11 Video of Jessica, Helen, and Sam on The Debt
(Scorecard Review)
I saw the poster and saw the cast, that's all I knew. I didn't even know Mirren and Chastain both play Rachel at different times in her life. Bayer's interview with Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain and Sam Worthington…
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08-31-11 The Debt's Heart Beats with this Year's Breakthrough Actress Jessica Chastain
(Washington Post)
Though Helen Mirren features most prominently in advertising materials, the film's heart beats with the younger version of her character, played by this year's breakthrough actress Jessica Chastain ("The Tree of Life," "The Help"). It is Chastain who survives the film's most chilling encounters: As Rachel Singer, an agent pursuing "Surgeon of Birkenau" Dieter Vogel (perpetrator of Josef Mengele-type concentration-camp medical experiments), she poses as an East German fertility patient and must allow the man she's hunting to give her multiple medical examinations.
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08-30-11 Jessica Chastain is a Revelation as Young Rachel in The Debt
(Dallas News)
The Jewish Film Festival of Dallas is an annual showcase for some of the best foreign films. In 2009, the festival screened a 2007 Israeli thriller titled The Debt. A potent drama with a Holocaust theme, it's one of the best films in festival history. You should see it…The remake is at its best when the young Rachel, Stephan and David are on the screen. Jessica Chastain is a revelation as the young Rachel. She has appeared in recent months in The Tree of Life, The Help and now this, underscoring a formidable versatility as well as her training at Juilliard and her prowess at Shakespeare. She is truly a remarkable actress. [submitted by a reader] Back to Top
08-30-11 Jessica Talks about her Full Schedule, Krav Maga, and The Killing Fields
(Collider.com)
I just got my schedule for September and it's really a bit daunting because I have two films in every festival - at Deauville, Venice and Toronto. Then, I also have an international press tour, and I have press for Take Shelter, which is coming out at the end of September. And then, I also have to prep a movie that I start on October 4th, called Mama. So, I am starting to get a little nervous. I've never worked before, where I've been on a press situation, and then, a week later, started shooting a film. I'm trying to start prep for that film now while I'm juggling all the things… We made [The Debt] two and a half years ago, so I haven't really been using Krav Maga a lot. However, I did just do The Wettest County with Tom Hardy, and Tom loves to fight. We'd be on set in our '30s clothing, and Tom would take a stance and I would just punch him back. So, I did get to work on my Krav Maga. I don't think that he expected me to be as ruthless as I was… In Texas Killing Fields, my character really cannot stand her ex-husband - just like the sound of his voice and everything. But then, because he is her ex-husband, there is the memory of someone that you spent so much time with. So, there are moments where she thinks, "Oh, yes, I remember this part of you," and then goes, "Oh, no, I'm not going there again.
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08-30-11 Jessica not Pursuing Wealth and Stardom
(OCRegister)
Cherry Jones, a great theater actress in New York, has said that the first time you pick a job for money, it will dictate the rest of your life because you will spend that bigger paycheck the same way you spend the smaller paycheck. It becomes a monster you need to feed. You'll need bigger paychecks to pay for that bigger house you bought with that last paycheck. That advice led me to decide never to choose a job based on money. Q: Still, a fat paycheck would be nice? A: (laughs) Of course it would nice. I'm not against doing big-budget movies. I'm just not going to do it if the character isn't interesting. Q: Those big-budget movies can be a trap. Before you know it, you're making $10 million a movie. A: (laughs) Oh, I'm not making anywhere near that. But I'm not afraid of success, either. If "The Help" turns out to be successful (this interview was conducted before that film's opening), then my name has more value and I will have better choices in my roles. Q: Do you ever worry about being pigeon-holed in Hollywood as a serious actress? A: I do, and that's why I'm doing a genre film with Guillermo del Toro. I play a member of a punk band. At some point, I'll probably do a sci-fi film. At some point, I'll probably do a Western. I don't want anyone to say that "Jessica Chastain is only good at the dramas." Q: If one of your films goes through the roof and you unintentionally become a movie star, is that OK with you? A: I don't think I'll ever be a movie star. Q: Why not? A: I feel movie stars are people you see on the covers of magazines, and you know a lot about their private lives. Maybe I'm being naïve, but if you look at the careers of Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett, you don't really know much about their private lives. You know them as actresses first. Yes, they are movie stars but they're not the kind of movie stars you're talking about. Q: So you're not pursuing that kind of a career? A: Definitely not.
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08-30-11 Wilde Salomé a Highly Personal Documentary about Pacino's Obsession with Oscar Wilde
(Los Angeles Times)
In 2006, Al Pacino performed in Oscar Wilde's "Salomé" at the Wadsworth Theatre in L.A. During rehearsals, a camera crew followed the cast around the theater, recording everything it could for a documentary that Pacino was working on about Wilde and his infamous stage drama. Five years later, Pacino's documentary is finally seeing the light of day. "Wilde Salomé" is a highly personal documentary about Pacino's obsession with the British wit and playwright. The documentary will receive its debut at the Venice Film Festival, which begins this week. Judging from the trailer above, "Wilde Salomé" appears to be cut from the same obsessive-compulsive cloth as Pacino's 1996 documentary "Looking for Richard," in which he dissected Shakespeare's "Richard III."
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08-30-11 Jessica Gives The Debt its Urgency and its Soul
(STLtoday.com)
Although Mirren is impressive, it's Chastain who gives "The Debt" its urgency and its soul. Virtually unknown just a year ago, she has emerged as one of the most exciting actresses in American film, with recent standout roles in "The Tree of Life" and "The Help." Chastain has the rare ability to disappear into a character while paradoxically retaining her singular charisma.
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08-30-11 Al Pacino Releases One-minute Introduction to Wilde Salome
(Indie Wire)
Al Pacino's "Wild Salome" will hit the Lido and it's a meta-docu-drama-play sort of thing. The film, directed by and starring Pacino, chronicles his journey in staging the famed Oscar Wilde play, including the rabbit hole of research he falls into as he goes deep to understand all the nuances of the work and life of the author… Jessica Chastain found her breakout role in the stage play, which launched her movie career and is the reason she is starring in 59 films this year. Why no one bothered to show a moment of her in this clip is beyond us.
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08-30-11 Jessica Turns in a Riveting Performance in The Debt
(Fresno Bee)
Madden does get it right with the casting, especially the performances by Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain as Rachel, the female member of the team. Rachel not only agrees to live with a monstrous lie as the young agent, but she comes to embrace it in the passing years. Both actresses show raw emotions at the confusion and pain they feel. These are two actors able to say so much with just a simple look. Chastain brings a mix of strength and vulnerability to the role as the novice secret agent. She must push down her deep hatred if the mission has any chance to succeed. At the same time, she is battling with her own sexual and emotional problems. Not every actor can be both emotionally naked and hidden but Chastain turns in a riveting performance.
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08-30-11 Tree of Life Blu-ray and DVD Pack includes 30-minute Documentary
(Collider.com)
Fox Searchlight [will] be releasing on only Blu-ray Combo Pack. The combo pack includes the Blu-ray, the DVD, and a Digital Copy, but that the only way you can get the DVD and the digital copy. There will be no other releases at this time. It's a bold decision for a film that already had a limited appeal to a wide audience. If I had to guess their line of thinking, it's that the film appeals most to cinephiles, cinephiles tend to own Blu-ray players, so why incur the cost of producing a DVD that will be mostly ignored by mainstream audiences?... The Blu-ray Disc presentation utilizes maximum bit rate encoding and 7.1 audio and a 2.0 stereo mix to bring Malick's visually stunning masterpiece to life providing consumers with a premium cinematic viewing experience for the home. An exclusive 30-minute documentary on the making of the film, Exploring The Tree of Life, allows fans to dig even deeper into Malick's visionary work and his cinematic legacy through interviews with his collaborators and cast members as well as with directors Christopher Nolan and David Fincher who share an appreciation for his work.
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08-30-11 The Debt Pays off with Action more than Big Message
(Boston Globe)
"The Debt" pays off with action more than big message. "The Debt,'' an English-language remake of a 2007 Israeli hit, is being sold as a straight-up "Mission Impossible'' thriller about three Mossad agents bringing a Nazi war criminal to justice. In fact it's a lot pulpier and more dramatically interesting than that, but you can't explain why without giving away the twist that resets the story's priorities halfway through. Suddenly a movie about heroes has become a film about humans, and the stark narrative field of black and white has become infiltrated by shades of gray.
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08-29-11 Jessica in Competition for Gucci Award at Venice Festival
(gulfnews.com)
Pop icon Madonna will present the 2011 Gucci Award for Women in Cinema during a ceremony and private dinner to be hosted by Gucci Creative Director Frida Giannini on Friday on the sidelines of the 68th Venice International Film Festival. The award will honour outstanding artistic achievement by women filmmakers and the nominees span a range of disciplines including direction, production and cinematography. This year's nominees are actress Jessica Chastain, for her work in The Tree of Life; Caroline Champetier, the director of photography of Of Gods and Men; Federica Pontremoli, screenwriter for Habemus Papam; Nansun Shi, producer of Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame and Athina Tsangari, the director and producer of Attenberg.
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08-29-11 Tree of Life to Show at Whiskey Creek Film Festival
(Park Rapids Enterprise)
The Whiskey Creek Film Festival in Wadena has released the schedule for its Sept. 9-15 screenings…Since its inception, the Whiskey Creek Film Festival has shown limited release films that usually do not get screenings in rural Minnesota.
The surrealist drama "The Tree of Life," directed by Terrence Malick and starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain, will be shown Friday, Sept. 9 at 7:05 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 10 at 1:05 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 11 at 7:05 p.m. and Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 7:05 p.m. It is rated PG-13 with a runtime of 139 minutes.
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08-29-11 Jessica Answers a Question about the Oscars
(Movieline)
To me, it’s not a short sprint. I want to be a career actor. The most important thing to me is that people like the films. If they like the films and they like the performances, it means that I get work with other great actors and make other great films. So it’s not about an award. Of course it’s nice that there’s awards buzz around the films because it means they get more attention.
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08-29-11 Jessica Shares How She Came to be in Take Shelter
(Movieline)
How did you get hooked up with the project? Sarah Green produces for Terrence Malick, and she was the executive producer on Take Shelter. She spoke to Jeff Nichols about me, because I had just done Tree of Life. She had read the script, and she thought, “There’s this girl that no one really knows yet, but she might be really great to play Samantha in Take Shelter.” So I got sent Shotgun Stories, which I found to be brilliant. It was made for $53,000; it was Jeff Nichols’s first film. I was floored by it. Then I got sent the script for Take Shelter, and I thought, “This is interesting.” I sat down with him, and he said something to me that made me want to be in every one of his films. He basically said, “It’s a movie about family and marriage and faith. It’s not a movie about the end of the world, it’s not about mental illness, it’s not abut all those bells and whistles. The main idea of the film is faith. And there’s a look at the end of the film between Samantha and Curtis, and if the look isn’t right, then the whole film falls apart.” When he said that to me, I was very intrigued. And I think you can see that in the film; it’s not presented the typical way you might see a movie about mental illness or apocalyptic ideas. Jeff had his own language — his own way of telling this story.
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08-29-11 Breaking into Jeff and Michael's Circle
(Movieline)
I remember covering Shotgun Stories and the kind of brotherhood between Jeff and Michael. But this is your movie, too. How and where did you fit into their scenario? You know, they already had a language when I showed up. They’re like brothers: They tease each other, they can get very personal very fast, they don’t need to worry about being polite. So they started with this great gift. And one of the first weeks we were shooting, I remember we were rehearsing a scene — it was Mike and I in this scene — and they were lighting it to shoot. And I’m sitting in the living room waiting, and I realize, “Where’s Mike and Jeff?” They were kind of away talking about the scene. It happened a couple more times, and then I went into that kitchen and said, “You know, guys, if you’re talking about the scene, I have to be here. I’m in the scene, too. I know you guys work together a lot and you’re like brothers, but I’m a member of this family now, and you have to include me.” They just looked at me with their mouths open, and they were like, “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” [Laughs] It changed things at that point. I don’t think they realized they were doing that, and I think actually approaching them that way was very Samantha of me.
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08-28-11 Jessica's and Sam Worthington's On-screen Chemistry is Perfect in The Debt
(The Daily Campus)
A surprisingly sweet storyline comes from the on-mission relationship of Chastain's Rachel and Sam Worthington's David. Even though they are told to play a couple in order to capture Dr. Vogel, a real relationship forms between the young David and Rachel. Chastain and Worthington's on-screen chemistry was perfect. Being the devoted agents they are, the couple suppresses their feeling for each other, thus making their one kiss in the movie more passionate than ever...While Chastain may not be near as accomplished as Mirren, judging by her performance in "The Debt," she soon will be. Chastain's performance as Rachel Singer is an intelligent combination of a fragile girl in love and a deadly Israeli spy.
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08-28-11 The Help Still #1 in its Third Week
(Reuters)
The hard-working maids of "The Help" hung on to the top of a storm-battered box office over the weekend and beat a trio of new releases with $14.3 million in domestic ticket sales, studio estimates released on Sunday showed. Hurricane Irene forced the closure of theaters in big markets such as New York and kept moviegoers home along a broad stretch of the East Coast. Domestic ticket sales came in 23 percent lower than the same weekend a year earlier, according to figures from Hollywood.com...Action movie "Columbiana" debuted in second place with an estimated $10.3 million...Horror movie "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark," starring Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce, finished third with domestic sales of $8.7 million.
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08-28-11 Jessica Challenges a Scene in Script of The Debt
(San Francisco Chronicle)
"That scene was fiercely discussed with the studio," Madden says in a separate interview. However, after an unsatisfactory compromise was crafted via intensive "Debt" negotiations, "Jessica said, 'This doesn't feel like (younger Rachel) speaking.' I said, 'Well, there's no better judge of that than you right now.' She felt like the scene was speaking with the voice of the older woman. It was a completely accurate observation. It was full of footnotes, explanations which had no place in the scene, to be honest." So Madden arranged for her to share her feelings with Peter Straughan, the film's co-writer with Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman: "As a result, Peter came up with a brilliant version of it, exactly what you see in the film - and that was entirely because she blew the whistle on something. It's very easy to get off track in a few key areas. But in the end, a really intelligent actor can tell you something about the material that you're pressed too much up against the glass to see." Chastain says, "You know what inspired me for that scene? That's the first time she tells David she's in love with him - she says, 'Stefan's punishing me for loving you' - she kind of throws that out there, but it's the very first time she has ever said that to him.
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08-28-11 John Madden Heard about Jessica from Tree of Life Shooting
(San Francisco Chronicle)
Director John Madden ("Shakespeare in Love") found himself searching for a newcomer to play the younger version of Mirren's character in "The Debt." He heard glowing reports of then-unknown Chastain from the set of Malick's movie, so he sat down with the actress. "She's charismatic and intelligent and serious, and it was just a very enjoyable encounter," he says. "Then I spoke to Terrence Malick at great length and he had, unsurprisingly, wonderful things to say about her. All of which proved to be true."
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08-28-11 Al Pacino in Jessica's Transition to Film
(San Francisco Chronicle)
"I got cast in 'Salome' with Al Pacino," she says of a 2006 production of the Oscar Wilde play. "We workshopped it for a while, then we performed it at the Wadsworth Theatre in Los Angeles. From there, he made a film of it ('Wilde Salome,' due later this year). So I got to see one of the greatest actors we've ever known go from a performance in a theater with 1,400 seats, which is a huge space to try to fill, to now working in front of a camera, which is incredibly subtle. It was the best acting lessons for film I could have ever experienced."
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08-28-11 Director Robert Kelley Remembers Jessica as Juliet
(San Francisco Chronicle)
Robert Kelley, artistic director of TheatreWorks, helmed a 1998 production of "Romeo and Juliet" in Mountain View with then-teenage Chastain as an Irish Catholic Juliet amid the Troubles in Londonderry. "She was beautiful, high-energy, charismatic, and she had a real joy about her. She was very good with the language. She was great for Juliet," Kelley recalls. "The audience just completely fell in love with her; I guess everybody did. That was the effect she had on people. "There was an exciting chemistry between her and the guy who played Romeo; it was unmistakable. Given her success in film and all that, I think the chemistry is something she brings with her anywhere she goes."
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08-28-11 John Madden Compares Jessica to Cate Blanchett
(Boston Herald)
“With Jessica, Cate Blanchett is the person who keeps popping into my head,” “Debt” director John Madden said at the Four Seasons Hotel in L.A. “She has an extraordinary range: serious-funny, highly comedic, period-contemporary, and one of those faces that never looks quite the same, and talent and intelligence to go with it.”
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08-27-11 Jessica Learned from Fellow Actor Sam Worthington in The Debt
(Enterprise News)
Though they’ve since acted together again in the upcoming “Texas Killing Fields,” “The Debt” marked the first time Chastain and Worthington met. “She’s so advanced,” said Worthington of his costar. “It’s not about her, it’s about the work, about the character. She’s not worried about vanity or how big her trailer is. She’s got a background of theater, but now her knowledge of film is getting broader.” Chastain offered equally glowing thoughts on Worthington. “As an actor you’re worried that you won’t like the person you’re going to have to act with, but immediately I knew, this is golden,” she said. “Sam helped me so much with the action stuff in the film. I had taken months of Krav Maga before I got there. But you know, running and jumping into moving vans, or how to hold a gun to make it good for the camera – I didn’t know that stuff.”
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08-27-11 How Jessica Came to The Debt
(Enterprise News)
John Madden (“Shakespeare in Love”) had mentioned earlier that the casting of Chastain came out of him wanting someone who was not well known and, upon meeting her, finding that she was “a really interesting, intelligent, charismatic girl.” He also got high praise for her when he called her “Tree of Life” director Terrence Malick. Chastain remembered first seeing the script while stopping in London after a brief holiday in France. “From the moment I read it I thought, this is the kind of movie I want to be involved in,” she said, “and I fought like crazy for the part. I knew Helen was probably going to play Rachel. So on my first meeting with John I was going on and on about, ‘Oh, I love the script, I’m the kind of actor who really does research, I’ll take (Israeli self defense training) Krav Maga, I’ll learn German, I do a lot of accents, I went to Juilliard.” She stopped, took a breath, smiled, and added, “Plus, Helen Mirren’s 5-4, and I’m 5-4.”
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08-27-11 Sam Worthington Tells Jessica how to Run
(Musicrooms.net)
"[Worthington said,] ‘No man, you’ve got to pump those arms like Tommy Cruise! Like Tom Cruise!’” Jessica said to OK! magazine at the The Debt’s star studded premiere this week. “So now I realise when you run, you do the action run where you pump your arms.”Jessica was just too limber to run like a dynamo. Her arm movements before Sam’s suggestion reminded cast mates of a cartoon character. “I was a ballerina, I was not a jock,” Jessica explained. “Apparently when I first was doing a running scene I ran like Gumby, where you don’t really move your arms.” She has learned much from the training she received on set. In fact, Jessica may be able to take on Tom Cruise himself in a race. “Sam’s in fact named me Tommy Cruise,” Jessica said. “I think Tom Cruise and I have to be in a movie where we have a run-off, because I think my run might be better now.”
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08-27-11 Example of Critique that The Help does not Capture the Civil Rights Era
(World Socialist Web Site)
Unfortunately, the film falls short of a credible presentation, as the reality of the situation is not tackled with any degree of seriousness. One of the most jarring elements is the absence of any reference to the mass struggles that shattered the Jim Crow structure in the South at the time, or any indication of their influence and atmosphere. This is not the concern of either the movie or the book. In fact, the book’s jacket cover informs the potential reader that “Change begins with a whisper.” And elevated to historical catalyst—or whisperer-in-chief—is the middle class do-gooder...While there is much focus on Hilly and her band of bigots, the assassination of prominent NAACP leader Medgar Evers in Jackson in June 1963 by a white racist, an earthshaking event in the region, by contrast, is given short shrift by the filmmakers. The Help is not simply a reductive—to say the least—period piece, whose main dynamic is a skirmish between good and evil, with blacks on one side and whites on the other. It rewrites, probably out of light-mindedness and lack of knowledge more than anything else, the history of social struggle in America and postwar history in general...A few horrors described in the book are tellingly omitted from the film. For example, in the novel, a son of one of the maids mistakenly uses a bathroom designated for whites and is chased down, beaten and blinded. And another: the book states that in 1963 a man named Carl Roberts was “found cattle-branded and hung from a pecan tree” for calling the governor “a pathetic man with the morals of a streetwalker.” Such politically motivated sadism—all too common at the time—is avoided by the filmmakers. Why?
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08-26-11 Why John Madden Chose Jessica to be Helen Mirren
(Washington Post)
The director next turned to the younger version of Mirren’s character. Despite studio skepticism, he insisted on an unknown. Otherwise, he says, “I’m sure that would have become the issue: How this famous actress turned into Helen Mirren.” He chose Jessica Chastain, who had recently filmed “Tree of Life” with maverick director Terence Malick.
