Chastain, 35, has racked up an impressive number of prizes for her portrayal of the humorless, laser-focused CIA operative Maya, representing, to Chastain, “the fanatical behavior to catch a fanatic,” in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. To date, she’s taken home best actress awards from the National Board of Review, the Broadcast Film Critics Association London Film Critics Circle, a Critics Choice award and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. She’s also nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award, a BAFTA and an Oscar.

“I think the X factor of the character that she plays in this movie is the drive and dedication and tenacity that was staggeringly effective,” says Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow, who partnered again with screenwriter Mark Boal after their last Oscar-winning film, The Hurt Locker. “It just is a testament to her range as an actor and an artist.”

- Read the full article

That’s what Parade Magazine did ask to Jessica this week. Her answer?

You didn’t find success in Hollywood right away. Did you ever feel discouraged?
There were years of being discouraged. I didn’t have any luck when I first moved to L.A. I was in casting rooms with beautiful, tall, tan, blond ­women; I kept being told I didn’t look modern. But when I read the description for my character in Tree of Life, it said, “A woman who looks as though she’s from another time.” I thought, “Here we go!”

What did you buy with your first big paycheck?
A custom couch for my apartment in L.A. I actually don’t spend a lot of money on things. I still drive my 2006 Prius!

Marie Claire’s website has published part of the article of their current issue, featuring Jessica on cover. You can read it on our press archive. Also, the beautiful photo shoot can now be found in the gallery:

Today is the day! Another great Mama on set feature has popped up, this time by folks on Shock Till You Drop. Check the highlights:

ShockTillYouDrop.com is checking in on director Andy Muschietti, who is orchestrating a feature-length spookshow called Mama, based on his short film of the same name. The short focused on two young girls and a malevolent spirit – it was three minutes of tightly-wound terror that was all about stylistic execution over story. The feature film, however, will provide more narrative substance. The tale tells of Annabel (Jessica Chastain) and Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), a couple who welcome two young girls, Lily and Victoria – found living alone in a cabin – into their home. As Annabel tries to introduce these youngsters, Lily (Isabelle Nelisse) and Victoria (Megan Charpentier), to a normal life, Annabel starts to believe an evil presence has permeated her home.

Mama marks Muschietti’s feature directorial debut and he’s able to pull off his endeavor thanks to executive producer Guillermo del Toro.

/Film has a great article about Mama today, talking about behind-the-scenes, the story, and Jessica Chastain. Also some great new production stills was released and you can find in our gallery.

All preconceived notions about the supernatural thriller Mama fly out the window when Jessica Chastain walks in the room. Before that moment, the film could be an archetypal supernatural thriller with little girls, a spectral being and a strong female lead like Naomi Watts in The Ring, Nicole Kidman in The Others or Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby. But when Chastain strolls into a conference room at Pinewood Studios in Toronto, Canada in October 2011, it’s immediately clear Mama is not that.

Instead of her usual warm, blond or red head look, Chastain has a short black pixie haircut, tons of eye shadow, torn purple Mistfits t-shirt, faded black hot pants and a full sleeve octopus tattoo on her left arm. This not your typical heroine. This is a punk rock chick who’d usually be dead 20 minutes into a normal horror movie. But in director Andy Muschietti‘s Mama, based on an award-winning short film of the same name, she’s the star, a rebel unwillingly forced to look after two haunted girls who’ve been found fending for themselves after being missing for five years.

It’s day 18 of 46 on the Toronto set of Mama, a supernatural thriller produced by Guillermo Del Toro opening January 18, and the wardrobe of the star is just one of the pleasant surprises Mama has in store for us.

“As an actor, you approach the characters from what the script tells you. You don’t think about, Well, what do I look like compared to what she looks like?” says Jessica Chastain of preparing to play the title character in her first Broadway production, The Heiress, a 1947 play based on Henry James’s Washington Square, now being revived at the Walter Kerr Theater. Nevertheless, Chastain’s process involved a physical transformation that began during the first week of rehearsals when she “kind of tortured” the costume crew into providing her with period clothing and a wig—and later came a nose prosthetic. “I’m a jeans girl, but a blue-jeans way of moving is very different from wearing petticoats, so from day one, I was wearing the shoes, the skirt, the corset. I never really left the rehearsal room.” Chastain laughs. “It took so long to put everything on every day, it’s like, Well, I’ll just bring my lunch and eat it here.” [Read More]

