.png)
1 day ago
13
Jessica Chastain has tackled some tough roles, but this one was totally next level. Imagine filming in an actual prison in Jordan, dealing with the heat, the chaos, and a script so intense it messes with your head. That’s the kind of madness she dove into for what became the hardest movie of her career.
Jessica Chastain in a still from Interstellar | Credits: Paramount PicturesAnd just when things felt like too much, guess who stepped in to save the day? Tom Cruise. Because when stuff gets impossible, that’s just Cruise territory.
Jessica Chastain took on the role that pushed her to the edge, and nailed it
Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty | Credits: Universal PicturesJessica Chastain did a phenomenal job in Zero Dark Thirty. Playing the no-nonsense CIA tracker Maya, who tracked down Osama bin Laden, was a battle. She revealed she shot in an active Jordanian prison, talking about those raw, gut-punch torture scenes.
The prison guards made her walk past them just because they hadn’t seen a woman in ages. Chastain shared it all in an interview with Vulture,
I didn’t know the personal toll it was going to take on me until I went there. I went to the Oscars this year — I was in my Alexander McQueen, drinking Champagne with my grandma, “This is the best day ever!” — and then the next day, noon, I was on a plane to India, 25-hour flight.
I landed, went straight to set, didn’t even go to hair and makeup, put on a robe, and they started filming me in the market. And that’s how it worked every day. And all the torture scenes — not fun to shoot.
She continued,
We filmed them in an active Jordanian prison, and kind of in the middle of nowhere [on the outskirts of Amman]. There’s a very strange relationship they have with women over there.
One time, I went to lunch with three other guys, we sat down at a table at the restaurant of a really nice hotel in Jordan, and the waiter brought menus for the men, but not for me.
But it wasn’t all easy. She could never have done this film if it wasn’t for Tom Cruise. Cold-called by director Kathryn Bigelow, she accepted the role before even reading the script. Once she had Mark Boal’s screenplay in hand, she knew this was the project she had to take on.
Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick | Credits: Paramount Pictures The snag? She was already locked into Oblivion (the 2013 thriller starring Cruise) and excited about it. But when she explained the situation, Cruise made it happen. He let her out of her contract, clearing the way for her to take on the role she couldn’t pass up. Chastain said (via THR):
I was signed to do another movie. I was contractually obligated to do something else that I was really wanting to do, and I was excited to do [the 2013 thriller Oblivion, starring Cruise]. But when this came my way, I realized I had to do this. And the person who made it possible for me to do this movie is Tom Cruise.
Someone contacted him from my agency and said, ‘Listen, she wants to work with you. And she would love to, but there is this other film, and it’s so important.’ And he said, ‘OK, we’re going to let you out of your contract.’
The shoot wasn’t all tears and chaos, though. There was power in Maya’s restrained vulnerability. Jessica Chastain nailed it by keeping her character’s emotions locked up until the explosive ending. Toughest role of her career? Hands down. But Chastain came out the other side stronger, and with one hell of a story to tell.
Andrew Garfield shares how Jessica Chastain helped him be with his mom before her passing
Andrew Garfield in the Gwen Stacy death scene in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | Credits: Sony PicturesAndrew Garfield got real about how Jessica Chastain had his back during a tough time. In 2019, while filming The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Chastain and producer David Greenbaum pressed pause on the production so Garfield could fly to England and spend 10 days with his mom before she passed from pancreatic cancer. Garfield shared during an interview with People Magazine,
What was amazing was that [Searchlight Pictures’ David Greenbaum] and Jessica rearranged the schedule last-minute — put filming on hold [in North Carolina] for a few days so that I could go back [to England] and be with my mom for 10 days.
Co-star Vincent D’Onofrio gave him the nudge, too. Garfield later opened up on Sesame Street clip about missing his mom:
It’s actually kind of okay to miss somebody…It’s kind of a lovely thing to feel, in a way, because it means you really loved somebody when you miss them. When I miss my mom, I remember all of the cuddles I used to get from her, all the hugs I used to get from her, and it makes me feel close to her, in a strange way.
It’s a reminder that even in heartbreak, love shines through.
Watch Zero Dark Thirty on Netflix & Apple TV.
Bengali (BD) · 
English (US) ·