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08-26-11 Why The Help is so Successful
(Reuters)
The picture's initial success isn't that baffling. Each August tends to bring a sort of blockbuster backlash -- that moment when our brains are snapping back on and we folks out here in the dark are ready for some character-driven stuff. What's more surprising is how the audience for a dramedy about black Southern maids and white socialites at the dawning of the Civil Rights movement is widening. Its second weekend out, "The Help" topped the box office on just a 20 percent decline. More significant, the audience expanded to include to a younger, more-male crowd with more African-Americans...The widening audience for "The Help" comes as no surprise to co-producer Chris Columbus. "The strongest thing about this movie, and we've known this since we began screening it, is word of mouth," Columbus said...Fandango polling early this week showed "The Help" leading in advance ticket sales with 27 percent, ranking as the No. 2 Favorite Movie of the Summer, just behind "Harry Potter."..."What started with fans of the book and then went to women is now mothers taking their children."
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08-26-11 Jessica Considered for Horizon with Tom Cruise for Release on July 19, 2013
(Mania)
A few months after locking in Tom Cruise as the lead star for his next sci-fi project, director Joseph Kosinski (TRON Legacy) is now poised to pick out his female counterparts. A process which will be taking place this weekend according to Variety's latest report. In the running for the roles of Victoria and Julia are actresses Olivia Wilde, Noomi Rapace, Olga Kurylenko, Jessica Chastain and Brit Marling...Plot Concept: In a future where the Earth's surface has been irradiated beyond recognition, the remnants of humanity live above the clouds, safe from the brutal alien Scavengers that stalk the ruins. But when surface drone repairman Jak discovers a mysterious woman in a crash-landed pod, it sets off an unstoppable chain of events that will force him to question everything he knows. Victoria is Jak's assistant and contact on his missions while Julia is his fiancee on Earth. Horizons flies into theaters July 19, 2013.
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08-25-11 Jessica Testing for Sci-Fi Movie - Horizons
(Variety)
Universal is moving ahead on its own [Tom] Cruise pic, the sci-fi epic formerly titled "Oblivion" that's now going by the working title "Horizons." This weekend, a diverse who's-who of Hollywood actresses will test for female leads in...Joseph Kosinski's next project. Jessica Chastain, Olivia Wilde, Brit Marling, Noomi Rapace and Olga Kurylenko are among the thesps testing Saturday -- though others are still under consideration. Universal had no comment on the shortlist...There are two key female characters -- Victoria, Jack's right-hand woman and lover who serves as his eyes and ears while he's on repair missions, and Julia, his fiancee on Earth before the alien invasion.
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08-25-11 Jessica's Grandmother's Book Club Friends Approve Jessica's Celia after Viewing Premier
(Contactmusic.com)
Jessica Chastain took her grandmother's book club buddies to the premiere of hit new film The Help - to thank them for their support. The actress' gran and her friends were big fans of the book and though they weren't convinced Chastain was the right choice to play Mississippi socialite Celia Foote in the film adaptation, they gave her pointers on how to play the part...The actress admits she was more nervous about her grandmother's reaction to the film than the critics'. She adds, "I took her to the premiere with her three best friends, who were in the book club, and they loved it. She was the big critic and I passed."
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08-25-11 Helen Mirren Talks about Jessica as an Actor
(Flicks and bits)
How was it working with Jessica Chastain as Rachel, the same character? Helen Mirren: Jessica and I, unfortunately didn’t have as much time to spend together as both of us would have liked, because of scheduling. We did get to spend some time together, where we sat with the script, just eye-ball each other, talk to each other, and find ways to make the character into one. But I have to say, really the majority of that work Jessica took on board, she looked at tape of me, studied me, tried to get a feeling of how I was when I was younger. I really think she done a fantastic, fantastic job. She approached her work with a seriousness and a dedication that was actually rather like me when I was her age (laughs).
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08-25-11 Jessica Steals the Show in The Debt
(Exclaim!)
To say that Jessica Chastain steals the show would be an understatement. Scenes where she tries to ward off discomfort and anxiety while being examined come off as singularly unnerving. She manages to balance tough and vulnerable without ever denying a humanitarian emotional core. This is particularly apparent in her reactions to shockingly anti-Semitic goading tactics from the doctor post-kidnap. It's her performance, along with Mirren's modern day depiction of the same character, which helps add a dimension of much-needed human complexity to what is merely an above-average, somewhat predictable thriller.
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08-25-11 The Debt Raises Serious Issues without Exploiting or Trivializing Them
(Jweekly.com)
The announcement that the 2007 Israeli drama “Ha-Hov” (“The Debt”) was going to be remade in English was widely welcomed, presumably because of the casting of Helen Mirren. Certainly it wasn’t because people knew and admired the original film, which screened in just a handful of U.S. festivals — including a Jewish film festival in the East Bay in 2009. At that time, I was turned off by the Israeli movie’s crass use of a Nazi villain to drive a pulpy suspense yarn. So I was not looking forward to a remake, even if it was being made by John Madden, the Oscar-nominated director of the Academy Award–winning “Shakespeare in Love.” However, I underestimated Madden’s skill and integrity, for “The Debt” is a smart, beautifully crafted thriller that raises serious issues without exploiting or trivializing them.
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08-25-11 Sean Penn Shares His Confusion Regarding Tree of Life
(The Guardian)
This week it emerged that Sean Penn seems to have been as mystified by The Tree of Life as the rest of us. "The screenplay is the most magnificent one that I've ever read but I couldn't find that same emotion on screen," said the actor of Terrence Malick's graceful meditation on the meaning of life / unnaturally long ode to self-involvement. "A clearer and more conventional narrative would have helped the film without, in my opinion, lessening its beauty and its impact," said Penn. "Frankly, I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing there and what I was supposed to add in that context!"
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08-25-11 The Help not Meant to be the Entire Story of the Civil Rights Movement
(Huffington Post)
I'm not going to get into a point-by-point rundown of why I think many of the criticisms being hurled at The Help are just-plain wrong...much of the outcry over The Help comes not from what is in the movie itself, but rather what isn't in the film, and (more importantly) what isn't in the marketplace...As a stand-alone film, it works as a solid, if not awe-inspiring character piece involving a number of women (black and white) who exist in an employer/employee relationship during the middle of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. If the picture were one of a dozen films being released by a major studio that centered around African-America actors, its flaws would be less of an issue...But it is silly to condemn the one 'shining' example and punish it for the non-existence of other pictures like it...The Help is NOT an all-encompassing story about the Civil Rights Movement. It does not portend to represent every single black woman who suffered under Jim Crow. It does not portend to claim that African-Americans were only able to take their institutionalized freedoms because of plucky white women of the era...it is not the responsibility of The Help to be the be-all, end-all big-studio movie involving the Civil Rights Movement. It does not concern itself with those who actively fought for freedom because that is not the story being told. It is a story about those who merely endured during a time of social injustice, and that story is every bit as relevant as the struggles of The Freedom Riders or the indiviudual portraits of iconic characters such as Medgar Evers or Rosa Parks...The Help is not a story about those on the frontlines, and it is not a story about a great social victory that was won. It is a character study, full of small victories and larger defeats.
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08-24-11 A Featurette and Six Clips from The Debt
(ComingSoon.net)
Focus Features has provided ComingSoon.net with a featurette and six clips from director John Madden's The Debt, opening in theaters on August 31st and starring Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain, Jesper Christensen, Marton Csokas, Ciarán Hinds and Tom Wilkinson.
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08-24-11 Jessica Knows How to Cry
(New York Times)
In her still-short film career Jessica Chastain has been regularly called upon to cry, and when that happens she has often found that her directors are anxious that she’ll exhaust herself in rehearsal. “They’ll say, ‘Save it, save it,’ ” said Ms. Chastain, who takes a certain pride in her active ducts. “I tell them: ‘Don’t worry. I have a bottomless well of tears.’”
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08-24-11 Jessica Benefits from Good Job Referrals
(New York Times)
Sam Worthington, who plays her introverted Mossad colleague, took his admiration a step further and helped engineer a screen reunion between them in the director Ami Canaan Mann’s “Texas Killing Fields.” (This time, Mr. Worthington plays Ms. Chastain’s troubled ex-husband, also a cop.) “I told Ami Mann: ‘Get this girl. Trust me. She’s sweet and soft, but she’s a chameleon,’ ” Mr. Worthington said...[Terrence] Malick...spread the word to Steven Spielberg, whose company, DreamWorks, made “The Help”; to Jeff Nichols, the writer-director of “Take Shelter”; and to John Hillcoat, who put Ms. Chastain in his Prohibition-era gangster movie “The Wettest County in the World,” due next year. “Sometimes I’ll have a meeting with someone and they’ll say, ‘Oh, Sean Penn was just here and was saying the nicest things about you,’ ” said Ms. Chastain, referring to her “Tree of Life” co-star. “You know when you’re applying for a job?” she said. “These are like my recommendations. It’s nice.”
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08-24-11 Reflection of Penn's Criticism of Tree of Life
(The Daily Telegraph)
It's rare for an actor, particularly who has won two Oscars - Milk (2008) and Mystic River (2003) - to insult his own film, but is it a case of his ego being bruised. Sources told the New York Post that Penn’s role was much larger in the script than what ended up on-screen. And critics noted that Penn’s part, which bookends the picture, is the smallest of the core actors’, including Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain. Penn had worked with Malick before in The Thin Red Line. "You know what you’re signing up for," said a source. Adrien Brody’s role in The Thin Red Line was reduced to two lines, and Martin Sheen, Gary Oldman, Bill Pullman, Jason Patric, Lukas Haas, Viggo Mortensen and Mickey Rourke were cut out entirely.
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08-23-11 True Holocaust Story Informs Jessica's Character in The Debt
(The Jewish Journal of Greater L.A)
As Jessica Chastain was preparing for her role in the Mossad thriller “The Debt,” her voluminous research led her to the story of a survivor who witnessed the destruction of her entire family in the Holocaust. “It was a woman’s memory of something she had seen as a young girl,” said Chastain...Chastain used the memory as the back story for her “Debt” character, Rachel, a Mossad agent sent in 1966 to kidnap and bring to trial in Israel a notorious Nazi, dubbed the “surgeon of Birkenau,” who was living in hiding in East Berlin. “Because the memory was so devastating, and because it is real, it helped me understand a character who essentially is willing to martyr herself for her country,” Chastain said. “Rachel wonders why, if her family was killed, does she get the opportunity to live? And because she has that opportunity, how must she live to be worthy of that gift?”...It was Chastain who brought Rachel’s heartbreaking back story to Mirren, who agreed to use it in her own performance. “I don’t want to be too specific about it, because I believe an actor must have secrets,” Chastain said. “And also because it is someone’s real story, which I don’t want to betray.
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08-23-11 Jessica Talks about all Her Films in Video Interview
(Indie Wire)
When Jessica Chastain left her theater training at Juilliard and started landing movie roles, she got a gift. None of the movies came out right away...The delayed openings meant that Chastain remained a hot actress—and a blank slate. Nobody projected her last movie onto what they thought she could do. So she was able to be a chameleon, playing a dramatic actress, a sweetly luminous idealized 50s mother, and a tough-as-nails assassin. She also earned raves as brassy southern blonde...We talk about all these films. [Three video segments: total 17:51; very good at]
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08-22-11 Best Actress Oscar Nomination for Jessica in The Help?
(New York Post)
I remain convinced that, for its ambition and purely cinematic qualities, "The Tree of Life" is going to get a bunch of nominations including technical ones and Best Picture, Director and probably Actress for Jessica Chastain.
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08-22-11 Jessica's The Help Book Fan Grandmother Gives Thumbs Up to Jessica as Celia
(Fox All Access)
At first, Chastain was worried about what her grandmother would thing about the movie and her performance. Those fears were laid to rest, however, after Jessica took Grandma and a few of her friends to the premiere. And although she’s gotten plenty of great feedback on the movie, Chastain told us that “thumbs up” from her grandmother was the best compliment she could ever receive.
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08-22-11 Malick Mentions Progress on Burial and Voyage of Time
(Indie Wire)
"I’m honored that you should take such a kind view of “Tree of Life” and wish that I could thank you and your colleagues in person. At present, however, we’re rushing toward a mix on the picture we shot last fall in Oklahoma and to finish shooting on a new one, a natural history film. I hope that you’ll understand. It is uplifting to discover such generous hearts out there, encouraging me and those who work with me, and I hope that some day in the near future we’ll gave[sic] the occasion to meet in person.
With warm regards and a fraternal salute, I am Yours Sincerely, [Signed] Terrence Malick" The film he’s “rushing toward a mix” on is the untitled romance aka “The Burial” starring Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem, Barry Pepper and Jessica Chastain. There was been little word on the project for the past while, other than Optimum picking up the U.K. rights...As for the “natural history film,” it seems he’s talking about the long-gestating documentary “Voyage Of Time” which producers indicated earlier this year would be undergoing additional and new shooting. It seems he’s yet to hit the editing bay on that picture—which has Brad Pitt and Emma Thompson signed up to narrate.
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08-22-11 The Help a Breath of Fresh Air
(Reuters India)
"The Help" rose from its second-place finish last week to the top spot with rave reviews and strong word-of-mouth buzz, distributor Walt Disney Co said on Sunday. The drama chronicles the relationships between white women in Mississippi and their black housekeepers in the 1960s...To date, "The Help" has beat expectations by ringing up a total of $71.8 million. "We always hoped 'The Help' would be a breath of fresh air after a busy, sequel-filled, smash-'em-up summer. The way the public's embracing it indicates that is indeed the case," said Dave Hollis, executive vice president for motion picture sales and distribution at Disney.
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08-21-11 Jessica Hopes to Thank Robin Williams Personally for Her Scholarship
(Contactmusic.com)
Tree Of Life star Jessica Chastain is hoping to meet Robin Williams at a Hollywood party - so she can thank him for his scholarship which funded her experience at top drama school Julliard. The actress, who is now gaining rave reviews for her role in The Help, has never met her benefactor, who set up the scholarship as a Julliard alumni. She tells WENN, "It paid for my schooling, back and forth to go home for Christmas, books, everything. He actually made it possible for me to go to school there because my family were not incredibly wealthy and I was the first one to go to college...the board at Julliard give it (scholarship) to a student every two years and I received it so I was very lucky." She almost met Williams at a restaurant - but he dashed out before she got the chance to say thank you.
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08-21-11 Best Performance of The Help Belongs to Jessica
(The Daily Athenaeum)
While "The Help" does a good job of recreating the 1960s, the story it tells could use some work...As acting goes, both Stone and Davis did great jobs, but occasionally it felt like Spencer wasn't sure what to do with herself when she wasn't talking, almost like a living cardboard cut-out. Howard also did a great job of being a great combination of passive-aggressive and snootiness that was needed for the film's villain. However, the best performance belongs to Jessica Chastain, a housewife who doesn't seem to fit in with the local girl's club, but is really just looking for a friend. Surprisingly, the original score composed by Thomas Newman was one of the best things about this movie..."The Help" isn't perfect, but it does a fine job of recreating an important time in American history and is a story that is worth being heard at least once.
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08-21-11 The Help Almost Assured Best Picture Oscar Nomination
(Alt Film Guide)
After twelve days out, Tate Taylor's female-driven drama The Help is now all but assured a Best Picture Oscar nomination. In addition to its socially conscious theme and the generally good positive reviews — 68% approval rating among Rotten Tomatoes' top critics — The Help has been doing remarkably well at the domestic box office. After topping the North American box-office chart with an estimated $20.47 million this weekend (Aug. 19-21) as per Box Office Mojo, The Help has collected a total of $71.8 million to date. The comedy-drama about ethnic relations in the American South will surely end up grossing more than $100 million domestically...after adding 156 locations The Help was down only 21% compared to last weekend. That's a quite low drop-off rate even considering that the $25m-budgeted film had opened on a Wednesday. Its average was a solid $7,613 per theater.
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08-21-11 The Help Jumps from #2 to #1 in its Second Week
(I Am Rogue.com)
In its second weekend of release, novel adaptation The Help has jumped from second to first place, easily outpacing four new releases. With solid word of mouth, an agreeably inspiring take on entrenched racial injustice in 1960's America, and an appealing cast that includes Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, and Jessica Chastain, the cinematic take on Kathryn Stockett's bestselling novel became the first film since True Grit to debut outside of the top spot, then leap up in subsequent weeks. This weekend's estimate was down just 21% from its opening, with $20.4 million adding to a $71.8 million total in twelve days. Barring any unforeseen disaster, this assures a take of well over $100 million for the film, which is not based on a pre-existing franchise, toy property, or a superhero comic book...Among new releases, the one that fared best was the Robert Rodriguez-directed sequel Spy Kids: All the Time in the World [with an] estimated $12.0 million haul...Jason Momoa has voiced his confidence that the reboot Conan the Barbarian would lead to continued sequels exploring Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age, but based on the film's 4th place opening, with $10 million estimate, a franchise seems fairly unlikely... Almost certainly the most aggressively marketed of the new releases, Fright Night's Thursday midnight showings bring its weekend totals to an $8.3 million estimate, but without those, it looks to have earned $7.9 million.
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08-21-11 Sean Penn Criticizes Terrence Malick and The Tree of Life
(We Got This Covered)
In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, translated here by The New Yorker, Sean Penn ripped director Terrence Malick and their movie The Tree of Life..."I didn’t at all find on the screen the emotion of the script, which is the most magnificent one that I’ve ever read. A clearer and more conventional narrative would have helped the film without, in my opinion, lessening its beauty and its impact. Frankly, I’m still trying to figure out what I’m doing there and what I was supposed to add in that context! What’s more, Terry himself never managed to explain it to me clearly."...For me, The Tree of Life is among the best movies of 2011. Terrence Malick’s power is in his visuals and the grace and style of The Tree of Life, for me, was wildly moving and evocative. For her part, Sean Penn’s co-star Jessica Chastain had nothing but kind things to say about the film...Fellow The Tree of Life star Brad Pitt has had nothing but praise for director Terrence Malick and his vision for The Tree of Life as well.
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08-20-11 Tree of Life Scheduled for Blu-ray on October 12
(PopBytes)
In an early alert to retailers FOX has made public plans to bring the 2011 Terrence Malick written & directed film “The Tree of Life” starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain to Blu-ray Disc on October 11th. Tech specs and bonus materials have not yet been officially detailed but stay tuned. The title is already available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $27.99 price tag.
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08-19-11 Video Interview about The Help and The Debt
(Access Hollywood)
[See a series of short video interviews of Jessica Chastain. She talks about the surprising response to her joke about the 'torture' of gaining weight for The Help. Then she discusses how she and Helen Mirren worked together to create a consistent character together-Chastain Central]
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08-19-11 Critic Defends The Help against Racial Criticism
(Huffington Post)
Two criticisms I've seen of The Help are the use of the N-word -- and the stereotype some have tasted in the fried chicken of Minny Jackson, played brilliantly by Olivia Spencer. Not only does The Help not shy from that history, but the assassination of civil rights Evers in Jackson in June 1963 is not mere background for the film. Audiences see actual news footage of Evers stating his positions on living black-and-white television shortly before he was killed. The night of his murder, Aibileen Clark (in a star turn by Viola Davis) is shown with another black commuter being ordered off the bus home, the driver calling them by the N-word, because something terrible has happened. Her fear of white brutality so palpitates her heart the she races home, stumbling hard along the way, to gather her children around in the safety of their small home...Listen to it in The Help and get mad -- but at the culture that routinely demeaned black people -- not at the film, which aims to tell it like it was...Some criticism of this film is legitimate. Most of the white women in the movie are two dimensional. One exception is the beautifully nuanced depiction of Celia Foote by Jessica Chastain, as the blonde who is shunned by a bevy of young housewives desperate to be part of the clique. And the weakest performance among an otherwise marvelous cast, is by Bryce Dallas Howard as the race-baiting and two-dimensionally callous Hilly. However, the unwarranted attacks -- that is, those imposing racial preconceptions and discomfort apart from the film's own merits -- can only defeat the intentions of many race-mired critics. How many more films exploring American racism will Hollywood produce in light of the current racial second-guessing? Hollywood will run scared. And potential roles for these or other black actors in midlife or older will remain as scarce as ever.
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08-19-11 Jessica Appears on Conan O'Brien
(Huffington Post)
Chastain, who recently boasted about her amazing curves in "The Help", told O'Brien that she hasn't been as busy as she might seem. She's made 11 movies in four years and it's only now that some of them are being released. "The Debt" was made two years ago, and my first film I made four years ago with Al Pacino...Chastain also shared some more interesting info about her family. Lets just say Chastain's Grandma, once nicknamed "Motorcycle Mama," isn't your typical grandparent. The actress reminisced to Conan about the time her Grandma got her in trouble for smoking inside the Julliard dorms where she studied acting, and says Grandma, has told her she needs to be more sexual and "she wants me to show like skin skin skin skin," she told Conan.
