Let’s talk about Jessica Chastain
In theaters Friday: Lawless, The Possession
New on Blu-ray: Battleship, The Lucky One
It seems Hollywood only makes room for one or two redheads at a time. Gone are the reins of Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore. It’s the era of Emma Stone and the fast-rising Jessica Chastain. Wait, who?
Well, many will see her this weekend as a weekness-enducing ruby caught in the filth and crossfire of Lawless, John Hillcoat’s Depression era shoot ’em up between backwoods bootleggers Tom Hardy and Shia LeBeouf, gut-checking lawman Guy Pearce and ruthless mafioso Gary Oldman.
If you pass on Lawless, chances are you’ve seen her somewhere else this year—even if it was just at the Academy Awards or Golden Globes (she was nominated for both). But even with her knockout locks, Chastain is somewhat a mystery, a rare breed of female actor who looks like a 1930s starlet—with a marquee name to match—but can chameleon a role to incredibly lengths of camouflage.
It’s this versatility that has kept her 9 movies released in the last two years from tipping into red on the over-exposure meter. She only began acting at age 27 with a few appearances on TV dramas, but since breaking into features, each time out she shows audiences something different: a look, a genre, a unique piece of herself. Of course, many recall her Oscar-nominated turn as the unfairly outcast Celia Foote in The Help, but I found her even more powerful when placed more front as center, as the physical embodiment of grace in Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life, and as a cunning but troubled Nazi hunter in the little seen but thrilling historical action drama The Debt.
Of course, the California native is aware of her quick assent to the A-list more than anyone. So busy is the actress she’s had to turn down big tent poles—Iron Man 3—Oscar-leaning biopics—as the princess in Diana—and sci-fi epics—Oblivion, which would have had her in Baton Rouge for three months with Tom Cruise this past spring—due to scheduling conflicts with other films.
“I’ll be the first unknown that everyone’s going to be sick of,” she’s said on the red carpet. “People will say, ‘We have no idea what her name is, but she is everywhere!'”
So what’s next after Lawless for Chastain? This December she stars in Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow’s Osama Bin Laden hunt Zero Dark Thirty, and next year will see her get experimental with a two part, multi-perspective film pair called The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: His and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Hers. Her willingness to stretch and select projects from talented filmmakers like Bigelow and Hillcoat instead of more blockbustery fair like Iron Man is just another reason to keep an eye on the acclaimed actress. But don’t worry, even if you don’t keep eyes on her, you’ll still see her around eventually. She’s everywhere.
Watch Chastain discuss The Tree of Life and catch teaser trailer for Zero Dark Thirty below:
