The gallery has been updated with HQ Digital Scans of Jessica Chastain cover for The Sunday Times Style, January 16 issue. Enjoy!
Jessica Chastain’s theatrical range knows no bounds—she’s played a fiercely protective wife and mother as Anna Morales in A Most Violent Year; the “epitome of grace,” as she puts it, in The Tree of Life; and most recently, she embodied the infamous televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. For W’s annual Best Performances issue, Chastain reflects on almost 10 years of learning about Tammy and her approach to faith—while discovering some religion of her own along the way.
How did The Eyes of Tammy Faye come into your life?
I was on the press tour for Zero Dark Thirty, and I was jet-lagged in a hotel room somewhere. The documentary on Tammy Faye came on television, and I was blown away by her and the true story of who she was. I called my manager and my agent, and I said, “How do I figure out how to make a movie?” I got the rights in 2012, and we were on set shooting seven years later.
How did you bridge that gap between using information in the documentary and re-creating Tammy’s life in your own film?
I just wanted to tell her story so bad. And in fact, the documentary filmmakers were so sweet. They told me recently that on our first meeting, right before they gave me the rights to the story, they were like, “I don’t think Jessica could do this.” They’d been so supportive and given me hundreds of hours of unused footage from the doc. They absolutely took a leap of faith by allowing me to tell her story.
Read the full interview in our press archive and watch a video of Jessica discussing Tammy Faye.
Jessica Chastain explained that her grandma is at an age where she does whatever she wants and doesn’t care what happens — like when she decided to playfully sit on Bradley Cooper’s lap during one of Jessica’s parties. The acclaimed actress also chatted about drinking a lot of Bourbon while she portrayed country singer Tammy Wynette and going to new heights for her stunts on new action film, “The 355.”
Video > Jessica Chastain’s Grandma Once Sat on Bradley Cooper’s Lap
Jessica Chastain and Sebastian Stan didn’t hold anything back while shooting “The 355.” The pair talked to Access Hollywood’s Zuri Hall and dished on their impressive fight scenes, which Sebastian said left a mark, literally. The 39-year-old actor joked that Jessica hit him and left a footprint on his chest. “That was a delicate little caress on your heart,” she joked. Jessica also ended up in the hospital after a hard fall. The “Avengers” star also revealed he asked “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” star for advice while transforming into Tommy Lee for the upcoming mini-series “Pam & Tommy.”
James Corden welcomes his guests Penélope Cruz and Jessica Chastain to promote their new upcoming feature, “The 355”.
We got the incredibly talented Jessica Chastain to read and answer your stan tweets.
Find out who her wifey is, why she wanted to create The 355 and what it is about Sebastian Stan and Edgar Ramirez that she loves.