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08-18-11 Texas Killing Fields Releases Trailer
(New York Magazine)
Texas Killing Fields is full of putative next-big-things: You've got Avatar action hero Sam Worthington in the lead, Chloe Moretz wandering around, and Jessica Chastain in there, searching for yet another 2011 movie she can play a supporting role in. And behind the camera, there's debuting filmmaker Ami Canaan Mann, who's got the auspicious start of being Michael Mann's daughter. All in all, there have been a lot of reasons to keep an eye on this movie ... and yet, despite a release date that's less than a month away, it's been virtually under wraps.
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08-17-11 Jessica Never Before Played a Film Like Mama
(Hollywood Outbreak)
Jessica Chastain, who stars in about 500 movies this year...has signed on to the Guillermo del Toro produced feature Mama. The story centers on two girls who believe they are haunted by their mother’s ghost. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done,” says Chastain. “It’s a genre film, so that’s why I’m interested in it. It’s an opportunity for me to see if I can do it. It’s a horror film.
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08-17-11 Jessica Learns Krav Maga for The Debt
(Access Hollywood)
Jessica Chastain, the actor had to undergo intense training in the gritty martial art of Krav Maga in order to play an Israeli Mossad agent on the hunt for a Nazi war criminal. “It’s what the Israeli army uses — it’s a very attacking form of self-defense,” Sam said of the brutal martial art. “You’re going to get hit. Most self-defenses you don’t want to get hit, [but] this is put your body on the line if you get the objective done.
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08-17-11 The Help does not Capture the Spirit of the Times
(Politic365)
This movie falls short of painting a realistic backdrop of the hell on earth it really was. Yes it was uncomfortable to watch quite a few scenes, but there were no knots in my stomach. After all I’ve seen footage of 1960s water hoses being turned on peaceful protesters, pictures of the swinging, burnt remains of lynching victims and the bloodthirsty crowds that rathered see James Meredith dead than he dare be allowed to enter the white walls of Ole Miss. I really had to suspend my disbelief to get into the story. I am not suggesting that this movie should have been dark and gritty (it’s not that kind of story), but I am accusing it of not capturing the atmosphere of the times. Save the scene in which Viola Davis desperately runs home after being let off the bus due the Medgar Evers’ shooting, I sometimes felt I had no context for the story being told. Having more clearly established the setting would have given the story a much heavier arc and raised the stakes for all involved just a bit more (including the audience)...Viola Davis is the real reason to see this film. Her performance hangs heavy in the air, unfettered and unencumbered by the blithe re-telling of what life for maids in 1960s Mississippi was like. Watching her on screen is like watching an entirely different film. She cuts through the gloss to give the movie the texture it needs.
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08-17-11 Jessica's Preparation to be Rachel in The Debt
(Huffington Post)
In seeking to understand her character, Rachel, Chastain internalized her research to create a backstory to inform Rachel's pain. "There was something I read in this book where this girl, [talks about] this thing she witnessed with her parents during the Holocaust," Chastain told HuffPost. "It was a very descriptive memory, it was incredibly emotional, and I read it and I was so moved by it and I said, okay, this makes sense for Rachel."...Chastain internalized the pain, spending a miserable Christmas as she continued to research the role and the larger story of the Holocaust. That led to what felt like real life experiences, caught on film. Including her scenes spoon feeding and shaving the beard of the doctor. "When he's talking most of the time I'm thinking, Don't talk to him, don't listen to him, just feed him," Chastain explained. "Like when I'm shaving him and he says 'You Jews don't know how to kill, you only know how to die,' that was... [I'm thinking], I'm not listening I'm not listening I'm not listening, but at the same time... Rachel also wanted to be like 'You know what? I'm not afraid of you.'" Rachel has most of the intimate moments with the doctor, as she is charged with actually capturing him in the examination room of his gynecological office. That means posing as a patient -- and going through multiple treatments before he can be positively identified and abducted. The false pretense brings the closest of physical contact, which has its own repercussions once the medical veneer is ripped down. "He says something that strikes an emotional cord in her about her mother," Chastain remembers, "that's almost humiliating to her because it reminds her of being in the doctors' office, being invaded by this man, and him actually knowing her. It's humiliating to think, this monster knows me."...Chastain communicated her fear and nerves through trembles and panicked eyes..."I didn't really know this movie was a thriller until I saw it," Chastain admitted. "I thought I was making a drama, and then when I saw the first screening of it my heart was beating so fast, I was so tense because it is so thrilling."
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08-16-11 Jessica to Receive Un Nouvel Hollywood Award at Deauville Festival
(Screen International)
The Deauville Festival Of American Film, running Sept 2-11, has unveiled its competition line-up featuring 14 films, nine of which are directorial debuts...The festival also revealed that Ryan Gosling and The Tree Of Life, Take Shelter (pictured) and The Help actress Jessica Chastain had been selected to receive its Un Nouvel Hollywood award celebrating rising US actors.
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08-16-11 Progress on Malick's Companion Documentary to Tree of Life - Voyage of Time
(Indie Wire)
Buried in Deadline‘s recent report about the Emma Thompson scribed “Effie” it notes that the actress/writer has signed on to be “one of the narrators” of Malick’s gestating documentary “Voyage Of Time.” It’s the first we’ve heard of multiple narrators for the project, with Brad Pitt already expected to lend his voice to the film and it will be Thompson’s first time working with the director...Last we heard about the film—that was ambitiously planned to be concurrently released with “The Tree Of Life”—Malick was planning to utilize footage obtained during the production of “The Tree Of Life” in addition to shooting new footage for the project. The scope of the film will be massive, with the film said to encompass “the first signs of life, bacteria, cellular pioneers, first love, consciousness, the ascent of humanity, life and death and the end of the universe.”...And well, that’s about it. There’s no word on if the long mooted IMAX format is still in the cards or even when Malick will finish and release this thing.
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08-16-11 Why Some Criticize The Help
(Salon)
The film has generated criticism for its supposed whitewashing of one of the most contentious, painful periods in recent American history. The Association of Black Women Historians recently issued a statement on the best-selling book and film, sating that, among other things, "'The Help' is not a story about the millions of hard-working and dignified black women who labored in white homes to support their families and communities. Rather, it is the coming-of-age story of a white protagonist, who uses myths about the lives of black women to make sense of her own. The Association of Black Women Historians finds it unacceptable for either this book or this film to strip black women's lives of historical accuracy for the sake of entertainment." The Boston Globe has criticized the film as "an all-American cop-out."...its detractors wail..."Why this, when there are other books, written by actual black women, to be read?" True, and maybe readers who enjoyed "The Help" will now seek them out...much of the criticism of the movie and book also stems from its restrained depiction of the era's sexual harassment and racial violence. Yet it seems not so much a conspicuous oversight as a narrative choice -- "The Help" is a story that takes place largely in the genteel domestic sphere, and studies the ways that females of the era both dished out and endured racism...It's clear that the main problem a lot of people have with "The Help" is that the story was written by a white lady...It's not about the big news stories of the early civil-rights era -- it's a story about having difficult and necessary exchanges about race...that "The Help" has touched off such intense debate, such vehement criticism, is a good thing, because it says that we're doing just that still.
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08-15-11 The Help Well Received at Academy Members Showing
(Reuters)
The ensemble film, which was adapted from Kathryn Stockett's bestselling novel set in civil rights-era Mississippi, had its free screening for Academy members at AMPAS's Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Saturday afternoon. According to a member with no stake in the success of the film, it drew an audience that arrived early and filled the 1,000-seat theater to as much as 90 percent capacity, an extremely good showing for a 4 p.m. matinee...Members in attendance "absolutely loved" the film, according to one voter, with substantial applause and no walkouts during the near two-and-a-half hour running time. Another reported that applause was particularly heavy for actresses Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain, but not for director Tate Taylor...It's worth noting, though, that an extremely positive Goldwyn screening is not always a guarantee of Oscar success...for the moment most signs point toward the company nudging Davis toward the Best Actress category, where she'll be competing against her castmate Emma Stone (who has a far smaller chance of a nomination). If they go for the alternative and push her as a Best Supporting Actress nominee, she'll be up against co-star Spencer and maybe a handful of others as well, including Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard.
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08-15-11 How the Chef Created Jessica's Vegan Fried Chicken
(Examiner.com)
It wouldn’t be the south without fried chicken. Character Celia Foote played by Jessica Chastain is vegan in real life and in a scene she had to bite into a fried chicken leg. The cookbook author stated, “They were filming over Chastain's shoulder so the chicken drumstick had to be realistic once bitten." Foose described the trials and tribulations of making a realistic fried drumstick vegan.”The initial try was with yellow squash that looked good for about 30 seconds and then became flaccid.” Trial and error brought her to the faux drumstick. Martha explained, “We used ½ a Popsicle stick, 1/3 of a vegan hot dog and wrapped it in tofurkey, and wrapped it in very thin vegan pie dough and trimmed it with manicure scissors. We couldn’t use milk so we used almond milk and rolled it in flour.”
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08-15-11 The Help Outperforms Expectations with Oscar Worthies
(Indie Wire)
[The Help] did prove to be a mainstream crowd-pleaser—outperforming expectations by a good margin by playing nationally to both white and black women. This weekend’s Academy screening was packed and members gave rousing applause to multiple actors at the end, most especially Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain. (DreamWorks should put proven and nominated veteran Davis in lead and the other two in supporting. Ingenue Emma Stone hasn’t a prayer in either category.)
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08-15-11 The Help Brings in $35 Million in First Week; On the Road to $100 Million?
(TheHDRoom)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes could not be stopped by a quartet of new arrivals at the North American box office. It narrowly beat The Help, but easily rose above 30 Minutes or Less, Final Destination 5 and Glee: Live 3D. The Simian hit helped lead a top ten that was approximately four percent higher than last year at this time...While Rise may have stayed put at number one, it almost abdicated the throne to the number two film in North America, Disney/Dreamworks' big screen adaptation of the popular novel The Help. Debuting this past Wednesday on 2,511 screens (where it earned $9.8 million in its first two days) prior to expanding Friday to 2,534 screens (where it earned a terrific $25.7 million), The Help has earned a great $35.3 million to date. Had it debuted on Friday, the film would have easily taken the number one spot away from Rise of the Planet of the Apes...Despite comments about the glossing over of racial themes, critics liked what they saw in bestowing it with a 73% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The largely female audience was even more enamored, rewarding the movie with an "A+" CinemaScore rating. Should word-of-mouth prove to be as strong as the CinemaScore rating indicates, The Help should be requiring little-to-no help crossing the $100 million mark en route to becoming one of the bigger late summer hits.
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08-14-11 Producer Chris Columbus: Jessica will be a Big Star
(Shockya.com)
Jessica Chastain, again, was someone that Tate (Taylor) really fought hard for and in a sense convinced us that she was right for it. Emma Stone we always knew was just phenomenal, but Jessica (Chastain) has proven, especially in this movie, that she is going to be a huge star. She’s capable of doing anything.
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08-14-11 The Help Exceeds Box Office Expectations in Weekend Box Office
(Alt Film Guide)
Rupert Wyatt's Rise of the Planet of the Apes, though down 50% from last weekend, topped the North American box office for the second weekend in a row....At no. 2, Tate Taylor's $25 million-budgeted The Help overperformed, earning far more than the expected $20-22 million. Starring Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney, and veterans Sissy Spacek, Cicely Tyson, and Mary Steenburgen, The Help grossed $25.52 million at 2,511 locations, thus far surpassing Rise of the Planet of the Apes in the per-theater-average department: $10,073 vs. $7,451.
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08-14-11 The Help Reader Disappointed with Items Missing in the Movie
(Poptimal.co)
The film isn’t bad, not by a long stretch, but I don’t anyone who read the novel will come out thinking they did it justice...This is a 400+ page novel, so obviously details are going to be left out, sometimes ones that are treasured pieces of the story...The change that disappointed me most was the relationship between Minny and her employer, Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain). Celia is an outsider, a white trash woman from a place called Sugar Ditch, MS who got herself pregnant and married to one of the most eligible bachelors in Jackson – and Hilly’s ex-boyfriend to boot. Instead of the multi-dimensional, lovingly sculpted character in the book, this Celia is utilized for the easy laugh. Yes, she’s inappropriate and ridiculous in the novel, but she’s also desperate, and sad, and one of the best white human beings we get to meet. The friendship between her and Minny, and later Celia’s husband Johnny, is also reduced to little more than a vehicle for laughs, when it’s actually heartbreaking and poignant and one of my favorite parts of the story...All of those nitpicks may be due to my love for the novel, and there are plenty of things the movie does well. The performances are well-executed, even breathtaking at times, and I can’t imagine a better cast being assembled...Jessica Chastain, who I’d bet money read the novel, because she understood the complicated Celia even if the audience did not...There is absolutely nothing to complain about as far as the acting in this film.
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08-14-11 Jessica Pleased that Her Movies are Coming Out
(Denver Post)
"I'm very happy that my movies are coming out," Chastain says on the phone the day of "The Help" premiere. "At the same time, of course, I wish they'd been more staggered over the past few years. Because it would have given me an opportunity to get used to what that means." The "Who's that?" and "Wow" buzz started in earnest when the long-time-coming "The Tree of Life" won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May. "It started at that red carpet in Cannes," she says. "I don't know exactly what that means in my life. That's a very scary place to be. Where there's no turning back and it's all going to come at once." Yes, thanks to some movie-release jockeying, the actress is in for a great deal of exposure in a short amount of time..."When I read 'The Help,' there were so many comparisons and mentions of Marilyn Monroe I thought I had to figure out what this was about. The Norma Jean aspects of Marilyn are very similar to Celia coming from Sugar Ditch. This idea of bleaching her hair blond and starting this clean life. What is Celia running away from?" Chastain asks. That's a fine question, and her portrayal captures Celia's social uncertainty and her carnal embrace of life. She's a kind and voluptuous force. She was not however, Chastain says, an obvious fit. "When we were in Mississippi, I'd run into someone from the town and they'd ask who I was playing. I'd tell them Celia Foote, and their eyes would kind of glaze over. They'd look at me. Oh how's that possible? You could see all the anxiety. 'Omigod, they're going to ruin the movie.'" she says with a laugh.
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08-13-11 Casting Jessica One of Director Tate's Fondest Memories of The Help
(Daily Beast)
Leslie Feldman, executive VP of DreamWorks Casting, took the lead on suggesting women whose acting fit the role, not just actresses who fit the wardrobe. This became evident with the casting of both Jessica Chastain and Ahna O’Reilly. After their first readings, we immediately knew we had found our Celia and Elizabeth, respectively. There was a true, transformative experience when Jessica started reading the role of Celia. It’s one of those moments when you know, without a doubt, that you’re casting the right person for the role. By the end of the session, the entire room was in tears. It’s still one of my fondest memories of the movie.
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08-13-11 Jessica's Rachel the Glue that Binds The Debt Together
(Socalthrills.com)
Jessica Chastain’s performance as the younger Rachel is the glue that binds the entire story together. Rachel appears reserved yet below the surface is decisively strong and brutal. This year has been Chastain’s coming out as an actress, thus far in “The Tree of Life,” and “The Help.” She matches her wonderful efforts in those films equally in “The Debt” as she creates a character that is both tender and brash. As the older Rachel, Helen Mirren is no less impressive as she portrays an intensity that has only grown stronger through the 30 years since the original mission...Jesper Christiansen’s performance as Dieter Vogel is more than just disturbing, as he becomes evil incarnate. David, Rachel, and Stephen all reach their own breaking point as the Nazi doctor creates a living hell for them using no more than a few short words and piercing glances. “The Debt” hinges on the element of surprise and mystique that surrounds the order of events and the actual truth of what took place during the attempt to take down Vogel. One pivotal scene in the story is seen more than once from different perspectives, altering the entire tone of the film near its halfway mark. This movie is constructed as a thriller, and a violent, pulsating one at that...“The Debt” feels like two distinctly different films perfectly sewn into one. On one side is the sequences of 1966 where the characters go through immense turmoil and are permanently scarred by their experience. The present is sort of a catharsis, as Rachel must once and for all close the chapter on a part of her life that has kept her unknowingly imprisoned and shackled. The movie carefully walks the line of playing cat and mouse with the audience, but never to a point that makes the film appear like it is touting its own brilliance or surprising the audience for the sake of shock value.
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08-13-11 Jessica Depressed by Researching the Holocaust for The Debt
(Allie Is Wired)
"Making the movie was of course exhausting, but the most difficult part was the months before, because that was the whole research part of it," Chastain revealed. "I was reading a lot about the Holocaust. I read about [Nazi Dr. Josef] Mengele and I read a lot about the medical experiments that they did, which were really atrocious. I hadn't been exposed to those kind of details before. I was just trying to soak up as much as I could of that, because of course Rachel would know." In a sort of preparation method acting, the shocking truths she learned were impossible not to internalize. "During that time, it was during the holidays, it was over Christmas and stuff, and even my mom asked me, 'Are you okay?'" she laughed in retrospect. "Because I was so depressed, because how could you not be? Every day I would wake up and just start my work, which would be reading about this stuff for months. So I was in a really sad and dark place."
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08-13-11 Jessica's Tearful Departure from The Tree of Life Set Leads to The Debt
(Allie Is Wired)
Following the long shoot on Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life," Chastain felt the need to flee the country to clear her head. "I was leaving that set and, so much of me leaving, I was so concerned about making it easier for the boys, who I'd become very close to, those three little boys, that I underestimated how difficult it was going to be for me to say goodbye to them," she remembered, talking about the boys who played her and on-screen husband Brad Pitt's sons. "And so when we left, I was absolutely devastated, just emotionally so sad. I got on a plane and flew to Paris to take a French course because I needed a change of scenery." That trip, it turned out, would only lead to another opportunity to jump down the character rabbit hole, as she met with "Shakespeare In Love" director John Madden on a stop in London to discuss a role in what would become the Holocaust vengeance dramatic thriller, "The Debt."
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08-13-11 Jessica Talks about Playing a Punk Character in Mama
(collider.com)
At the press day for The Debt, in which Jessica Chastain (The Help, Tree of Life) plays Mossad secret agent Rachel Singer – on a mission to track down a Nazi war criminal in East Berlin in 1966 – the actress talked about her next project, doing her first genre film, Mama. Describing it as similar to The Ring and The Orphanage, and it being done by Guillermo del Toro’s company, she admitted to being trepidatious about taking on the role, but also excited about it, for that same reason...Question: What do you look for in a role now? JESSICA CHASTAIN: To me, it’s always about the script and whether I’m doing something I’ve never done before. I’m about to go shoot a film that I’ve never done before. I’m shooting a genre film, called Mama, for Guillermo Del Toro’s company. It’s similar to The Ring and The Orphanage. I play a punk character, in a punk band. It’s so different. I do have trepidation because I think, “Am I going to be able to do this, being in the woods, looking all scared?” But, I feel like the bigger risks I take, the more I learn. I know that I learn more from my failures than success, so the more I throw myself off the cliff and the more scary the part is for me to play, either I fail big – which I will, at some point – and I’ll learn so much about it, or I won’t fail and I’ll do a great film and a great job. To me, those are the things I’ll always try to do.
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08-12-11 Jessica Spectacular in The Help
(The New American)
Every single actor delivers brilliant performances, but of particular note is that of Jessica Chastain, who plays a young broken-hearted Southern woman, Celia Foote, who, try as she might, just cannot break into Jackson society. She develops an unlikely bond with Minnie, who is so sassy she cannot keep a job. The two, rejected by white Jackson, become each other’s salvation, as Minnie softens to Celia, and Celia becomes dependent on Minnie. Chastain is spectacular in the role.
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08-12-11 Celia's and Minny's Relationship the Most Touching in The Help
(Ahwatukee Foothills New)
If movies were living, breathing organisms, I'd give "The Help" a big hug...The movie impeccably mixes moments of heartbreak with an abundance of sheer delight, telling an empowering story about race and some of the most strong-willed female characters of recent times. In that sense, "The Help" might be the best movie of it's kind since "The Color Purple."...The most touching relationship in the movie is between Minny and her new employer, a clueless housewife named Celia, played by Jessica Chastain. Between her role as the graceful mother in "The Tree of Life" and her work here, Chastain is easily my choice for breakout actress of the year. In "The Help," Celia starts off as the naïve comedic relief who can't tell her way around a kitchen. As Minny digs deeper into some of the secrets Celia has been keeping from her husband though, she develops into one of year's most tragic and sympathetic characters.
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08-12-11 Jessica's Grandmother as Jessica's Big Critic of The Help
(Hollywood Outbreak)
During a recent interview, the actress admitted that her grandmother, who’s a huge fan of the Kathryn Stockett novel, was surprised the actress landed the part of Celia. Grandma, however, gave Chastain high marks for her performance. Click on the media bar and listen to Chastain, whose next film The Debt opens August 31st, talk about her grandmother’s response to The Help.
