Feeding Frenzy: A conversation with Jessica Chastain

Thursday, 08 September 2011 11:47

Lately, Jessica Chastain is into really strange foods. We're not just talking about the secret cooking lessons she sneaks in from her maid in The Help to serve up scrumptious Southern fried chicken.

As strangely revealed during this gab session for John Madden's Mossad espionage thriller, The Debt, Jessica described serving up a little Nazi cuisine for her role as sexy sleuth Rachel. Not too frazzled by the hungry German hostage tied up in her kitchen, during this chat the newly-hued strawberry blonde sipped on a super-sized Starbucks coffee. She revealed the ups and downs of portraying a hot love triangle with two secret agents—namely Sam Worthingtin and Marton Csokas—stashed away in her apartment, and getting sufficiently comfortable with them over dinner. Jessica also talked oatmeal, female hormones, her brand-new alias Tommy Cruise, beating up men and separate tables at a local chow house frequented by her clueless benefactor, Robin Williams.

By Prairie Miller

What were the challenges of those Nazi feeding scenes? You had to walk a fine line between being attentive to scooping spoonfuls of chow into Jesper Christensen's (aka Nazi fugitive Dieter Vogel’s) gaping mouth, yet avoid seeming nurturing toward that hostage tied up in your kitchen. In other words, what's it like to feed a Nazi?

Oh gosh! Working with Jesper, he's such a kind man. And I was kind of hoping that he wouldn't be.

Huh?

You know, that he would be kind of a...son of a bitch. Anyway, he brought such complexity to the character that it really creates bits of doubt in Rachel, like questions as to whether he is a monster, or maybe she is treating him like an animal. What went through my mind was, don't talk to him, don't listen to him. Then there are moments where I'm thinking, “I'm not afraid of you.”

And what were you feeding him during all those strange suppers?

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

Did he have any choice? Was there a menu?

Ha! Oh no.

You're scary in this movie, but what scares you?

Apparently not Nazis in your kitchen. No way! I was like, “How am I going to play this action girl and speak German?”

You get the stuffing kicked out of you in this movie more than once.

I do, but I'm tough.

Did you have stunt women helping you out? Uh, no.

Did you get hurt at all? Before this film, I had not done any action movies, but I did dance training when I was younger, so I do have a relationship with my body where I feel like I know what my body is going to do. Fight scenes are like dance scenes because your head has to be in the same head as the other person. That way you don't get hit in the face. I actually feel bad saying this, but I really did hit Jesper! I think it's still in the film. He was so sweet about it. That was when I go up to hit him in the face. Thank god he didn't bruise or bleed. I am so not a fighter, and the idea I actually hit somebody was bad. A lot of times when I see movies that have action sequences with girls, I think, “I don't buy this at all.” It looks like the guys are kind of just letting the girls push them over, but there were many scenes where I was just drenched with sweat from all the work I had to do. The guys, their body weight was so big, but they helped me make it look real. After that, on the weekend, I needed to heal. I was in a bath the whole time.

How about getting to have those two hunks, Sam Worthington and Marton Csokas, for live-in Mossad lovers stashed in your apartment simultaneously? Has that ever been a personal fantasy of yours? Ha! Oh my gosh. If I have two love interests I'm like, “thank you!” I always get nervous as an actress when there's going to be a romance. I'm telling myself, “Please don't be a jerk!” Dealing with the whole romance side of it, there's something when you're so unstable and you just feel like everything is chaotic, that sex can be, you know, an absolute distraction from your feelings, something that completely turns your mind off.

What did you do to be comfortable with them sexually and get into character? I met them and we had a dinner at [director John Madden’s] house. There's a lot of pressure. I think the table was even situated where I was sitting between the two of them and all these people were there from the film too, watching the situation. Five minutes into the dinner I just started thinking, “This is going to be awesome.” Because not only are they, of course, incredibly handsome, funny and smart, but what I love about that love triangle is that you can see really redeeming qualities in both of these men. Sometimes when I see a movie, I'll think one of them is a jerk. One is always the bad one, but I had absolute chemistry with both of those men.

How about that Sam Worthington? He's also your leading guy in next month’s Texas Killing Fields. Yeah. He became my action coach and he nicknamed me Tommy Cruise. I guess he was teasing me, because in my running scenes, I was running like Gumby, like I had my arms by my side. Sam told me you have to really pump your arms like Tom Cruise. There's nobody who runs better than Tom Cruise in a movie. Now, after working with Sam, I can be a real rival of Tom Cruise.

What's most important for you as an actress? I have to be real.

And what was the biggest ordeal for you in The Debt? The fight scenes, because in my personal life, I'm not a fighter. I've never thrown a punch, and I actually had to learn to punch someone without hurting my wrist!

What was that like, being really mean to men in the movie? To be honest, I became a bit of a monster at home.

Now, most people have ambivalent feelings about spies, because they can do pretty awful things. For example, the news that just came out about UK secret agents with the Allies during WW II, who plotted to slip female hormones into Hitler's food to make him less aggressive. Even as Hitler was contemplating losing the war, his troops would leave behind poison sausages for the Allies. Really? Wow. Well, as an actress I always want to play characters who have duality within them. I actually did a lot of research about the Mossad and their different missions they had. With these missions, there were lots of mistakes. Also, stuff like the way they created weapons out of nothing, but what I like about The Debt is it's not a typical action film where your action heroes are super-human. I feel like there's more realism in this.

How about starring with Helen Mirren playing your older self? Oh my gosh. I was like, “This is perfect.” She's five-four, and I'm five-four! But then it was like, how on Earth am I going to share a role with Helen Mirren, who really is a goddess? She's a dame and a broad, and amazing, so to hang out with her, I was a little intimidated. There were moments where I was telling myself, “Okay, speak up. Don't be too shy.” She has a wonderful air about her.

What has your journey been like for you as an actress? I was really lucky. I got to study at Julliard and I was on a scholarship from Robin Williams, who's an alumnus there. He actually made it possible for me to go to school there, because my family was not wealthy. I was the first one to go to college in my family, but I still haven't even met Robin Williams yet! Most of my friends in school were worried and thinking, “What am I going to be doing after graduation, waiting tables?” I got work right away, and I've always completely supported myself as an actor. I'm a very frugal girl, so I haven't gone after the big paychecks. I've never had to ask my parents for money, thank goodness!

Now about meeting the man who really got you your start, Robin Williams. I know someday I will meet him. I was telling someone in a restaurant the whole story, how he paid for everything—my school, books, back and forth home in California for Christmas, everything. Then, as I was telling the story, Robin Williams comes into the restaurant and sits down at the table next to me. My friend was like, “You need to go talk to him!” I thought, “Okay, I'll wait until he's done eating.” But before the waiter even cleared his plate away, he jumped up and ran out like he was running late, and I had the urge to run after him and tell him, “You changed my life.” But then I thought, “He's going to think I'm crazy!”

So how is it getting used to being a celebrity, with all these movies you're coming out in lately? I'm still unknown! It's wonderful that people are seeing my films, but it's really scary because you think, normally, it's a slower introduction into the business. But I don't think the public really knows I'm an actress at all. You know, I don't think they recognize me. I've only been recognized a couple of times in the past three or four months, even since Tree of Life came out. It's a very rare thing for me. And I'm not photographed a lot, unless I'm at an event that's work-related, so I still think the public will go to my movies and not make the connection. I still get really shy on red carpets. I'm really nervous about them. But my life has been basically the same. I think maybe two people have come up to me and recognized me! But they said really nice things, so it's been great.

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