My friend Claudia has translated the article published in the last Marie Claire Italia, and now you can find it in our press archive:

Rising stars. Jessica Chastain walks the suite of Royal Monceau in Paris and it seems like her 50’s style dresss prinkles stardust all over. It isn’t surprising that the Oscar actress brings such class: in The Tree of Life she was a pure light soul, such as Terrence Malick didn’t find awkward to let her float from the ground. Now, while she welcomes us in this temple of grandeur like it is her own living room, she looks all of a different grace: sensual, seductive and perfect. You cannot admire her, the ex thin girl from a any place in North California who studied (acting in Julliard, because of a subvention to meritorious students donated by Robin Williams, and also dancing, many languages, Renaissance arts…) like a real nerd, breaking into the star system like a divine diva. Real. And it’s so for her mysterious charm and strong-willed soul that Yves Saint Laurent chose her as new testimonial of its perfume Manifesto. <>, Chastain starts during our meeting in occasion of the launch of the perfume.

Read More…

From “Take Shelter” to “The Debt,” Jessica Chastain is an actress who feeds off risks.

But in a still relatively young career that has seen her push the boundaries while working with demanding auteurs like Terrence Malick and Kathryn Bigelow, the Oscar-nominee is about to embark on her biggest challenge yet — taking on the iconic role of Catherine Sloper in a revival of “The Heiress.”

The lonely spinster at the heart of the tragedy has been a favorite of actresses over the years, with the likes of Olivia de Havilland, Cherry Jones and Jane Alexander putting their indelible mark on the character. Chastain insists that despite making her Broadway debut in a play associated with such formidable women, she is not intimidated.

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JESSICA CHASTAIN has turned up lately in so many movies all at once that audiences may be forgiven for imagining that with her ethereal manner (in “The Tree of Life,” anyway) and Botticelli looks — the alabaster skin, huge green eyes and cascade of auburn hair — she wafted into Hollywood on a seashell. In fact Ms. Chastain, who makes her Broadway debut in “The Heiress” on Nov. 1, is a trained stage actress who spent four transformative years at Juilliard, from which she graduated in 2003.

On Labor Day, before the students had unpacked their stuff, she dropped by for a quick visit and headed right for Room 304, a big rehearsal space where first-year students spend most of their classroom time. “I was actually born in this room,” she said, laughing. “We had an exercise where we had to start as a fetus. There were people lying on the floor and screaming and crying, and then we were toddlers, and then there were people getting into relationships and divorces. It was the whole cycle of mankind, until we died.”

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Jessica Chastain will never forget 2011: She co-starred in six movies, including her Oscar-nominated turn in “The Help.” And Jessica shows no signs of slowing down. Wednesday, she lets loose in the new fact-based film, “Lawless,” about a family’s illegal moonshine business.

Jessica calls the film is a mix of genres: Gangster meets Western meets Love Story. It’s set in the time of Prohibition. And history buff Jessica loved being able to take a step back in time.

“I love researching,” says Jessica. “When I get a role that’s one of the very first things I do. I just want to fill myself up with knowledge of what the character might have come from. Not just even reading about the history of the time, which of course I do, but I also love learning about the music of the time, listening to that; thinking of the food of the time; what someone would have done for fun.”

With “Lawless,” the fun for Jessica came from working with an ensemble cast that includes Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Guy Pearce.

“I geek out all the time because I’m so excited to work with people and that’s what it was like for me on this film,” says Jessica.

“Lawless” was a fairly testosterone-driven set, one that had producer Lucy Fisher comparing Jessica and her male co-stars to Peter Pan’s Wendy and the Lost Boys.

“They were always roughhousing and playing around and sometimes I would get involved, but for the most part, ‘Boys calm down, now’s time to work, we all love each other, let’s go back to work,’” said Jessica. “They treated me very special. They were always such gentlemen around me.”

Much of “Lawless” was shot on location in a small town in Georgia. Jessica says for fun they’d all go to Wal-Mart and buy supplies for their very competitive game nights.

She said she also tried moonshine — and is not a fan.

“Lawless” is in theaters Wednesday.

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