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08-12-11 The Help not a Liberal Guilt Movie
(Connect Savannah.com)
Every summer witnesses the release of a handful of counter-programming efforts, titles designed to satisfy audiences who don't particularly care for superhero sagas or alien adventures or gross-out gags...it would be easy to dismiss The Help as yet another "liberal guilt" movie, the sort that's invariably told through the eyes of its Caucasian lead rather than those of its African-American characters. Yet while Skeeter certainly clocks a sizable amount of screen time, it's never in doubt that the true protagonists are Aibileen and Minny, two domestics brought to vivid life through the extraordinary performances by Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer. Many of the conflicts play out as expected, and Bryce Dallas Howard's racist housewife proves to be about as subtle as Cruella De Vil. But interesting subplots abound - I particularly liked the relationship between Minny and her insecure employer Celia Foote, played by The Tree of Life's Jessica Chastain - and with its influx of emotionally wrenching scenes.
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08-12-11 Modern Day Shakespearian Coriolanus Fits Together
(Indie Wire)
Rookie feature director Ralph Fiennes and veteran screenwriter John Logan (The Aviator) have crafted a strong modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s bloody war tragedy Coriolanus. Fiennes shines in the central role, which he played on the London stage in 2000 to raves...Vanessa Redgrave, as his Machiavellian mother Volumnia, could win the Oscar for best supporting actress...Jessica Chastain, as Coriolanus’s sensitive wife Virgilia, is fine in a tiny role, and Gerard Butler is superb in a crucial part as Coriolanus’s sworn enemy, Aufidius, an equally fearsome general of the rebel forces, who eventually allies with Coriolanus...Fiennes grabbed some money from the BBC and from backers in Serbia; the movie was shot in Belgrade on a hand-held shoestring by The Hurt Locker‘s Barry Ayckroyd. This alternative Roman universe—with cars, uniforms, armored tanks and machine guns—all fits together...Here’s a sampling of Berlin reviews:
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08-12-11 Jessica's Role in The Debt Described
(Examiner.com)
In 1965 Rachel (now played by Jessica Chastain) is in East Berlin with her fellow Mossad agents...David (Sam Worthington) and Stephan (Marton Csokas). Their mission...to capture the Nazi war criminal Dr. Dieter Vogel (brilliantly played by Jesper Christensen) and bring him back to Israeli to stand trial. Vogel is known as the feared Surgeon of Birkenau. Rachel sets herself up as bait in order to capture Vogel. The good doctor is now practicing medicine under an assumed name. Rachel becomes his patient pretending that she is having trouble getting pregnant. The look on Rachel's face every time this twisted evil man touches her, will have you squirming in your seat. I know I was. It's during this mission that an unexpected love triangle grows between Rachel, David and Stephan. An affair that has consequences for years after. 'The Debt' is an old fashioned thriller. The suspense builds in and across two different time periods with startling action and surprising revelations.
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08-12-11 The Help Opens Strong as Alternative to Big Summer Blockbusters
(Hollywood Reporter)
The Help continued to serve up a strong box office performance Thursday, grossing $4.3 million for a two-day total of $9.9 million. Thursday is often a down day at the box office, but The Help did better than expected. It's now likely that The Help--benefiting from an A+ CinemaScore and great word of mouth--will post a five-day debut in the high $20 million range. However, if the pic is front-loaded, the number could be lower. Disney is being more cautious, putting its estimate in the mid $20 million range....The Help is also benefiting from appealing to female moviegoers otherwise turned off by Hollywood's big summer blockbusters, with women making up more than 80 percent of Wednesday's audience. Roughly 78 percent were over the age of 25.
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08-12-11 Director Tate Taylor Talks of Casting Jessica in The Help
(Blu-ray.com)
I'll tell you an interesting story about Jessica Chastain – nobody knew who she was. We had Emma set, we had Viola set, and Bryce – and we were looking for her character. In my mind it's one of the most difficult to pull off in the movie. I didn't want her to come across as a bimbo. I was really protective of it. No one knew who she was – she had all of these movies in the can but nobody had seen them – and she walked in at the end of a long day and she did her scene. She got up and finished and we were all crying – the casting director, me, the cameraman. I was like "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" And that was it.
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08-11-11 Celia as Moral Centerpiece of The Help Would Have Provided More Emotional Impact
(bgdailynews)
Howard has some good moments as the film’s main heavy, while Jessica Chastain provides a nice balance as an ostracized housewife who develops a friendship with Minny. If the story had used Chastain’s character as the moral centerpiece instead of Skeeter, I think “The Help” could have had a little more emotional impact. As it is, this is a film that wants to have a say about some serious subjects - ranging from racism to spousal abuse - while at the same time appealing to the masses. To its credit, “The Help” succeeds more on the latter than it does the former, leaving a somewhat effective drama that could have been much more.
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08-11-11 Jessica Steals Every Scene She Plays in The Help
(Ology)
It must be mentioned that Jessica Chastain (recently seen in Terrence Malick's leaf porn The Tree of Life) steals each and every scene she's in as the ditzy, buxom, but socially shunned rookie housewife Celia Foote. Her burgeoning relationship with the relentlessly candid Minny is the highlight of the film. First-time feature helmer Tate Taylor, whose directorial career seemingly materialized overnight, instantly proves himself adept at jerking tears and getting laughs left and right. See it. You won't be sorry you did.
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08-11-11 How Jessica Prepared to be Celia Foote
(Daily Beast)
Chastain has become one of the most in-demand actresses in Hollywood, with seven films in 2011 alone. In preparation for her role in The Help, she read the book several times, noticing multiple comparisons between her character and Marilyn Monroe. So, as she told The Daily Beast's Marlow Stern, Chastain read Monroe's biography and viewed her entire filmography in chronological order. Her dedication—and the rest of the cast's—certainly shows in the end result.
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08-11-11 The Help a Breathtaking Success
(Monterey County Weekly)
There are the movie-movie pleasures of The Help, the stuff of simple cinematic entertainment, the stuff we go to the movies for. The magnificent performances. The fresh narrative. The unsentimental direction that lets you feel your own emotions instead dictating them to you. These things aren’t all that hard to do, and yet their rarity – particularly all in one film! – means we should cheer all the harder when we find them.?In other words, see this movie! As straightforward, Hollywood-glossy storytelling-for-your-enjoyment goes, The Help is a breathtaking success...there’s nothing of the chick-flick ghetto here. If movies that are all men and no women can be universal, so can this one.
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08-11-11 Italian Trailer for The Texas Killing Fields
(Indie Wire)
Anchor Bay has now dated the film for an October 7th release, and while their theatrical bows tend to be rather limited, if response out of Italy is strong don’t be surprise if that theater count is bumped up. Featuring a strong cast including Sam Worthington, Chloe Moretz, Stephen Graham, Jessica Chastain and Jason Clarke, the moody based-in-fact thriller revolves around a series of unsolved murders in League City, Texas, where 21 women were killed or have disappeared since 1971.
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08-11-11 Texas Killing Fields to Open San Sebastian Film Festival Retrospective
(EITB)
Ami Canaan Mann's Film Texas Killing Fields to open the retrospective: "American Way of Death: American Film Noir 1990-2010". Directors Walter Hill and James Gray will present the cycle in San Sebastian. The retrospective dedicated to American film noir will open at the 59th edition of the Festival with Texas Killing Fields, a film to compete in the Official Selection at Venice Festival. This gripping thriller proves that the genre is fighting trim: set in the Texas bayous, the tale tracks two detectives pitted against mysterious unsolved murders all occurring in a haunting stretch of bayous and coastal plain.
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08-11-11 Jessica Almost a Sure Thing for Oscar Nomination for The Help
(KMOX.com)
Based on Kathryn Scokett’s monumentally successful novel, “The Help” is a movie that has throngs of people (mostly women) anxious to see it on the big screen. My prediction is that they won’t be disappointed. “The Help” is an actor’s film, and the cast of this motion picture doesn’t fail. Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis are the real stars of this splendid ensemble effort, playing two maids in white households in Jackson, Mississippi...Viola Davis is a sure thing to be nominated for an Oscar for best actress. Almost a sure thing for an Oscar nomination is Jessica Chastain. She plays a poor girl from a small town who has landed herself one of Jackson’s most eligible young men. Her character is knock-out good-looking, but domestically challenged. She is helped by the character played by Octovia Spencer. Soon Chastain’s character become one of the most poignant in the film as she is banished and embarrassed by the other housewives in Jackson “high society.”
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08-10-11 Octavia and Jessica are the Two Standout Performances in The Help
(ropeofsilicon)
The film's two standout performances belong to Octavia Spencer as Aibileen's closest friend, Minny Jackson, and Jessica Chastain as the bubbly out-of-towner Celia Foote who's looked at as white trash by the ladies of Jackson after having married one of their men. To this point I've seen Chastain play extremely dramatic characters in The Tree of Life, Take Shelter and The Debt and this was the first time I've truly seen her come to life. She is a breath of fresh air in a film filled with stodgy, uptight women, and the way the story weaves her character in with Minny's is one of the film's highlights. As Minny, Spencer is in a zone. Wide-eyed and fiery, she commands the audience's attention as much as she commands attention within the narrative. Minny is the character you cheer for, laugh with and wish you could sit with over dinner. If Davis and Stone are the heart of this film, Chastain and Spencer are the blood pulsing through it.
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08-10-11 The Story of The Help is Jessica Chastain
(MCN)
For me, The Story of The Help is Jessica Chastain, who not only steals every scene she gets near with seemingly no effort at all, but set off a big light bulb for me… because it took me a while to figure out it was her...Chastain, in The Help, is a more connected version of Marilyn Monroe. She gets the moments here than Monroe never got… real pain… real desire… all while embodying a goofy white-trash bombshell whose entry in a simple dress turns every head in a room. In The Tree of Life, she is a young Sissy Spacek, perhaps a bit more patrician, a beautiful, loving, woman in a world she doesn’t control, but which she survives with a simple warmth and emotion. In Take Shelter, she dances with Michael Shannon, a reflection of where his character’s mind is going as the story progresses. And in The Debt, as a younger version of the Helen Mirren character, she minds her senior, but also creates a young woman who is both as fragile and as fierce as she must be to do what her character does. You might be able to connect the 3 redheads visually, but it is almost as though her face is different in each of the films. She lets us into the soul of her characters, as though each had a different set of eyes. And there is still Coriolanus due (after premiering at Berlin) at TIFF next month. Chastain and Spencer and Davis and Howard can all be pushed hard for Oscar nominations for this film...And my advice on the film…if you find yourself wanting to go, based on the book or ads or the trailer, go. You will likely be happy you did. If you are turned off by any of that, don’t go.
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08-10-11 Coriolanus Releases Trailer
(Buzzsugar)
William Shakespeare's Coriolanus is getting quite an update in Ralph Fiennes's action take on the story. Fiennes is making his directorial debut and starring in the title role of the film, based on Shakespeare's war tragedy of a Roman general who is exiled by his people despite his military successes...Though Fiennes's version of Coriolanus appears to take place in modern time, the characters use Shakespeare's original dialogue.
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08-10-11 Chris Columbus Comments on Jessica in The Help
(I Am Rogue.com)
Jessica Chastain was wonderful in The Tree of Life and I think she is wonderful here in this film. I think this is a star-making role for her. She transforms herself, which is I think the best thing you can say about any actor or actress. She absolutely transforms from the person she is into this very believable, emotionally complex human being. Her performance is outstanding, it's someone Tate saw and immediately knew he wanted her in the film.
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08-10-11 Jessica Felt at Home with The Help's Three Other Red-heads
(Daily Beast)
[Jessica] also felt right at home, being on a set with three other redheaded actresses (Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Sissy Spacek). “I feel a special sorority with redheads, because I feel like as a redhead, we pay our dues,” said Chastain. “Growing up in elementary school, you’re not the cool girl if you’re the redhead. You’re the one who gets teased a lot. So I feel like we have a shared history of suffering.”
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08-10-11 Jessica's Beginnings in Film
(Daily Beast)
Chastain later moved to Los Angeles to try her hand at acting, but casting directors had trouble placing her, and despite landing a few roles in TV projects, movie auditions were few and far between. “All of a sudden I’m auditioning for TV shows and everyone is really beautiful, tall, blonde, and perfect-looking, and I’m tall, freckly, and not I guess ‘conventionally’ beautiful,” said Chastain. Then in 2006, she was handpicked by Al Pacino to star opposite him in Salome...Pacino raved about Chastain’s acting ability to anyone who would listen—including Terrence Malick, who was in the process of casting actresses for the lead role of the compassionate wife of Brad Pitt’s character in his epic bildungsroman, The Tree of Life. Chastain had already passed several rounds of auditions doing behavior exercises like putting a baby to sleep, when Pacino stepped in. “I know that Al Pacino had a conversation with Terry and told him what it was like to work with me, and whatever Al said was lovely and helped me get that part,” said Chastain.
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08-10-11 Jessica Attends The Help Premier in Los Angeles
(GossipCenter.com)
Emma Stone stepped out to promote her much-awaited new book based movie "The Help" in Los Angeles on Tuesday night (August 9). The 22-year-old actress charmed her way along the red carpet at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater while joined by co-stars Bryce Dallas Howard and Jessica Chastain. With its release date set for Wednesday, August 10th, "The Help" is an adaptation of the bestselling novel focused on race relations and civil rights in the south during the 1960s.
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08-10-11 Jessica and Bryce Dallas Howard Look Like Sisters
(nextmovie)
[Bryce Dallas] Howard (who happens to be the daughter of Oscar-winning director Ron Howard), certainly was aware of Chastain during their overlapping period in New York. She recalled, "People were constantly saying that there was a woman in New York who looked just like me. Gradually, I would get more information about her. I would walk into a store and they would say, 'Oh my gosh, your doppelganger was just here!' And that evolved into, 'There is a woman at Juilliard who looks a lot like you,' and then she went to Williamstown Theatre Festival and a bunch of my friends went there, and they would all tell me, 'There is a woman named Jessica Chastain that looks a lot like you.'"...Chastain...has similar ongoing identity mishaps. But being mistaken for a higher profile actress has its downside. "I was right out of Juilliard," she related, "and I got a job in a play off Broadway. It was my first job, and I was so excited about it... Anyway, it was around the time that 'The Village' [which costarred Howard] came out, and I was on the subway and I noticed these people staring at me. Finally, one of them came up to me and said, 'I'm so sorry to bother you, but I just had to tell that I think you are a wonderful actress.' And I said, 'That is SO sweet! Thank you so much!' I mean, I am just eating it up. Someone thinks I'm great! And then she starts talking about 'The Village' and I'm like, 'Um, no. Not me...' It's also happened when I have opened a magazine and I'm like, 'I don’t remember doing this shoot. Oh, wait.' It even happened today, someone told me, 'You are great in the "Help" trailer! You are sooo nasty!' And I'm like, 'Nope. Not me!'" Chastain hopes she and Howard, both 30, can use their striking mirror images to their advantage, perhaps finding a movie or a play where they can be cast as sisters. "I feel like it’s a power that we must use for good!" And to make matters even more confusing, Jessica's real last name is Howard, but she took her mother's maiden name -- Chastain -- for work. Smart move.
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08-09-11 Jessica Explodes off the Screen in The Help
(awardsdaily)
Here are the standouts for me: 1. Viola Davis — for once she gets an opportunity to really show what she can do as an actress...Davis has been circling the Oscar scene for a while now but she finally might see some gold. 2. Octavia Spencer — this is your more traditional Oscar supporting performance as she all but steals the show. Spencer finds the funny in every scene. She’s great in the quieter scenes too...3. Emma Stone – at first it appears that her character is going to be yet another too-pretty-for-the-part portrayal but Stone’s natural beauty is muted enough here to reveal a more authentic and believable character. She nails the tougher emotional scenes quite well...4. Jessica Chastain – Chastain was not given all that much to do in Tree of Life but in The Help she explodes off the screen as the socially undesirable blonde bombshell. Oscar loves him the dumb blonde, sexually free types so there is a good chance she could earn a nomination instead of the above two. Chastain lets it all hang out emotionally – with a firestorm behind her pasty white skin. Of all of the white characters hers is the most interesting. Otherwise, it seemed like there should be less of the white people and more of the maids.
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08-09-11 The Help is True to the Book
(moviefone)
Tate Taylor's script, to its credit, stays quite true to the events and characters in the book that worked so well. While certain events have been moved around and some of the finer details are left out, nothing detracted from the movie as a whole. If you're a student who was assigned the book for summer reading, you might miss a couple points here and there, but you could probably just see the movie and still pass the test with ease. (Not that we recommend that!) For the most part, the transfer from the page to the screen couldn't be better...As far as emotional roller coasters are concerned, this one does the novel justice and then some. Reading the book, we got a lump in our throat maybe once or twice over the course of some 500 pages; watching the movie, we were fighting back tears (along with everyone else in the theater) a handful of times over the course of two hours. While Kathryn Stockett did an amazing job of creating these characters in the first place, seeing them in the flesh really drives it all home...Jessica Chastain is utterly delightful as Minny's ditzy employer, Celia Foote...this film is something special. Regardless of your gender or your familiarity with the novel.
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08-09-11? The Help Filled with Great Actresses
(Cinema Blend)
Sporting some of the greatest actresses, both young and veteran, working in Hollywood today, The Help is stacked from top to bottom. Howard, in playing the film’s central antagonist, is so great that it may end up hurting the actresses’ career as audience members will constantly feel the urge to jump into the screen and punch her character in the face. Octavia Spencer, who plays Aibileen’s best friend, a fellow housekeeper, plays the dramatic and comedic elements of her character perfectly and has an outstanding dynamic with Jessica Chastain, who plays her bubbly, airheaded employer. Sissy Spacek is a scene-stealer as Hilly’s senile mother, Davis finds every note of gravitas in her part and Stone once again proves that she is one of the best young actresses working in film today. There isn’t a single weak link in the entire chain.
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08-09-11 Jessica is a Breakout Performer for the Summer
(Orlando Sentinel)
“The Tree of Life” and “The Help,” “The Debt” — She did a lot of acting over interior monologues in Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life,” no mean feet. But it is her vulnerable, loud, vulgar and Southern fried turn in “The Help” that most dazzles. Poor and pretty who married money, Celia breaks the Civil Rights era Southern cliche — “The poorer you are, the more racist you are” with her neediness. It takes her black maid to give her some spine. Whatever the summer pictures do for her, with more movies in the can, she is definitely going to look back on this year as epic in her career. “The Debt,” her last summer picture, opens at the end of August.
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08-09-11 Men Seem to Like The Help
(Moviefone)
I saw 'The Help' at a daytime screening two weeks ago, and I've never been more grateful to be in possession of a pair of sunglasses than I was when I left the dark theater and emerged into the light. Yes, reader, I cried, and I defy any sentient being among you to get through this film about women and race in the Jim Crow South without doing the same. Not that it's an overwhelming bummer of a film: the insanely talented might-as-well-be-all-female cast -- Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Sissy Spacek, Allison Janney, etc. -- deliver plenty of laughs, and more than a few infuriating shocks to the conscience. I went along for the ride -- all 2 1/2 hours of it... I have yet to meet a single man who has seen the movie and didn't like it. [See video at:]
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08-09-11 Jessica and Two Other Actresses Carry The Help
(USA Today)
Powered by a strong cast, The Help is a faithful adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's novel. A trio of outstanding performances carry the film on their strong shoulders...Davis and Spencer give pitch-perfect performances...The third noteworthy portrayal is by Jessica Chastain as Celia, a kind-hearted outsider who dresses like a bombshell and is ostracized by the snobbish young women under bossy Hilly's sway. Chastain makes a powerful impression as a fragile young wife hiding a painful secret...The Help sidesteps easy sentimentality. As the film's heart and soul, Davis and Spencer add vast reserves of depth and dignity to a crowd-pleasing tale.
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08-09-11 Jessica is Radiant in The Help
(Visalia Times-Delta)
You won’t see a more startling and clear-eyed depiction of what it must have been like to live in the Jim Crow South than “The Help.”...But both Aibileen and Missy eventually agree to tell their stories...The stories start to hit close to home for Eugenia, who soon learns the real story of how her family’s maid Constantine (Cicely Tyson) left the family home after decades of service. It’s a heartbreaking moment...Not all the servant’s stories are sad, though. The vibrant and funny Minny starts a touching and eventually deep friendship with Celia (Jessica Chastain), a young bride who hires the woman to teach her how to cook. Their relationship changes both of their lives for the better...Chastain, who was so good in “The Tree of Life” earlier this summer, is radiant as the sweet newlywed.
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08-09-11 How Jessica Gained Weight for The Help
(E! Online)
Chastain plays Celia, the town's unwelcome newcomer who happens to remind locals of Marilyn Monroe. "I had to be soft and curvy, so I ate a lot of soy," she recently told me. "Soy helps you become curvy because it has estrogen in it. So what I would do—and this is really gross—is buy cartons of soy ice scream, microwave it and drink it. It was disgusting, [but] wait till you see my boobs in the movie."...Chastain, most known for playing Brad Pitt's wife in this year's Tree of Life, ended up putting on about 15 pounds. "It was like a form of torture because you put on all this weight and then you're in the South where it's really hot and muggy and you're putting on girdles to suck you in," she laughed. Luckily, getting back to her usual size wasn't too hard. "I do a lot of yoga," she said. "I'm also vegan, so that helps. I lose weight really quick."
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08-09-11 Nice Video Interview with Jessica about The Help
(Chastain Central Announcement)
Jessica is asked about The Help in this video interview. It includes some very nice scenes with Jessica and also discusses her vegan issues.
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08-09-11 The Help Explores Closeness and Hypocrisy of Female Relationships
(Enterprise News)
If you think the summer has been lacking in sophisticated, adult entertainment, don’t worry, “The Help” is on the way...You’ll get drunk on it, too, as more than a half dozen of Hollywood’s finest actresses intoxicate you with performances superb enough to attract a gentleman caller named Oscar. The only question is which of these Southern belles he’ll smile upon most...On the surface, “The Help” might seem like another treatise on the evils of racism at best and a second coming of “Steel Magnolias” at worst. But if an analogy must be made, I’d say “The Help” is mostly on a par with “Fried Green Tomatoes” in tone and complexity, as it explores the closeness and hypocrisy of female relationships. Racism is really just a sidelight in a story that centers on the commonalities that both white and black women faced in the repressive air that filled the South in the early 1960s. It also questions how much those mores have changed in the 21st century. Mostly, though, this is a rare opportunity to experience a movie brimming with talented actors mellifluously exercising their Southern drawls...Every performance is top-notch, including Spacek as Hilly’s seemingly feeble-minded mama. But the three standouts are Chastain, Davis and Spencer, all delivering Oscar-worthy turns that encompass humor, tragedy and fortitude.
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08-08-11 Jessica's Performance Works Well with Sam Worthington in The Debt
(HeyUGuys.co.uk)
It is a tale of how people live up to the legends they make for themselves and how a nation can buy into that legend without knowing the whole story. For most of the film, it all works together very well, however, at times loses steam...we flash-back to 1965 where young Rachel (Jessica Chastain) meets up with young David (Sam Worthington) and young Stefan (Marton Csokas). This is where the majority of the story takes place and for much of the film it works very well. Chastain’s performance is restrained and works well off of the often quiet performance by Worthington. The flash-back story is where most of the weighty drama occurs in the story, however, these quieter moments are peppered with some great high-stakes sequences...the intelligence of the story paired with the performances make for a refreshing running time. Helen Mirren is icing on the cake and overall, the film is quite good and will play very well if you are a fan of the genre.
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08-08-11? Being Vegan on The Help
(about.com)
Jessica Chastain: "The scene where I was eating fried chicken, they made me vegan fried chicken. It probably [didn't taste as good] as fried chicken. They did an amazing job. They took a turkey dog and tofurkey and battered it, and deep fried it." Octavia Spencer: "The producers thought that she was actually eating meat." Jessica Chastain: "I haven't had meat in so long. I've been vegan for five years and vegetarian for 15 years, so if I had had meat I wouldn't have been able to do the scene. They all thought I was just chowing down." Octavia Spencer: "She actually made a vegan meal for me." Jessica Chastain: "I cooked for her, she has not cooked for me." Octavia Spencer: [Laughing] "You don't want me to cook for you!" Jessica Chastain: "I made my version of vegan soul food in Mississippi in my apartment."
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08-07-11 Jessica and Viola Davis are the Stand Outs in The Help
(Screen International)
Aimed at loyal chick lit fans and the often receptive audience for inspirational drama, The Help is a nicely cast but otherwise pedestrian adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling 2009 novel about blackmaids and their white employers in the American South of the early sixties...The subject matter won’t help internationally, though there should be at least some interest in the several dozen territories in which the novel has been published...Perhaps trying a bit too hard to respect the source material, writer-director Tate Taylor (a lifelong friend of novelist Hackett whose only previous feature is indie outing Pretty Ugly People) allows the film to meander through a lot of scenes that, while sometimes touching or funny, often feel incidental. The upshot is a lack of dramatic momentum and an unjustified two-and-a-half hour running time. The performances are a mixed bag, with Davis and The Tree of Life’s Jessica Chastain (playing a white social misfit who hires and befriends Minny) standing out.
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08-07-11 The Debt Releases New Photos
(About - News & Issues)
Gallery of photos from the dramatic movie The Debt starring Sam Worthington, Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas, Tom Wilkinson, and Ciaran Hinds. (Photos © Focus Features). [See photos at:]
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08-07-11 Jessica and Octavia Spencer are Real Buddies
(MovieViral)
Right from the audition Chastain and Spencer became friends...After the two had completed testing for chemistry, both Spencer and director Tate Taylor knew that Chastain was the right choice. Spencer talked about how intimidating was share scenes with actresses like Viola Davis and Sissy Spacek. But she added that they were very disarming and gracious. However when Spencer talked about sharing scenes with Chastain, she said that she felt much more comfortable performing in front of the camera given that they tested so well. Likewise, Chastain talked about how she felt in her element whenever she and Spencer had scenes together. With their chemistry so electrifying, the two took their relationship beyond the camera, sharing things like daily life stories and even asking for recipes.
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08-06-11 Reflections on The Help, Jolene, Salome, and The Debt
(New York Post)
“Celia is great — I love this character,” Chastain says. “I’m not buxom and blonde and flighty . . . but [director] Tate Taylor helped me transform physically. I got to gain some weight. I got to drive all around Mississippi, and I went to Sugar Ditch, Tenn., where Celia’s from. I did so much to find this woman.”...Ireland recalls casting her in “Jolene” after her audition left the room in tears. During filming, her dedication to portraying the character’s fluctuating weight led her to binge and fast so intensely that it compromised her health. “We were working 14 to 17 hours a day, and she collapsed on set. She was dehydrated,” Ireland says. “We got a doctor, they rehydrated her and I was gonna call an end to the day. She was like, ‘No, I’m fine. Let’s finish.’ ” She brought the same spirit to her audition for Pacino. “I was really nervous right before I went in,” she says. “My heart started beating, and I could tell I was gonna flub it. Then I said [to myself], it’s Al Pacino — you’ve watched him in your living room. You should be absolutely comfortable.” The results were immediately clear from Pacino’s reaction. “When he’s watching you act, if he likes what you’re doing, he makes noises, and I could hear, ‘Oh, wow. Oh, gosh,’ ” says Chastain. “I could hear him whispering because he liked something.”...“The parts I’m drawn to are parts I’m really afraid of,” she says, noting that in “The Debt,” she had to fight and speak German, and that “Salome” was filled with “terrifying” nudity.
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08-06-11 Directors Jeff Nichols and Dan Ireland Comment on Jessica
(New York Post)
In the upcoming film “Take Shelter,” which wowed audiences and critics this year at Sundance and Cannes, Jessica Chastain spends one scene listening to a shocking confession from her husband, played by Michael Shannon. For the film’s director, Jeff Nichols, Chastain’s preparation was revelatory. “Jessica disappeared for about 15 minutes before we started shooting,” he says. “When she came back, it was like someone had been hitting her with a baseball bat. Her eyes were swollen, red with tears, and she looked like she’d been through hell. She delivered this scene, and it was the most natural performance I’ve ever been part of.”...Nichols cast Chastain on a recommendation from Malick, who called her “one of the greatest actresses I’ve ever worked with.” Dan Ireland, who directed Chastain in 2008’s “Jolene,” calls her “the Meryl Streep of the millennium.”
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08-05-11 Jessica to Appear on Conan
(Chastain Central Announcement)
Jessica is scheduled to be a guest on the TBS late-night show, Conan, on Wednesday, August 17. Other guests for the show are Paul Rudd and Vanessa Carlton. Back to Top
08-05-11 Jessica and The Help Co-star Octavia Spencer become Fast Real-Life Friends
(CANOE)
The dynamic of The Help involves complicated relationships between the white employer and the maids, who see their jobs as "raising white babies." They include feisty Minny (Octavia Spencer), who takes it upon herself to school helpless young housewife Celia (Jessica Chastain). Spencer and Chastain became fast real-life friends.
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08-04-11 How Jessica Became Celia in The Help
(Flicks and bits)
Jessica, how did you get the part of Celia? Jessica Chastain: I got the script through my manager at a really early stage, I thought, “Oh my gosh, Celia is great!” (Laughs) I loved this character, it was an uphill battle because I’m not the obvious choice to play that character, I’m not buxom and blonde, I’m really not that perfect for the part (laughs). It was quite a uphill battle. But with my very first audition I met Octavia Spencer and we read together – it was like fireworks, I really felt like the dynamic of Minny and Celia could work really well. Tate Taylor, the director, he really went to bat for me. He always believed in me, he believed that I could find her. He helped me transform physically, I got to gain some weight (laughs), I got to drive all around Mississippi, to see where Celia was from, I read a lot about Marylyn Monroe. I did so much to find this woman. Tate Taylor was the one who really gave me that opportunity, he fought for me tooth and nail to get the part.
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08-04-11 Jessica Demonstrates Range by Playing Against Type in The Help
(Los Angeles Times)
In "The Help," the big-screen adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's bestselling novel that hits theaters next week, Jessica Chastain plays pretty far against type. The 30-year old actress -- up to now best known for her role opposite Brad Pitt in "The Tree of Life" -- is already garnering a reputation in Hollywood for her range. In the coming months, she'll appear in about half a dozen films where she plays everything from a Mossad agent to a woman whose husband is having apocalyptic visions. But her role in "The Help" is quite unlike any Chastain has taken on before: She plays Celia Foote, a ditzy blond with cleavage constantly spilling out of her blouse who can't cook to save her life and speaks with an over-the-top Southern twang. But Stockett's book, which centers around a young white woman (Emma Stone) and her quest to tell the story of African American maids in 1960s Mississippi, is beloved by millions of fans..."I'm super worried, because I'm not the obvious choice to play Celia Foote," Chastain admitted..."When I was making the movie, I would tell people -- you know, they'd say, 'Who are you playing?' And I'd say 'Celia Foote.' And they look at me, like, 'Whaat?' " she said, laughing. "I'm nervous about it. And next week I'll find out. I'm bringing my grandma and her three best friends to the premiere. She's gonna be honest with me. If I pass the grandma test, I'll be OK."
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08-04-11 Jessica's Video Interview at Hollywood Foreign Press Association Luncheon
(Los Angeles Times)
Award season doesn't get underway for a couple more months, but Hollywood is already buzzing about two young actresses whom we can expect to see plenty of on the red carpet this year: Lizzie Olsen and Jessica Chastain. Olsen, 22...and Chastain, 30, have been generating award chatter throughout the year for their work in a number of films that have been well-received on the festival circuit. Both were on hand Thursday a the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.'s annual luncheon to help present financial grants to film schools and nonprofit organizations...Chastain caused a stir at Cannes with "The Tree of Life," will appear as a ditzy blond next week in "The Help," and has about a half-dozen other films set for release over the coming months. When asked if she was prepared for the onslaught of attention set to come her way, she answered bluntly: "Uh -- yeah!" "You know, I've worked for so long, and it's wonderful for me to have people see the films because I think they're great films and I'm really proud of the performances in them," she said. [see video interview at:]
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08-03-11 How Minny Helps Celia (Jessica) in The Help
(San Jose Mercury News)
The movie works hard to show that dignified Aibileen and feisty Minny are women of substance shackled by demeaning social conventions. Spencer, who plays Minny, says, "They are servants, but they are the masters of their own fate, and their only master is God." She is also quick to point out that Minny comes to the rescue when her white employer, Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain), is shunned by the city's society matrons because she has working-class roots. "Minny may be considered the dregs of society, but in reality she is the smartest person in the movie, and she helps this white woman find her peace," Spencer says.
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08-02-11 Jessica With Sissy Spacek as Spacek Receives Walk of Fame Star
(Fife Today)
Bill Paxton has paid tribute to "wildly talented" actress Sissy Spacek as she became the latest recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Sissy was joined by her Big Love co-star Paxton and director David Lynch at a ceremony to unveil the plaque on Hollywood Boulevard...The 61-year-old actress, who won a Best Actress Oscar in the 1980s for her role as Loretta Lynn, was also joined by Jessica Chastain, her co-star in her latest movie, The Help.
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08-01-11 Toronto Film Festival to Show both Coriolanus and Take Shelter
(Indie Wire)
Six more actors...are working double time at the Toronto Film Festival this year: Rachel Weisz (360, The Deep Blue Sea), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Ides of March, Moneyball), Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene, Peace, Love & Misunderstanding), Seth Rogen (50/50, Take This Waltz), Michael Shannon (Take Shelter, Machine Gun Preacher) and Jessica Chastain (Coriolanus, Take Shelter). Consider their Toronto track records below. Who will come out on top?...The Debt played Toronto in 2010 (and will be released August 31), and after making a name for herself in The Tree of Life at Cannes, Chastain returns to Toronto with supporting roles in Coriolanus (Dir: Ralph Fiennes, Co-stars: Fiennes, Brian Cox, Jessica Chastain, Vanessa Redgrave, James Nesbitt) and Take Shelter (pictured). OSCAR HEAT Shannon and Olsen deliver in juicy roles in Take Shelter and Martha Marcy May Marlene, respectively, but both films are small, from young filmmakers outside Academy circles. They’ll need serious noise from Toronto critics. Chastain offers riveting support in both The Tree of Life and Take Shelter. Weisz could get lost in the shuffle in the ensemble 360.
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08-01-11 More on Jessica's Gucci Nomination
(Harpers Bazaar)
It has been announced that Gucci will present a new award for Women in Cinema at the 2011 Venice Film Festival. It has also been confirmed that James Franco with join the Italian fashion house’s creative director Frida Giannini on the jury to select a winner from the five favoured finalists. The award celebrates the talents of women in front of and behind the camera and will be presented at a private dinner hosted by Frida and James during the festival on 2 September. Nominees include Of Gods and Men director of photography Caroline Champetier; Tree of Life star Jessica Chastain, Habemus Papam screenwriter Federica Pontremoli; Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame producer Nansun Shi and Athina Tsangari, director and producer of Attenberg.
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08-01-11 The Texas Killing Fields Italian Trailer Released
(The Film Stage)
Produced by Michael Mann, daughter Ami Canaan Mann has directed The Texas Killing Fields but it has been stuck in limbo for a bit. The drama has gone through title and release date changes, but it now looks like we’ll finally see it in the fall. The first pieces of footage have now been unveiled in an Italian trailer for the film starring Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chloe Moretz, Stephen Graham, Jessica Chastain and Annabeth Gish. The film was reportedly to be made by Danny Boyle before he went on to do 127 Hours, but he called the script “almost too dark to get made.”
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07-31-11 Jessica Nominated for Gucci Award for Women in Cinema
(AhlanLive.com)
Gucci, in collaboration with the 68th Venice International Film Festival, is pleased to announce the nominees for the new annual award to recognize an outstanding artistic achievement by a woman in filmmaking: the Gucci Award for Women in Cinema. The inaugural award will be presented at the 68th Venice International Film Festival...The 2011 Gucci Award for Women in Cinema nominees are screenwriter Federica Pontremoli; producer Nansun Shi; director and producer Athina Tsangari; director of photography Caroline Champetier and actress Jessica Chastain. Touted as “the next big thing” and “Hollywood’s biggest secret”, Jessica has nine films about to be released including The Tree of Life, and is a frontrunner for the award in our opinion.
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07-31-01 Jessica Appears at Greenwood's Early Screening of The Help
(The Republic)
Greenwood residents liked what they saw of their city during the Mississippi premiere of "The Help." The screening Saturday night brought the movie's stars back to Mississippi, where most of the movie was shot, to raise money for a community center in Baptist Town, a black neighborhood featured in the movie. The premiere raised $150,000 to revitalize the century-old neighborhood, The Greenwood Times reported Sunday. Tickets cost $100 to $500, and the crowd filled four theaters...The film, mostly shot in Greenwood last summer, opens nationwide Aug. 10. Set in 1960s Jackson, it's about three women who defy their segregated society to write a book from the point of view of black domestics who work for white families...Jessica Chastain, who takes a memorable turn as the unrefined but endearing Celia Foote, said sweet tea was what she missed most about Greenwood. It probably helped that Chastain had to gain weight for her role. She modeled the character in part after Marilyn Monroe, who she said would probably have been Celia Foote's favorite actress.
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07-31-11 Is Jessica Hampered Because She Does Not Have Her Own Look?
(Inquirer.net)
As for Jessica Chastain, she’s exceptionally gifted and versatile, as indicated by the fact that she has many new films already lined up for screening. But, if her first stellar outing in “The Tree of Life” is any indication, her liability is the fact that she doesn’t have her own “look.” In the Cannes-award-winning movie she made with Brad Pitt, she looked too much like Cate Blanchett. So, while she has a great future ahead of her as a formidable screen thespian, Chastain has to contend with an “image” problem from the get-go – and that’s not the way to zoom like a shooting star all the way to the top of the movie firmament.
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07-31-11 More Jessica Comments About Making The Help
(Los Angeles Times)
How did each of you connect to your character? Chastain: I connected to the feeling of being an outcast and wanting to be part of a group. When I was in elementary school, I found it really difficult to make friends because I wasn't the pretty blond girl. But it was on my very first audition when I met Octavia that all the magic happened for me. It was like love at first sight. Working with her, I realized the scenes would be such an amazing combination that wouldn't happen with another pairing...How important was it to stay true to the book versus the script? Chastain: The great thing was we didn't have to prepare on an island. Octavia helped me with the voice. She went with me to take this woman out to lunch, this woman whose voice I copied. And with Bryce, we were doing the benefit scene [where Chastain's character tries to endear herself to Bryce's character, with disastrous results], we thought everything was fine. We wrapped. And then an hour later, I was drinking with everyone and I get a call that everything was perfect, except my close-up was out of focus. Davis: Are you serious? Chastain: So the next day we show up and most of the cast isn't there and only 20 extras show up. It was really an awful, scary, scary moment for me. I was really shaky. I was trying to figure out how to get there again. And Bryce was there, saying we've got this, we're here. She helped me get through that day. We were always doing that for each other...Jessica, you witnessed a lot of Octavia's on-set outbursts. Can you share? Chastain: There's the scene where she's [teaching me the technique for] cooking the fried chicken. You watch that on screen and you think wow, that woman knows how to cook. Octavia Spencer has never cooked a meal in her life. I've cooked more meals for her than she's cooked in her entire life. Spencer: That is so true. Chastain: We're filming the scene with the fried chicken and the Crisco. And I'm goofing around about it. Talking to her in character as I do before every take. And she turns to me and says, "You have to stop talking to me right now. I don't understand if the chicken goes in first, if the thighs go in first." It was like she was about to perform brain surgery. And then you watch the scene and think, "Oh, I want some fried chicken. That girl can cook."
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07-31-11 Jessica Talks About Making The Help
(Los Angeles Times)
Did all this estrogen on set create anything other than goodwill for you? Chastain: I'm a bit new to the business but what scares me is I've done 11 films so far, and in all of them, I was the girl on the set. And with this movie, right before I went to film it, and even after I shot it, all the meetings I would go to, in the industry, they would always say, "ooh, how was that set, working with all those women?" They were expecting it to be a negative experience. But to be honest, it was the nicest set I've ever been on...Bryce, how did you embody that villain, Hilly? Spencer: I thought it would be so difficult to hate her because she's so not at all anything like her character. I thought I was going to have to make it up. And then Tate would say "Action!" and this look would come over her face. Chastain: Her ability to just switch it on like that [snaps her fingers] is like Nurse Ratched. We'd do the scene, cut so they could relight and I'd look over at Bryce and she'd be on the phone [working on another project] saying, "read that back to me." I'm struggling to be in character and Bryce is producing a movie on the side. She was able to switch it on and off like that.
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07-31-11 The All Female Cast of The Help Appeals to Those Interested in Substantive Fare
(Los Angeles Times)
A period drama set amid the explosive racial politics of the 1960s South. An all-female ensemble cast. An inexperienced director. It sounds like a recipe for a movie that would send studio executives running. Yet "The Help" — a complex tale of white women and their relationships with the black maids who clean their houses and care for their children — didn't just get made. Arriving in theaters Aug. 10, the DreamWorks film is vying for the attention of audiences more interested in substantive fare as Hollywood begins to shake off the popcorn movies of summer.
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07-30-11 Tree of Life Opens in India (Review)
(The Hindu)
The triumph of Tree of Life lies in its ability to connect with our personal stories. From all that the kids learn growing up, we try to understand ourselves and everything we learnt — through religion, upbringing and textbooks — and the choices we make. It's a deeply meditative film on existence, a prayer of thanksgiving and a paean to motherhood. According to Malick, God is a woman. And the woman is God because she creates, she introduces the child to the way of grace. And Man is the child because he takes time to learn and takes to the way of nature quite early on. Which is why the father repents his actions way later in the film, while the child picks up the way of nature as early as adolescence when he is consumed by lust and experiments with violence...Treat this film as you would treat a visit to the temple. Go with an empty cup and an open mind. Else, just skip and don't ruin it for those who want to pay attention to the God in Malick's detail.
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07-28-11 Two of Jessica's Films to Show at Venice Film Festival
(AirForceTimes.com)
American movies in competition include...the second feature film by Ami Canaan Mann, "Texas Killing Fields," a murder drama featuring Sam Worthington and Jessica Chastain...Chastain, who had previously starred in "The Tree of Life," also appears in Pacino's "Wilde Salome," an exploration of Oscar Wilde's work that combines documentary and film, much like Pacino did in his previous "Looking for Richard."
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07-27-11 The Help to Open Deauville American Film Festival in France
(Hollywood Reporter)
PARIS -- Old school Hollywood glam will storm the Normandy beaches with an army of star power...37th annual Deauville American Film Festival kicks off on Sept. 2...Tate Taylor’s The Help will open the festival with the film’s talents expected to add some red carpet sparkle. The film, based on the best-selling novel, stars Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard in the story about women in 1960s Mississippi who form an unlikely friendship.
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07-26-11 Wilde Salome Debuts at Venice Film Festival
(Indie Wire)
Whit Stillman’s first film in 12 years, Damsels in Distress (Sony Pictures Classics), starring indie darling Greta Gerwig, will close the 68th Venice Film Festival on September 10th...and actor-director Al Pacino will be given the Jaeger-Le Coultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award before debuting his third feature-length film out-of-competition, Wilde Salome, starring Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life).
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07-22-11 The Burial Set for Tentative 2012 Release
(Indie Wire)
It has been a while since we’ve heard anything concrete about Terrence Malick‘s next film, the untitled romantic drama (also known as “The Burial”) starring Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem, Barry Pepper, Charles Baker and in a small role, Jessica Chastain. Aside from the (curiously way early) first look photo that you see above, not much has been heard about the project other than the fact that it has been described (rather vaguely) as being even more experimental than “The Tree Of Life.”...U.K. shingle Optimum Releasing has snagged the rights to Malick’s upcoming film. Now don’t get too excited because there is no firm release date set yet and more importantly, remember that the first release date for “The Tree Of Life” was December 25, 2009—only for the film to actually hit theaters a year and a half later. So while rights are beginning to be sold and the film tentatively placed on a schedule, it doesn’t really mean anything until someone wrests the cannisters from Malick’s hands. And in case you’re wondering, there’s no word yet on who will handle the film in the U.S.
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07-22-11 The Help Will Win Awards
(ShowBiz411.com)
You may have wondered, if you are in the film business, why did Disney want Dreamworks? The answer is “The Help,” which opens August 10th and is astonishingly good. I mean, it’s so good that Disney will be going to awards shows this winter with actual people instead of just animated characters. “The Help,” of course, comes from tbe best seller, and that doesn’t always guarantee a good outcome. In this case, boy oh boy, everyone got what they paid for and then some...Bryce Dallas Howard, the actress/producer and Ron Howard‘s talented daughter, finally breaks through with this film. She is just mesmerizing as the nastiest piece of work you could hope to find a film. Her Hilly hasn’t got one redeeming feature. She is a racist and truly awful...Then there are the heroes: Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer as the maids, and Emma Stone–this is really her summer. I am so proud of Viola Davis, a Tony winner and Oscar nominee...Her Aibileen is the heart and soul of this movie. And Octavia Spencer is going to be an overnight sensation a la Mo’Nique, only extremely endearing and likeable. Add in stand out work from Alison Janney, Sissy Spacek, Brian Kerwin, Cicely Tyson. And then there’s yet another potential Oscar nominee in Jessica Chastain–unrecognizable–as the lively bad blonde in town... “The Help” takes the best of “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “Steel Magnolias,” and a little seen gem called “The Long Walk Home,” and makes a new, entertaining concoction.
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07-19-11 Jessica Stars in Mama
(Twitch)
A couple years back all of us at Twitch were absolutely terrified by Mama, a two-shot short film by Spain's Andres Muschietti. That original short is an absolute masterpiece in mood and tension...Twitch has learned that Universal International have set an October start date for the feature version of Mama. Muschietti will direct with Guillermo Del Toro among the producers and - here's where it gets really interesting - Tree Of Life and Take Shelter star Jessica Chastain attached in the lead. David Linde and Russell Ackerman round out the producing team...Chastain's Mama character will be a sort of adoptive mother rather than a literal one, taking care of two little girls abandoned in the woods. Too bad for them she's planning on using them in a bid to bring back her own, already dead, children. [see original short at Full Story]
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07-19-11 Jessica Toplines in New Movie Mama
(Variety)
Jessica Chastain is set to topline Universal International's Guillermo del Toro-executive-produced genre pic "Mama." Spanish helmer Andres Muschietti is directing the project, which expands on his earlier short film. Story revolves around two young girls who flee from a ghostly woman they believe to be their mother. Muschietti penned the script with Barbara Muschietti, who will also produce through Toma78 and Demilo Productions with Miles Dale. Chastain had also being considered for leads in other pics such as Disney's "The Lone Ranger" and Danny Boyle's "Trance." Chastain is repped by CAA and Mosaic.
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07-18-11 First Official Take Shelter Poster
(First Showing)
Our friends at Movieline have debuted the first official poster for Jeff Nichols' Take Shelter, the indie drama starring Michael Shannon and Tree of Life's Jessica Chastain about a small town family dealing with an impending apocalypse. It's a bit hard to describe (just go see it). This poster has a perfectly eerie feeling to it that captures the film's tone, even though the birds aren't a big part (they are important). It's a great indie poster design, eye-catching yet still inspired by the film itself.
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07-18-11 Harry Potter Made Coriolanus Possible
(Big Issue in Scotland)
A breath of fresh air among the Hollywood blockbusters, Chastain’s subsequent role as Virgilia in Coriolanus is itself a direct product of Hollywood’s biggest franchise. Knowing that Voldemort was crucial to the final instalments of the series, Ralph Fiennes held the Harry Potter producers to ransom, insisting on a pay rise which he then used to finance his Shakespeare adaptation, coming early next year. “I’m the kind of person who would go and see Coriolanus and Harry Potter and love them both,” Chastain says, but agrees that a bit of balance in the multiplexes is good.
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07-18-11 Al Pacino Taught Jessica to Act for the Camera
(Big Issue in Scotland)
Her first film role came in the adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Salome (premiering at the Venice Film Festival in September), directed by and starring Al Pacino. The pair went straight from performing the play in a theatre to filming on a sound stage. “I got to see how he changed his performance,” Chastain recalls. “Every little pearl of wisdom that Al Pacino has for acting in front of the camera I got to take in and I use the things he taught me every single time I’m on a set.” His teaching was put to the test in The Tree of Life, an intimate domestic drama set in 1950s middle America that somehow manages to cover life, the universe and everything.
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07-15-11 13 New Take Shelter Photos
(Daemon's Movies)
Check out 13 new photos from TAKE SHELTER which stars Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon, Kathy Baker, and is written & directed by Jeff Nichols...Take Shelter will be released to theaters on September 30, 2011.
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07-15-11 The Fields Set for Limited Release on October 1
(HorrorMovies.ca)
The film has a stellar cast including Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Sam Worthington among others. According to DreadCentral, the film has recently been picked up by Anchor Bay for a limited theatrical release beginning this October 1st. The film also stars Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke (Public Enemies, and Stephen Graham.
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07-13-11 The Help - Oscar Material?
(Orlando Sentinel)
It’s impossible to predict which movies will catch on with a broad spectrum of the audience and develop awards’ season legs. But “The Help,” Tate Taylor’s adaptation of the Kathryn Stockett novel, has civil rights history and race as its backdrop. The hook, as aspiring journalist interviewing black housemaids in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962-63, is brilliant. It has an un-patronizing yet feel good take on its subject and terrific performances by Viola Davis, Cicely Tyson, Bryce Dallas Howard (Mean mean mean), Jessica Chastain of “Tree of Life” (cheap and blonde), Emma Stone and Octavia Spencer.
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07-12-11 The Tree of Life: A Buddhist Reading
(Religion Dispatches)
By suggesting we see Tree of Life not in terms of a dualistic choice, but as a “middle way,” I also mean to trigger a Buddhist sensibility to the film that runs alongside the more overtly Christian one. There is no space to develop a full account of this here, but it is worth mentioning that a “Buddhist reading” is entirely plausible...Beyond the style, I mention here one curious relation to the narrative of Buddhism’s origins. The Life of the Buddha tells of Siddhartha’s young existence as a prince, living in a kingdom of earthly delights. At one point in his life, he travels beyond the palace walls, and there has his “four visions.” He sees an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and an ascetic. These radically change his life, becoming the sparks that lead to the renunciation of his old life and begin his spiritual journey. In Tree of Life, there are a couple key encapsulating scenes experienced by both Jack and R.L., and both scenes take place outside their own neighborhood. One day, as they walk through their downtown, they imitate drunken men stumbling out on the street, laughing as they go. And then they walk past a palsied man, crippling across the street. We half think (and fear) the boys might imitate him too, but they don’t. They are bewildered, and the image sinks into their minds. The way the scene is shot makes it clear they are not being “polite” (as in having been previously told that “its not nice to make fun of other people”) but they are genuinely confronted with an image of something they can’t quite register based on past experiences. Another scene shows a boy who has drowned in the nearby public pool, his lifeless body laid on the side as the boys gaze on, clearly trying to make sense of it. No further comment is made.
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07-12-11 Pitt, Penn, McCracken, and Jessica Chastain Perform Well
(The Gateway Online)
While Brad Pitt receives top billing and does a fine job as a strict but loving father, it’s Hunter McCracken playing the child version of Jack who is the film’s emotional core. Bearing a striking resemblance to his adult counterpart Sean Penn, McCracken remains quiet but assured throughout most scenes, while bursting with rage in some startling moments. Newcomer Jessica Chastain is equally as impressive, providing a fully fleshed-out character, despite having very little dialogue.
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07-12-11 Jessica did not Win The Lone Ranger Role
(Up and Comers)
Relatively unknown British actress Ruth Wilson has landed a highly sought after role, beating out the likes of current go-to actresses Jessica Chastain and Abbie Cornish. Wilson will now have the pleasure of playing the female lead in Gore Verbinski’s new remake of “The Lone Ranger” which sees Armie Hammer as the Masked Man and Johnny Depp as his faithful companion Tonto.
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07-11-11 Minny is Jessica's Maid in The Help
(Cinema Blend)
We meet Aibileen developing a tight relationship with Elizabeth's toddler daughter, Minny struggling to hold down her tongue and work for the inexperienced young housewife Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain), and Skeeter trying to live up to her mother's expectations to be a proper Southern woman while holding ambitions for something bigger. The three women's lives intersect when Skeeter decides to write a book about the real experiences of African-American women working as home help, and enlists Aibileen and Minny to both give her interviews and help recruit other women.
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07-09-11 Does Jessica Prefer the Stage to Film?
(FemaleFirst.co.uk)
It depends. I started on stage, so for me it's what the character is. Two years ago I did Othello, I played Desdamona and Phillip Seymour Hoffman was Iago, in a theatre that was 1400 seats, and that actually made me realise I don't prefer that, because in a theatre that big someone is so far away from you, it makes it more difficult to have honest reactions because you have to project. You can feel it, but you have to like show that you're feeling it. I like just being in the moment and working with the same partner. I prefer small theatres when I'm doing theatre, but it's all about the part. So the part could be television, theatre, cinema.
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07-09-11 Jessica and the Redhead Sisterhood
(New Zealand Herald)
"I grew up with a lot of women in my family so male energy is very powerful and when someone comes at you with that power, I like the idea of trying to match it. It is very exciting. Of course there are women who have that. Isabelle Huppert has that." Chastain admits the French actress is her greatest idol, though Tilda Swinton runs a close second and she loves Julianne Moore, too. They are all redheads of course. Is it a time for redheads in cinema? "Scientifically they say redheads need more anaesthesia at the dentist because we're more sensitive to pain. Does that mean we're also more sensitive? Whenever I watch Isabelle Huppert or Tilda Swinton, I think they're very sensitive, so maybe it's always been the time for redheads. You see few redheads. We feel like the minority so we kind of stick together."
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07-07-11 Tree of Life is Paean to the Lost Eden of One's Youth
(RTE.ie)
The Tree of Life is nothing less than a masterly tone poem in which Malick and his acclaimed cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki have created a heart-rending paean to the lost Eden of one's youth.
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07-07-11 Jessica Responds to Malick
(Get Surrey)
Just before her audition, Chastain held her own private Malick Film Festival. “I watched all his films in chronological order and when I was finished, I felt like, ‘I love this person’,” she said. “There’s this connection in his work between nature and spirit that moves me and I love how he explores the ways we navigate between the two – and the question of are we animals or are we evolved, spiritual beings? “And I found that this is also how Terry is as a person. He’s such a smart, scientific man on the one hand but then he is also is a great believer in the spirit.”
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07-07-11 Lack of Dialogue in Tree of Life Unfortunate for Jessica
(Telegraph.co.uk)
Malick’s ideas about beauty don’t really extend to language; his film, though lasting 138 minutes, has very little dialogue as if to preclude the possibility that humans have the power to create meaning through words. This is especially unfortunate for Jessica Chastain who, pale-skinned and pre-Raphaelite-haired, embodies an archetypal femininity that requires her to do little more than smile serenely, attend to her children, and be more angel than mother.
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07-05-11 Jessica Unrecognizable as Celia Foote in The Help
(Tucson Citizen)
In The Help, the red-haired actress is unrecognizable as Celia Foote, an undomestic goddess who can’t even boil water but who sets the other women’s husbands on fire with her cleavage-exposing get-ups...Chastain became enamored with Celia. “She has a great sense of fun, a childlike excitement for life, and a huge heart. I also loved her sense of humor. I understood the loneliness she felt.
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07-05-11 Tree of Life Limited Release is #15 in Sixth Week with 228 Theaters
(Chastain Central Announcement)
According to Yahoo Movie's Box Office Charts, Tree of Life dropped from #12 to #15 with 228 theaters in its sixth weekend. Total receipts for the sixth weekend were $1,000,000, averaging $4,386 per theater. Weekend receipts for the #1 movie, Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon, which was in its first week, averaged $24,271 per theater. Tree of Life goes into wide release on Friday.
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07-05-11 Lebanese Review of Take Shelter
(The Daily Star)
BEIRUT: Insanity has proven a wellspring of inspiration for filmmakers...Curtis sits at the head of a young family. His wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain) works as a seamstress from home. Their main preoccupation is their daughter Hannah (Tova Stewart), whose deafness is apparently treatable...“Take Shelter” is a masterful piece of work. The big-sky locations and the cinematography of Adam Stone make the movie an impressive visual experience but the look of the thing is pressed into servicing the mood Nichols wants to cultivate. That mood is dread and the film generates and accumulates dread as effectively as any slasher flick could ever hope to do...Curtis is not the only man in town to exhibit symptoms of paranoia. Then in addition there are the incidental details of the film – from the manifold references to the tough economic times everybody is confronting, to the ravings of a gun shop patron about the military’s nearby stockpiles of poison gas, to the crazed environmental distortions that inspire Curtis’ nightmares...
Cannes Critics’ Week runs at Metropolis Cinema-Sofil until 8 July.
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07-05-11 Teaching Directors Impact Jessica's Movie Career
(Scotsman)
Everyone says, 'Theatre's big, the camera's small,' and I didn't quite understand. Then I got to watch Al Pacino go from the stage, where there's 1,400 people in the audience, to the camera. And because he was also directing me, it was like an acting class every second. I don't think I would have this career without my acting teacher for that year." No one, though, has made as big an impact on her life as Malick...She admits that the looseness of Malick's style, which included being allowed to say dialogue in any order, took a while to settle into. "The very first week of rehearsal I was so nervous. I thought, 'I'm going to get fired.'?" She wasn't, of course, and the experience proved liberating..."I don't have a greater teacher in my life than Terrence Malick," she says, "and I think he will always be the greatest teacher I know."
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07-05-11 The Tree of Life is a Captivating Masterwork
(411mania.com)
Labeling his style as "not for everyone" has become a cliché, but the manner in which he approaches filmmaking is different, and more ambitious than just about any other director alive. The marriage of visuals and music left me in awe. Malick is a visionary and a poet and The Tree of Life is a captivating masterwork. It seems that oftentimes when people do not fully understand something, instead of trying to learn more, they react harshly to its nature...The Tree of Life is not intended to be baffling, it just might need to be viewed multiple times to appreciate all of its underlying secrets. Terrence Malick should be compared to Stanley Kubrick because both approached their craft with similar attitudes and desires. Both valued their privacy, supplied the final cut they wanted, and left it at that. There are many similarities, but the primary one is that both Kubrick and Malick divided audiences with almost every new release. Yet as the years roll by, the polarizing feedback started to change, and the mixed reception of a film transitions into describing it as just a classic...when it was finally released at the 2011 Cannes Film festival, the media promptly announced that boos were heard with counter applause. Anyone familiar with the Cannes crowd knows that this is a yearly reaction, and Malick fans, including myself, took that news and our anticipating for The Tree of Life only increased.
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07-05-11 The Tree of Life is about Evolution in Various Forms
(411mania.com)
In essence, The Tree of Life is about evolution in various forms, whether it be an enormous planet or a school boy from a country town. The idea is that the cycle repeats in various inimitable embodiments. There is a creation of the Earth sequence that goes on to illustrate the beginning of life itself, the dinosaur period, and the era before man. This particular interlude is the source of the majority of the disputes, as some have made the absurd comment that what's on screen belongs on the Discovery channel. I do think this broadens the meaning of the film and causes us to admire our place in the universe by observing how our species has evolved, and by glimpsing Jack's personal coming-of-age saga. This portrait of one seemingly normal family, is the nucleus, but is bookended by larger truths of space and time and spirituality. One of the best moments occurs when the camera rests on a beach near a stream, where a Parasaurolophus is lying, severely wounded. Soon a young Troodon (picture a Raptor) wanders by and notices the injured dinosaur. He looks and places his foot on its neck, getting ready to kill his prey. After reconsidering, and observing that the Parasaurolophus is helpless, the Troodon scampers away. There is of course no dialogue during this scene, except for the vivid sounds of the dinosaurs' movements and the flowing water, but the impact it leaves is unbelievable, and I cannot remember a more seamless integration of special effects. At no point did I contemplate the CGI. These dinosaurs appeared as real as any modern animal, as if Malick magically obtained this suspenseful rendezvous from the past.
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07-03-11 Jessica's Movies in the Order They were Made
(Sydney Morning Herald)
''I think it's taken a while for the films to come out because I've always tried to choose interesting characters and projects that would be an acting masterclass for me,'' the stunning 30-year-old says. ''I didn't follow a money path. My first studio film was The Help and that was the first time when they said, 'This is the day it's going to be released,' whereas with the other 10 films, we had no idea.'' To get it straight, she lists her 11 coming films in the order they were made: ''Wilde Salome, Stolen [Lives], Jolene, The Tree of Life, The Debt, Coriolanus, The Fields, Take Shelter, The Help, then a small, small role in Terrence Malick's [untitled] new film and I just finished The Wettest County in the World."
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07-03-11 Avatar's Sam Worthington Taught Jessica to Use a Gun
(Sydney Morning Herald)
As for Sam Worthington, she admits ''he became one of my dearest friends'' after the pair co-starred as Mossad agents-turned-lovers in the Holocaust revenge thriller The Debt. ''I'd never done action before and Sam taught me how to handle a gun and he was great in the fight scenes,'' she says. The Australian Avatar star was so impressed he suggested she be cast as his estranged police officer wife in the crime drama The Fields.
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06-30-11 Comment on Take Shelter Trailer
(Flickering Myth)
The introduction is spot on: not too long, poignant and well-edited. The supporting character comments the main character on the quality of his life, while said main character is watching a threatening tornado approach with disturbing curiosity rather than fear. A perhaps obvious marriage of audio and video for a solid first five seconds, but they work. Overall, there is a nice progression of events, a good build-up, an excellent choice of music, a steady pace.
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06-30-11 The Help Release Date Changed to August 10
(Cinema Blend)
The studio has sent out an email announcing that rather than being released on Friday August 12, the new Tate Taylor film will find its way into theaters on August 10. In addition to giving the film some breathing room against weekend competition including 30 Minutes or Less and Final Destination 5, the move will also give it a chance to quickly take down The Change Up and The Smurfs, which are being released the week before.
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06-30-11 Tree of Life: the Final Act Brings it All Home
(Herald Sun)
This is a movie where mood is all that matters. And what meaning can be drawn from that mood will vary wildly from one person to the next. Patience above and beyond the call of duty is unapologetically demanded. And for at least two-thirds of The Tree of Life - where the film's abilities to becalm and bewilder all but cancel each other out - the worry remains that we are being led down a scenic road to nowhere. All I can say is hang in there. The final act, which includes a depiction of the afterlife as genuinely moving as any mind could conjure, brings it all home with an intensity of emotion that is undeniable.
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06-30-11 Not All Appreciate Tree of Life
(Palm Beach Post)
While cinephiles delight in deciphering the complexities of Terrence Malick’s new film, The Tree of Life, movie theaters across the country are dealing with something else: a steady stream of walkouts. I counted 12 to 15 people leaving a showing I attended last weekend at the Cobb Jupiter 18 theater. A colleague at another screening counted 17. At a Connecticut art-house theater, enough people were asking for refunds, which the theater does not permit, that management posted this notice: "We would like to take this opportunity to remind patrons that The Tree of Life is a uniquely visionary and deeply philosophical film from an auteur director. It does not follow a traditional, linear narrative approach to storytelling."...Here’s the important thing to remember: For the small number of people drifting out, most of the audiences are staying.
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06-29-11 An Oscar for Jessica this Year?
(Indie Wire)
Meanwhile, the best supporting actress category has seen two newcomers make serious inroads. Jessica Chastain has given strong performances in “Take Shelter,” “The Tree of Life” and “Coriolanus.” She’s more likely to be rewarded for “Take Shelter,” though she also has “The Help,” “Wilde Salome” and “The Fields” all set for release this year.
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06-27-11 Tree of Life Limited Release is #12 in Fifth Week with 215 Theaters
(Chastain Central Announcement)
According to Yahoo Movie's Box Office Charts, Tree of Life dropped from #11 to #12 with 215 theaters in its fifth weekend. Total receipts for the fifth weekend were $1,328,026, averaging $6,176 per theater. Weekend receipts for the #1 movie, Cars 2, which was in its first week, averaged $16,072 per theater. The #2 movie, Bad Teacher, also in its first week, averaged $10,365 per theater. Tree of Life expands to more theaters Friday.
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06-27-11 Confusion Regarding The Fields Release Date
(FansShare)
There is a lot of confusion surrounding the release date of the forthcoming crime thriller The Texas Killing Fields aka The Fields. A lot of sources claim that the movie will not be coming out until October 2011, although it is also suggested that the film could be released as soon as 16 July 2011...The Fields aka The Texas Killing Fields centres around a Texas bayous, where a New York City cop comes to team up with a local homicide detective following a succession of unsolved murders. When this film will actually be released is anyone’s guess but for now we’ll just have to sit and wait.
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06-27-11 Tree of Life Releases in India in August 2011
(Indiantelevision.com)
MUMBAI: PVR Pictures will be releasing Terrence Malick’s directorial flick, The Tree Of Life, in August. Starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain, the film deals with the questions of the origin and the meaning of life as seen through the life of the eldest son of a Mid-western family in the 1950s.
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06-26-11 Tree of Life Best or Worst Movie Ever Made?
(OnMilwaukee.com)
Some people say that it's the "worst movie ever made", which is obnoxious and completely ridiculous. Really, it's the worst movie ever? Just because it's unconventional? The beautiful images, at least, don't score any points with you? On the other end of the spectrum, I hear that it'll "change your life" or that it's "what cinema is made for", which is also crazy. The Tree of Life is not film at its very best, but rather simply film doing something different...if it fundamentally alters the way you think about the world we live in, chances are you never really thought about it before to begin with. No...but it is a great film and more importantly an interesting film and one worth seeing and sitting through, perhaps more than once.
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06-23-11 Tree of Life is not Entertainment - It is Art
(Buffalo News)
“The Tree of Life” is not entertainment in any ordinary Hollywood way, conventional or unconventional. It is art. To put it another way, it is not the equivalent of a novel or a novella or a short story, as most films are. It isn’t prose. It’s narrative poetry. If you want to find Malick’s closest artistic brothers and sisters, you probably shouldn’t look at other filmmakers or musicians, or even painters. Try Robert Browning and Alfred Lord Tennyson. It isn’t necessary to know your Browning or Tennyson to see the film, but you do have to understand that the movie you’re seeing is for another, much larger, version of yourself than the one you’re used to bringing into movie houses.
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06-22-11 The Help Soundtrack In Stores on July 26
(Indie Wire)
Running twelve tracks strong and topped by a new song by Mary J. Blige, “The Help” soundtrack is an excellent trip down memory lane. Featuring a great line up with tunes by Johnny Cash and June Carter, Dorothy Norwood, Bo Diddley, Ray Charles, The Orlons, Bob Dylan, Mavis Staples, Franki Valli and Chubby Checker, as a standalone mixtape, it’s pretty rad. As a soundtrack, it seems no expense was spared and it will certainly lend some authenticity to the 1960s set movie. The disc will hit stores on July 26th, with the movie headed to theaters a couple weeks later on August 12th. Check out the full tracklisting.
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06-22-11 Comparison of Tree of Life to 2001 is Superficial
(San Antonio Current)
The Tree of Life [is] a film bracketed by nothing less than the inception and the end of a universe of suffering...This epic observance of Old Testament pangs and New Age panacea, shared by recovering addicts of all kinds, to literally “Let go and let God,” has been compared to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey; the superficial similarities might be that both pictures are long, used the services of chief special effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull (who hadn’t worked in three decades), have a score that invites similarities to Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and have the audacity to point to where its protagonists are going and where they have been. But if there is a starchild in The Tree of Life, he is not in some evolved last stage of pure thought, but in the very human child you can hold and touch right now.
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06-20-11 Tree of Life Limited Release Still #11 in Fourth Week with 115 Theaters
(Chastain Central Announcement)
According to Yahoo Movie's Box Office Charts, Tree of Life maintained its position at #11 with 115 theaters in its fourth weekend. Total receipts for the fourth weekend were $1,163,923, averaging $10,120 per theater. Weekend receipts for the #1 movie, Green Lantern, which was in its first week, averaged $13,935 per theater. Tree of Life expands to more theaters Friday.
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06-18-11 Sydney Film Festival Tree of Life Review
(Flickering Myth)
In my opinion there are going to be two types of people in this world, people who will love this film and people who don’t and I’m firmly in the former...All of the actors are effortlessly moving...The real surprise asset of this film is young Jack (Hunter McCracken). We spend a substantial amount of time with young Jack (McCracken) and he demonstrates the capacity to absorb Penn’s aura and project his mannerisms to echo the gravitas of Jack in later life...In formulating an impression of the beginning of the world and asking questions about life invariably the topic of spirituality comes up. The Tree of Life is spiritually ambiguous. The O’Brien family is religious but I think that the mother character sees her God (via Malick’s perspective) not in a church or in prayer but in nature and every aspect of life - especially her children...Malick has truly out done himself with The Tree of Life. Sometimes there are significant films that resonate with you; that swirl their images around you mind; that etch themselves to the insides of your eyelids so that they are inescapable; that cause great debate and impassioned love and fiery hate. The Tree of Life is a signpost,; it’s a chapter title; its an important, significant, poetic, beautiful film.
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06-17-11 Coriolanus Opens December 2
(Indie Wire)
Harvey Weinstein is already looking ahead to Oscar campaigns that he will mount this fall and he’s dropped dates for a bunch of new films, including four which could be heavy contenders for statues....Already earning huge buzz thanks after premiering at the Berlin Film Festival, Ralph Fiennes’ adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Coriolanus” should be one to watch. The contemporary re-up of the play already has Vanessa Redgrave‘s performance as the hero’s mother Volumnia gathering early Oscar talk. Gerard Butler, Jessica Chastain, Brian Cox and James Nesbitt star in the film that is said to be a “Hurt Locker”-style take on the Shakespeare work. At the very least, it should be leagues ahead of Roland Emmerich‘s “Anonymous.” The film hits on December 2nd which shockingly, has nothing else scheduled on it (for now).
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06-17-11 Coriolanus December 2 Opening May be Limited or Wide Release
(ComingSoon.net)
Ralph Fiennes' directorial debut, the war film Coriolanus, co-starring Gerald Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, Jessica Chastain, Brian Cox and James Nesbitt will open on December 2, while the Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent and directed by Phyllipa Lloyd (Mama Mia!), will open on December 16. We're unsure whether either of those will get a wide release out of the gate or a slower platform release to make them eligible for Oscars.
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06-17-11 Malick Working on a Six Hour Version of Tree of Life
(Digital Spy)
Terrence Malick is reportedly in the process of preparing a six-hour cut of his latest film The Tree of Life. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki revealed in an interview with Les Cahiers du Cinéma that Malick is hoping to release a six-hour cut of The Tree of Life that likely features more of central character Jack's (Sean Penn) childhood. "Terry is working on a six hour-long version of the movie," Lubezki said. "What I've seen [of this] is absolutely incredible, it's wonderful. The longer version will likely, for the most part, relate to the children part." The cinematographer went on to reveal that the initial cut of the film was around eight hours long.
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06-17-11 How Tree of Life is Polarizing
(Journal & Topics Newspapers Online)
In its most subtle ways, "The Tree of Life" evokes feelings of depth that other films try in vain to accomplish by putting the pedal to the metal. No, the best way to draw evocative feelings is to do as little as possible - as say in "2001: A Space Odyssey." Once there, it is up to you to either take the plunge and accept the film's mythology - or pull back and sit there in stunned silence. "The Tree of Life" has that kind of polarizing effect - and writer/director Terrence Malick challenges you to open your eyes, ears, mind, heart and faith to his images and words - or have a miserable time waiting for it to come to a boring ending. "The Tree of Life" is a cinematic journey into a realm of your consciousness and the outer boundaries of your imagination...You don't need to connect all the dots for this film to have an impact on you - and it doesn't need to be completely understood to enjoy it. You must go with the flow and gather what you can to try and understand what you think the director is aiming at. But it is necessary for the film to have symmetry and have a firm anchor at the end in order to achieve emotional closure...certainly Oscar worthy.
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06-16-11 Jessica Chastain in Eleven Films
(The Associated Press)
Jessica Chastain may be the busiest actress in Hollywood people haven’t heard of yet. With as many as half a dozen films rolling into theaters in the coming months, she’s about to become famous fast. A veteran stage actress, Chastain’s big-screen career has been largely in a holding pattern, with only two of the 11 films she has made in the past four years released so far.
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06-14-11 Japanese Poster of Tree of Life Revealed
(HeyUGuys.co.uk)
I often like the international versions of movie posters as they give us a completely different look and take on a movie.
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06-13-11 Tree of Life Limited Release Hits #11 in Third Week with Forty-seven Theaters
(Chastain Central Announcement)
According to Yahoo Movie's Box Office Charts, Tree of Life advanced two places from #13 to #11 with 47 theaters in its third weekend. Total receipts for the third weekend were $875,126, averaging $18,620 per theater. Weekend receipts for the #1 movie, Super 8, which was in its first week, averaged $10,950 per theater. Tree of Life expands to more theaters Friday.
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06-11-11 The Boys of Tree of Life
(Huffington Post)
Sheridan, 14, who played the youngest brother, Steve, in "Tree," was the first boy that the filmmakers cast. He hails from Elkhart, Texas...Though Sheridan performed in "a couple plays back in second grade," he never imagined he'd be in a major motion picture. "My teacher said I'd be on Broadway one day. She thought I was great," he said. Sheridan read for the production team at least ten or eleven times over the course of the audition process. "They just had me play with a bunch of other kids," he said. "To see how we reacted to each other." Co-producer Nicholas Gonda complimented Sheridan's appealingly recognizable, old-fashioned American quality, and said the producers knew, almost immediately, that they wanted him in the film. Laramie Eppler, 13, who plays R.L, the middle brother, had never acted in school plays or taken a drama class before jumping into his pivotal role in the film. Three years ago, the Iowa Park, Texas native merely accompanied a friend of his to an audition for "Tree" and randomly caught Malick's eye. "Terry came out into the [waiting] room and saw me and asked if I wanted to read for it," Eppler said. "I read some lines, went to three other auditions, and then I got the part...Neither Sheridan nor Eppler were given full scripts of the film before their auditions -- they were told only that they'd be playing young boys growing up in the 1950s..."[In auditions], he would tell you a situation," Eppler said, "and ask how would you really react to it. Like, what would you do if you just saw your mom and dad get into an argument?" Before they began the four-month shooting process in Smithville, Texas, all three boys bonded intensely with their movie-mother, Jessica Chastain. For close to three weeks, the four of them essentially lived together; they went bowling, rode go-karts, ate ice cream, watched movies, and swam in the pool in Chastain's Smithville backyard. "The first week was kind of awkward," Eppler admitted. "But after that we were all really tight. [McCracken and Sheridan] are like real brothers to me now."
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06-10-11 Jessica Chastain Leads the Tree of Life Cast
(Examiner.com)
While Brad Pitt played the domineering father well, a personality the actor admitted differed greatly from his own parenting, Jessica Chastain truly led the cast. She personified grace incarnate, no doubt aided by her past dance experiences, her movements working well with the camera and balancing the energy of her three boyish co-stars. Despite this being their first film, the boys acted as one would expect of professionals. While McCracken held more screen time and showed a fire in his eyes, Laramie Eppler also impressed in his depth and range of emotion.
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06-10-11 How Does Jessica Get Roles in Movies?
(Globe and Mail)
“I do fight, though, I fight for these roles,” she said. “These aren’t things that are just offered to me.” For The Debt and The Help, Chastain met with the directors, auditioned, screen-tested. For The Tree of Life, she auditioned “for months.” At a recent lunch with Juilliard’s current graduating class, “the power of auditions was the one thing that I really tried to get them to understand,” she said. “You shouldn’t walk into the room with the energy of, ‘Oh, I hope you like me.’ Apologizing for yourself before you even do anything. You should walk into the room and take control of it. It’s your time, your opportunity to act. Approach it like you would a scene class. Allow each audition to be a lesson. So even if you spend years not getting a job, you’re still growing as an actor.” She consistently chooses character over paycheque or opportunity for fame, and she’s never been afraid to turn roles down. “I started saying no from the very beginning,” she said.
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06-10-11 Jessica Appears on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
(Chastain Central Announcement)
Jessica was a guest on the Jimmy Fallon Show Thursday, June 9; it was her first late show appearance. Appearing between guest Kirstie Alley and musician Robbie Robertson, Jessica came out on crutches, which of course prompted questions about her recent motorcross accident. After pointing out that Jessica has eight movies in the can, the discussion turned to The Tree of Life, which continues to open in more theaters each week in its limited release period. As she has done before in interviews, Jessica related a story about delivering a long segment of script, when Director Terry Malick asked her if she could do the same thing without words. Jimmy Fallon noted that he had never done an interview without words and began to question Jessica with facial expression and body language only. Jessica's wordless responses were quite good. We saw a clip from the movie that I had never seen before with romantic scenes between Jessica and Brad Pitt. I was proud of Jessica and her interview.
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06-09-11 International The Help Trailer Released
(/FILM)
Like the earlier trailer, this one makes the film look surprisingly light for a period drama about racism. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. I’d rather see a film that deals with serious issues with real warmth and humor, than yet another overly ponderous, heavy-handed message movie.
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06-09-11 The Madonna and Lauren Bacall Served as Models for Jessica in Tree of Life
(Houston Chronicle)
Chastain's part is mistier and certainly less terrestrial. Two of her touchstones, as assigned in advance by Malick, were images of the Madonna, which required hours of studying at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, as well as the films of Lauren Bacall. The Madonna informed "the way I would stand, the way I held my head and hands," she says, while Bacall influenced her dialog and voice-overs. "It was a way of speaking that was direct, very straightforward," she says. "There's an element of grace in that." Even long pauses were, she says, included in Malick's script. Chastain threw herself into a spiritual retreat and a week of meditation. She spent time on a farm in Kansas. "Modern Jessica is incredibly jerky," she says. "I talk too fast. So I tried to create a stillness within her. … The thing was to both cultivate this sense of grace but also ground her. And what grounded her was her love for her children."
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06-08-11 Jessica Performs in Short Film The Westerner
(Hollywood Reporter)
Shortfest, which runs from June 21-27 at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs, announced its line-up Wednesday, and Time stands out by virtue of a cast that includes Sony’s Amy Pascal, producers Sid Ganis, Lawrence Mark, Joe Roth and Stuart Cornfield and directors Amy Heckerling and Neal Israel. The movie stars Jason Alexander, playing a fictional Hollywood-screenwriter-turned-studio-censor who decides to end his own life unless someone he knows can talk him out of it...The festival, now in its 17th year, has plenty of other bold-faced names among that movies that are organized into 52 themed programs...and Jessica Chastain in The Westerner, on which she also served as a producer.
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06-08-11 Gowns, Champagne, Elegance, and Glamour
(660 News)
Since winning the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival last month, "The Tree of Life" has changed Chastain's life dramatically. The auspicious debut saw her walk the red carpet with A-list co-stars Sean Penn and Brad Pitt, while the film itself ignited divisive critical reaction. The little-known theatre actress describes her tour of the Croisette as a whirlwind of gorgeous gowns, champagne, elegance and glamour. "It changed my life artistically, of course, and personally," Chastain says of all that's come with "The Tree of Life."...Embracing all aspects of what life has to offer is a new mantra for Chastain, who conducted a round of media interviews with a black brace on her knee after tearing her ACL in a motocross accident two weeks ago. "I was pushing myself quite a bit," she says by way of explaining the wipeout...Chastain says she'd never tried the high-speed sport before accepting an invitation to try it out when she returned from Cannes. "Honestly my mistake was: I should have stopped when I got tired. But I really kind of loved it and jumped into it and probably went too fast," she sighs.
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06-07-11 Fox Searchlight Pictures to Release Tree of Life in UK on July 8
(Hollywoodnews.com)
Fox Searchlight Pictures Presidents Nancy Utley and Stephen Gilula announced today that the company has acquired U.K. rights from River Road Entertainment to the epic drama THE TREE OF LIFE. Written and directed by Terrence Malick, THE TREE OF LIFE stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain and won the Palme d’Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. The film was produced by Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, and Grant Hill. Fox Searchlight Pictures will release the film July 8, 2011 throughout the United Kingdom. THE TREE OF LIFE grossed an opening weekend per theatre average of $93,230 in the U.S., a Fox Searchlight Pictures record, surpassing last year’s hit BLACK SWAN average of $80,212. The film opened exclusively in eight additional markets in its week two expansion with a per theatre average of $30,915 with twelve additional markets slated to open this week.
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06-06-11 Jessica Too Young for Tree of Life Role?
(Forbes)
Here was the problem for me: As soon as she came on screen, Jessica Chastain’s open, unlined, freckled, Orphan Annie face announced that she was clearly a good deal younger than Pitt. It turns out that Chastain is 30, and would have been 27 when she was cast in the film. This makes her 18 years younger than Pitt. All right, I guess we’ve all gotten accustomed to much younger actresses playing the role of romantic lead to actors twice or thrice their age. I find it a bit annoying, but it’s par for the course these days. However, there was one highly important detail in Tree of Life that rendered Chastain’s age instantly regrettable: She was supposed to be the mother of a 19-year-old. As soon as her son’s age was mentioned, I was jarred out of the movie and began running math in my head...In an interview with Metro newspaper, Chastain says she was initially vetted by producer Nick Gonda, and then later met with the director, Terrence Malick. She says that “a lot of famous actresses” were interested in the role. It’s quite possible that Malick truly felt that Chastain was the one and only actress who could play the role. Fine. But why not, at least in the scenes where she is supposed to be about 40, make her look about 40?...I also get that Jessica Chastain, with her luminous pale skin, flaming red hair, and otherworldly appeal, comes across as more of a Mother Earth archetype than an actual mother. Perhaps this is what director Terrence Malick was going for.
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06-05-11 Tree of Life Limited Release Hits #13 in Second Week with Twenty Theaters
(Chastain Central Announcement)
According to Yahoo Movie's Box Office Charts, Tree of Life advanced two places from #15 to #13 with 20 theaters in its second weekend. Total receipts for the second weekend were $620,772, averaging over $31,000 per theater. Weekend receipts for the #1 movie, X-Men, which was in its first week, averaged just under $15,400 per theater. Tree of Life expands to more theaters Friday.
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06-05-11 Jessica's Amazing Cannes Experience
(Philadelphia Inquirer)
Jessica Chastain was in Cannes last month, where the film she stars in, The Tree of Life, a modest number about the dawn of man, about grace and nature and the struggles of a family in 1950s Texas, won the festival's grand prize, the Prix d'Or. And Jessica Chastain was in Cannes last month, where the film she stars in, Take Shelter, about a man (Michael Shannon) who is either going crazy or has foreseen the end of the world, won the Critics' Week grand prize. And Jessica Chastain was in Cannes last month, where the film she stars in, The Wettest County in the World, a Depression-era crime drama with Shia LeBoeuf, Guy Pearce, and Mia Wasikowska, was the object of a bidding war. Harvey Weinstein ended up with the distribution rights. In short, the 30-year-old Juilliard graduate, who hadn't even worked in movies until four years ago, had the Cannes Film Festival experience of her life.
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06-05-11 Jessica--The Unknown Famous Girl
(The Guardian)
Jessica Chastain may not yet be a household name, but she has achieved a peculiarly 21st-century feat: to be fêted as a movie star, perhaps even the greatest actress of her generation, before the public has had a chance to see any of the work that has generated such excitement...She has starred opposite Al Pacino, Helen Mirren, Ralph Fiennes and Brad Pitt, and impressed them all...How is it that someone without a single major released film credit to her name could have been interviewed and reinterviewed and asked – already – what she's planning to do when she's too old to play leading roles? The answer lies partly with the vagaries of film-making and release schedules, and partly with sheer dumb luck, or a lack of it. It is not unusual for films shot as long as three years ago to pop out of the distribution pipeline – because of editing issues, or sales issues, or legal problems over ownership or credit. What makes Chastain's track record a little odd is that she has a staggering nine films waiting to see the light of day – just about her entire filmography to date...What makes Chastain's story refreshing is that she still talks with the genuine ardour of an actor in love with her craft, unburdened by publicists or paparazzi, hot-shot lawyers or television interviewers. She has prestige galore, without the drag of being famous – yet.
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06-03-11 Jessica Talks About Tree of Life
(MinnPost.com)
To prepare for her role, Malick had Chastain [study] paintings of the Madonna at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He also had her listen to the early work of Lauren Bacall to learn how to speak in measured tones. She also meditated and read extensively about states of grace. Chastain said making ‘The Tree of Life’ was draining, but is grateful for the experience. And she credits producer Pohlad for the chance. ‘He is such a smart, intelligent, passionate person about cinema,’ she said. ‘And he kind of went out on a limb and put me in this film...Chastain said she likes that it's the kind of a movie that sparks debate. ‘You either love them or you hate them, and it's not just this kind of lukewarm, 'Oh, I had a hard day at work, I'm going to go home and watch 'The Tree of Life,' she smiled.
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06-03-11 The Tree of Life Vividly Replicates the Way We Remember
(San Francisco Chronicle)
"The Tree of Life"...contains some of the most psychologically insightful and ecstatic filmmaking imaginable. Malick shows you the world that you know, but he shows it in such a fever that you see it, not differently, but completely. It's a vision so alive to the mystery in everything that the simple depiction of a man walking into an office building feels like a feast of limitless possibility and geometric variety. To see "The Tree of Life" is to wish you could go through life seeing things in this way. There would be no fear of death because each moment would be so full as to contain lifetimes...It's as if we're seeing a dream of the past and hearing mental vibrations that, either randomly or because of their particular strength, happened to survive time. The feeling is one of privilege, to be picking up on precious currents of consciousness, seemingly lost to the world. At its most basic, "The Tree of Life" vividly replicates, in cinematic terms, the way we remember. There are general memories, moods and sensations, and then there are incidents and bits of conversation that are recalled with absolute present-tense lucidity.
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05-31-11 Tree of Life Limited Release Opens at #15 with only Four Theaters
(Chastain Central Announcement)
According to Yahoo Movie's Box Office Charts, Tree of Life opened its first weekend at #15 with only 4 theaters. Total receipts for the weekend were $493,788, averaging over $123,000 per theater. Weekend receipts for the #1 movie, The Hangover Part II, also in its first week, averaged just over $28,600 per theater; receipts for the #2 movie, Kung Fu Panda 2, also in its first week, averaged just over $15,500 per theater. Tree of Life expands to more theaters Friday.
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05-30-11 Five Minute Video Interview with Jessica
(OnTheRedCarpet.com)
"[Brad] really went for the difficult, scary scenes, especially with the boys. It's really hard for someone to do because everyone wants to be liked but he was just 100 percent committed to the story that we needed to tell and he was so inventive with my scenes with him, we just didn't know what was going to happen. Every time we would go, we just really wouldn't know where we were going to be and working like that with another actor is such a gift. It's this ultimate freedom. And he is phenomenal, I think, in this film." Pitt was equally impressed with Chastain, telling the Associated Press in a recent interview that..."We're going to see great things from her. She's a great find," Pitt said. "She just walked into this thing, and she was throwing punches with me on par and dealing with the unwieldiness of going off-script and working with non-actors. Man, I really relied on her. It takes great talent to keep that focus, and there's real charm and beauty, and she's really bright, this woman. So I think she's capable of a lot of things that we've yet to see."
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05-29-11 Brad Pitt Talks About Shooting Tree of Life
(NPR)
"Terry [Malick] is all free-form. He's someone who's looking for moments of truth ... not [to] create moments of truth," Pitt says. "If Jessica [Chastain] and I were having a fight in the first take, he would suddenly send the youngest child in to sit down at the table, and it would change the whole tenor of the scene. He would throw a dog up in the front seat and laugh. He's just constantly trying to push people off their comfort zones." The result is a complex film with more than just one takeaway. And while many have latched onto the film's theological implications, Pitt says he's more drawn to its emphasis on life's unanswerable questions. "For [me], it speaks to the unknown," he says. "Maybe the real peace to be found is in the acceptance of the unknowing; that we don't know, but that there is something; that there's a real power there that's greater than us. And maybe that's enough."
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05-28-11 Tree of Life Producer Bill Pohlad
(Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Independent movie producer Bill Pohlad was startled when his newest film sparked boos at the Cannes film festival this month. He was even more surprised when it went on to win the international competition's top prize...Pohlad attended the film's official coming-out party, the red-carpet black-tie evening premiere for movie moguls and celebrities, where the reception was warmer. Still, he wasn't counting on the difficult film scooping up trophies, so he returned to his Minneapolis home to unwind with his wife, Michelle, and young son, Oliver. Then, as hints began to circulate that "The Tree of Life" might indeed win something, Pohlad headed back to the Riviera. On Sunday he...found himself heading onstage to accept the Palme d'Or..."Having showed it to virtually nobody, we had no idea how people were going to react to it," Pohlad said Tuesday following "Tree's" big win. "We all knew this wasn't going to be an easy film or one people immediately would connect with. It was disturbing to hear about the boos, but that's kind of a Cannes thing...As we got the reviews trickling out and people tweeting, in the beginning it was, 'What's this film all about?' and 'It's not a masterpiece, but it's great.' Then as the day wore on, some of those reviewers and others started to chime in more positively. We've found that it takes a little time to connect with the film because it's not a traditional film."...Pohlad met Malick a decade ago as they worked on a biographical drama about Che Guevara. That project reached the screen with a different creative team...but Pohlad and Malick stayed in touch, discussing a story the director had wanted to tell for decades. As he read Malick's preliminary script for "The Tree of Life," the unconventional story hit Pohlad with irresistible force.
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05-27-11 What Jessica Learned from Al Pacino
(BlackBook)
The actor who prepared Chastain most for her career in front of the camera was Al Pacino. After first hearing about Chastain through his former costar and onetime girlfriend, actor Marthe Keller, Pacino auditioned her for his Salome projects. Over the course of one year, Chastain got to watch Pacino, a pillar of American acting, at work. “I was given the opportunity to see how he changed between theater and film, and that made me reconsider everything as a film actor.” She adds, “I was so scared of the camera before I worked with Al, and he taught me that you have to love it. Most actors think they need to ignore it, but Al taught me that you have to be intimate with it, because, even more than your scene partner, it will see into you. When he said that to me I resolved to make sure the camera always sees into my soul.”
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05-27-11 How Jessica Came to be in Tree of Life
(BlackBook)
Like most Hollywood success stories, Jessica Chastain’s started with a phone call. In 2008, she was an unknown, Juilliard-trained actor, albeit one who’d already worked with Al Pacino in his 2006 production of Oscar Wilde’s Salome at LA’s Wadsworth Theatre. But for Chastain, the stage wasn’t enough—she wanted to break into film and television. The trouble was, her experience in front of the camera was limited to guest stints on middling television shows like Law & Order: Trial by Jury and Journeyman. She had also starred in Jolene, a then unreleased independent film chronicling the cross-country travels of a resilient young woman. Then her agent called. “She said they were casting the new Terrence Malick film,” recalls the 30-year-old actor, whose alabaster skin is set against an inferno of red hair. “I was told that the character was supposed to be from another time, and have a grace about her.”...The role Chastain read for was that of a beautiful housewife locked in a battle of wills with her husband over the raising of their three sons. She prepared by watching all of his films in chronological order, to “get the acting style into my skin.” Malick was absent during her first audition, where, among other things, she was asked to pretend to put a baby to sleep. Then came the line reads. “I think I was the only actor who recognized that the material came from a Eugene O’Neill play,” she says. A few days later, she flew to Texas to meet the reclusive filmmaker...One of her more surreal memories, the moment she discovered who’d be playing her husband in The Tree of Life, still astounds her. “Terry called me up and said, ‘I cast the role, and it’s going to be Brad Pitt,’ and I just sat there at my kitchen table, shocked. No one ever imagines they’re going to play Brad Pitt’s wife,” Chastain says. Pitt was hired to replace the late Heath Ledger, who passed away a full year before the film entered production.
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05-27-11 How Will Christians Respond to Biblical Themes in Tree of Life?
(Christian Post)
“The Tree of Life” has been lauded by many Christians for carrying Biblical themes, yet at the same time it divides believers for that very reason. What exactly do the themes mean? What does a 1950s devout Christian family have to do with the dinosaur era and an influx of a symphonic celestial intermission? The impressionistic film – starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and newcomer Jessica Chastain – opens with a quote from the book of Job...We witness the 160 million year period from when dinosaurs reigned the planet to the point of their extinction. The question of life forces the audience to wonder, how are human beings different? What is the meaning of it all when everything is created to die?...The complexities of the film and the slow plot make it difficult for the general audience to truly understand the Biblical narrative...It will leave viewers, just like most critics, with more questions than answers.
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05-27-11 Jessica Describes Her On-Film Fight with Brad Pitt
(Collider.com)
We didn’t even know that that was going to happen. It happened after we’d filmed the scene where he attacks the boys. So we came back and we both showed up with our own, like, “Okay, what just happened?” We both showed up with it. And I know that my character is, my character, she had to clean up the house, right? But she’s still kind of vibrating from what just happened and trying to contain it. So I’ve got to clean up the mess that he’s made. And then I had a couple of lines that I could say if I felt like it, he had a couple of lines he could say if he felt like it, but we shot for four minutes, back and forth, slamming dishes, doing all this stuff, talking to each other. And at one point, I don’t know why, what on earth possessed me, but I grabbed the pepper and rubbed it on his face and said, “How do you like it!” And then he grabbed me and all of the sudden we’re like fighting and struggling and when you see, you can see that we both look shocked because it was absolutely real. It wasn’t like Terry said, “I want to create a physical violence between the two.” It’s not even in the script that anything like that happens. There are these two warring ideas of grace and nature and how they react with each other but he never tried to create that.
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05-27-11 Jessica Discusses Her Motocross Accident
(Collider.com)
Chastain hobbled into the room with some assistance, her left leg in a brace. Question: So I suppose the first question is, what happened? Jessica Chastain: This is going to sound so idiotic…I got in a Motocross accident yesterday. [Question] Is that going to effect Wettest County in the World? Chastain: No. I finished that one a few weeks ago. I thought it would be fun. And I really liked it and I went way too fast. My friend, who I went with, stayed in first gear and I was in like third gear on the course. I shouldn’t have done it, especially having a premiere today. I ended up spending the afternoon in the emergency room yesterday because the bike fell on me and twisted my leg. Those things are heavy! It’s funny because I was lying there and my knee like snapped…I heard this popping noise and I was like, “Okay…” and my hand kind of like, “Errr.” So the wheels kept going and I’m pinned underneath it and I thought someone would come get me and it just felt like forever so I finally just went, like, “Help! Help!” It was really, really silly. [Question] So now you have crutches for the red carpet tonight? Chastain: Yes, but not for the photos. I can’t walk without the crutches but I balance really well, so I’m going to stand still and cast off my crutches. [Question] In one heel? Chastain: Yes! In very high heels!
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05-27-11 Tree of Life Leaves Viewers in Awe
(Collider.com)
Though the summer season is in full force this weekend with The Hangover Part II and Kung Fu Panda 2 poised to make over $100 million each, it is Terrance Malick’s The Tree of Life that will leave viewers the most awed. With spectacle ranging from sumptuous images of the beginning and end of the universe to brief glimpses of evolution on earth and even dinosaurs as well as touches of magical realism, this film is an epic tonal poem that left me speechless. My eyes ached because I didn’t want to blink for fear of missing even one moment. After the film, I stumbled out into the streets of Los Angeles and walked for eight miles, contemplating what I had just seen.
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05-26-11 25-Minute Video Interview with Jessica
(Movie City News)
Chastain Central comment: In a very friendly, comfortable interview, Jessica comments about directors, finding teachers on the set, various approaches of directors, and future plans. She talks a lot about Terrence Malick and The Tree of Life, but also about Al Pacino, Jeff Nichols, and others. A very pleasant aspect of this interview is her green outfit that picks up the color of the nice garden surrounding the porch where she sits. One learns a good bit about Jessica and her approach to acting.
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05-26-11 Tree of Life is the Culmination of Everything Terrence Malick Has Done Until Now
(The Canadian Press)
This is unlike anything you've ever seen before. And yet it's very much the culmination of everything Terrence Malick has done until now — all four features he's made over the past four decades. All his thematic and esthetic signatures are there from earlier films like "Badlands" and "The Thin Red Line": the dreamlike yet precise details, an obsession with both the metaphysical and the emotional, an ability to create suspense within a languid mood. It is simultaneously mesmerizing and maddening as it encompasses nothing less than the nature of existence itself..."The Tree of Life" is deeply spiritual, but Malick isn't one to preach. Instead, he gives you the sense that he's genuinely asking questions to which the answers may be unknowable — he's putting them out there for himself, and for us all.
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05-25-11 Video Interview of Jessica at LA Premier after Her Motocross Injury
(Access Hollywood)
After injuring her knee in a motorcross accident, Jessica Chastain hits the red carpet for the premiere of her new film, “The Tree of Life.” So, what was it like to work with co-star Brad Pitt? Plus, Jessica chats about working with Helen Mirren in “The Debt.”
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05-25-11 Description of Tree of Life
(NPR)
"Once it started, you felt the audience kind of divide. Some people really couldn't stand it and other people found it transformative. It's a story about a young boy, who grows up to be Sean Penn later, growing up in '50s Texas. His parents are played by Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain. About 90 minutes of the movie is the story of this kid's life, growing up during his young years in Texas. What makes the film strange is it's surrounded by two other things. On the one thing, there's a kind of 2001-ish story of the creation of the world, which I think is designed to parallel the creation of this one person's life. But that comes complete with the creation of the planet and with dinosaurs and all the rest which is kind of odd for a film about Texas in the 1950s. And then the film builds to another non-narrative thing — a dreamy, searcher New Age sequence — where Sean Penn, dressed in a business suit, walks across Death Valley, and maybe or maybe not — it's not clear from the film, exactly — winds up in Heaven, where he ends up meeting all of the people he'd known before. So what you have is a rather beautiful, poetic and normal story of a family in Texas surrounded by stuff that some people thought visionary and other people thought kitsch."
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05-25-11 Malick Has a Painter's Eye and a Philosopher's Mind
(Bloomberg)
The highlight of Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” is an 18-minute montage of galloping dinosaurs, exploding volcanoes, floating amoebas, majestic rainbows, wriggling jellyfish and a giant meteor hurtling through space. Not a single person or human voice interrupts the kaleidoscopic flow. It’s a perfect reflection of Malick’s eccentric filmmaking style, one that emphasizes mood and images over plot and drama. Malick has a painter’s eye and a philosopher’s mind. In movies such as “Days of Heaven” and “The New World,” characters take a backseat to nature and story lines zigzag like a car sliding on ice. “The Tree of Life,” only his fifth feature in 38 years, may be his most elusive and beautiful.
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05-24-11 Jessica Learns to Ride Motocross
(Hollywood Reporter) [See Video]
Jessica Chastain -- fresh from her red-carpet appearance at Cannes, where her film The Tree of Life won the Palme d'Or -- arrived in Lake Perris, Calif., on Monday for motocross lessons from top-ranked pro Davi Millsaps..."Cannes was great. I had two films there, and both of my films won the top prize in their category," said Chastain at the event...Chastain was among a group of celebs -- including Peter and Vandy's Jess Weixler and Vampire Diaries' Steve McQueen -- who took part in the Oakley "Learn to Ride" program at Lake Perris' Starwest Motocross Park. It was Chastain's first time getting motorcross bike. Full Story Back to Top
05-23-11 When Will Tree of Life Show in Your City?
(AwardsDaily)
Lucky residents of New York and Los Angeles will be able to see Terrence Malick’s Palme d’Or winner The Tree of Life in theaters this Friday. Over the next 6 weeks the film will expand to major markets across the country before finally opening wide on July 8th. The Playlist has the full roll-out schedule from Fox Searchlight. Check the date for your city.
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05-23-11 Tree of Life is a Nice Change of Pace
(Patch.com)
This is the type of film that looks like it’s usually released during Oscar season. The fact that it’s being released this summer lets us know, in a way, that the people involved aren’t worried about Oscar buzz, but are rather dedicated to a soulful story being told. The talented Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain star in this potential gem...Summer is usually filled with films that are huge, CGI-filled blockbusters, and that’s all in good fun, but Tree of Life looks like it will be an intellectual piece that will be a nice change of pace from the usual.
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05-23-11 See New Take Shelter Trailer Here
(ComingSoon.net)
Sony Pictures Classics has debuted a trailer for their upcoming Take Shelter, through Yahoo! Movies. Set for release on October 7th, the Jeff Nichols film stars Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon and Kathy Baker and features a small town Ohio resident, Curtis LaForche (Shannon), experiencing visions that drive him increasingly towards paranoia and the desperate urge to build a tornado shelter in his back yard. As they put a strain on Curtis' relationship with his family, the visions represent either a sign of his own mental collapse or a terrifying omen of something far greater.
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05-23-11 Take Shelter Trailer Released
(Cinema Blend)
It's a very, very good time to release the first trailer for Take Shelter. First there's the fact that the movie's female star, Jessica Chastain, is about to have a major breakout as the star of Terrence Malick's new film Tree of Life, which comes out this weekend. Second, Take Shelter recently screened at Cannes to another set of rave reviews to match the ones it got at Sundance. Third, it's a movie in which a character is worried about tornadoes, the kind of storm currently devastating the Midwest. And fourth, we've just gotten past May 21, a day many people predicted as the beginning of the end of the world.
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05-23-11 Jessica: From Under the Radar to A-list
(Buzz Log)
Jessica Chastain is set to go from under-the-radar to A-list, and fast. The 30-year-old actress grabbed headlines and Web buzz with her breakout role opposite Brad Pitt and Sean Penn in Terrence Malick's Palme D'or winner "Tree of Life." The redhead turned heads on the red carpet and on the Web, earning a 500% increase in one-day searches on Yahoo!..Brad Pitt gushed of his "Tree of Life" co-star, "There's real charm and beauty, and she's really bright, this woman. So I think she's capable of a lot of things that we've yet to see."
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05-23-11 Brad Pitt Talks about Jessica
(AP)
"I'm just nervous that I'm going to be the newcomer that everyone's sick of, and they don't even know my name. People are like, 'Why is this girl in every single movie I'm seeing this fall?'" Chastain said in an interview at the Cannes Film Festival, where "The Tree of Life" premiered last week, taking the coveted Palme d'Or top prize. "Take Shelter" also screened at Cannes...her father is a fireman, her mother a "stay-at-home mom slash vegan chef," Chastain said, and while they never discouraged her about the prospects of acting, they did not encourage her, either...The director then experimented with Pitt, Chastain and the three boys making their acting debuts in "The Tree of Life," improvising scenes and moments to create an impressionistic portrait of the family's life. Chastain took to it like a pro, Pitt said. "We're going to see great things from her. She's a great find," Pitt said. "She just walked into this thing, and she was throwing punches with me on par and dealing with the unwieldiness of going off-script and working with non-actors. Man, I really relied on her. It takes great talent to keep that focus, and there's real charm and beauty, and she's really bright, this woman. So I think she's capable of a lot of things that we've yet to see."
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05-22-11 Terrence Malick Wins the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Tree of Life
(Austin 360)
Austin director Terrence Malick became the first Texan ever to win the top prize, the Palme d’Or, at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday, for his ambitious, cosmic “The Tree of Life.” The movie, which centers on a family in 1950s Waco, includes about a 20-minute segment that focuses on the birth of the universe and has been called a Texan “2001,” a reference to Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Malick, who does not make public appearances, did not show up at the Palais to accept the award, but two of his producers did. “He remains notoriously, infamously shy but quite humble,” said producer Bill Pohlad. When the movie premiered Monday, it received a mixed reaction from the press, but support for the film, which was made in Smithville and Austin, has been growing in recent days. It stars Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and Sean Penn.
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The Tree of Life Wins Top Prize at the Cannes Film Festival!
Chastain Central Announcement
May 22, 2011
05-22-11 Tree of Life: Massive Visionary Ambition and Vaporous Religiose Balderdash
(The Independent)
The Tree of Life. Fans awaited it as t