Only in 2014 would the bright and talented Jessica Chastain be forced to defend a smart, gracious statement she made that was chewed up and fashioned into a faux controversy that what, was intended to go viral so that, what, they could up their traffic for one day on their otherwise pointless and insignificant website?
Chastain is one of the few major actress in Hollywood right now, other than Streep, who cares enough about the health of women in the industry to say a goddamned thing, let alone, tell it like it is. Most of them smile and look pretty because they’re afraid of putting the male-driven industry off. Either that, or worse, they deflect the word “feminism” because they’re “cool girls” and such oppression does not apply to them.
Chastain is a hero to women in film and they should not only be rallying around her but they too should be speaking out the way they did in the 1970s. That is the only way things will change. Though the industry bends towards the tastes of PG-13 audiences, almost exclusively male, that can change. Those tastes can evolve.
Either way, Chastain first said this:
“I’m really, really supportive of women in Hollywood. I love Meryl Streep. She’s such an incredible actress. But I feel like she’s the only one in her age group who gets those parts. I’d like to see Jessica Lange in a movie again, you know? Or Susan Sarandon. Why isn’t Viola Davis a lead in a film? She’s one of the greatest actresses alive. And where are the Asian actors and actresses? I’m not saying, ‘We don’t want movies about men.’ I’m just saying, ‘Come on, all the men I know love women. So let’s also have some stories about these women. Let’s write something for them, guys—and let’s make room for women writers, too.'”
Then had to issue an explanation for the stupid people in the room:
“Page Six gets it terribly wrong. The headline is upsetting and against my thinking. I would never want to take roles away from a great actress. My point has always been: Why can one great actress of a certain age get roles in film? We need MORE roles in film for the many OTHER great actresses. It speaks to the lack of diversity in our industry.”
Yes, nobody is taking away Meryl Streep’s roles. She is her own demographic, one of the few who can really drive the box office. What Chastain is saying is WHY IS SHE THE ONLY MOTHER FUCKING ONE!? Where are the other Meryl Streeps in an industry that used to be driven by women and men equally.
Streep joins a very select group of actresses who continue to work into their 60s – like Helen Mirren and Judi Dench. This is likely why so many older actresses are forced to go under the knife if they want to keep working. One reason Streep doesn’t have to is that she has amazing bone structure. Her bones keep her beautiful face held in place. Such isn’t the case with many other actresses who then distort themselves to look youthful and therefore couldn’t play the older parts anyway, certainly not without people saying, “my god, what did they do to their face?”
But the amazing thing about Ms. Chastain is that she is atop the A list right now. She is enjoying a career high right now and yet, she’s using her platform to disseminate important ideas. And she might be one of the only high profile actresses doing that. That is really a great way to use a press tour, rather than simply going over the same old, same old.
But leave it to the collective idiocy to cluck around the henhouse like worried chickens over something they misinterpreted, or something they were told to misinterpret to sell magazines or clicks. It’s important, though, to listen to what Chastain is saying.
A few choice quotes by Chastain lately:
“The problem is, if I do a superhero movie, I don’t want to be the girlfriend. I don’t want to be the daughter. I want to wear a fucking cool costume with a scar on my face, with fight scenes. That’s what I’d love.”
Where is the Scarlett Johansson superhero movie? I don’t understand it, why is it taking so long for this? … This woman clearly shows that people want to go see her in the movies. Lucy, didn’t it beat Hercules by a lot opening weekend, when it was made for a lot less? She shows that she kicks ass, she’s a great actress. Under the Skin is an incredible film, and why are we still waiting for a go-ahead on a superhero movie starring Scarlett Johansson?”
“It’s a fact, the majority of films in Hollywood are from the male perspective…. And the female characters, very rarely do they get to speak to another female character in a movie, and when they do it’s usually about a guy, not anything else. So they’re very male-centric, Hollywood films, in general. So I think it’s incredible that Ned Benson, when I said I’d love to know where she goes, says okay, I’m going to write another film from the female perspective.”
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Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Pfeiffer, Glenn Close, Meg Ryan. The list goes on and on. The New York Post is such a hogwash of a magazine, its hard to take anything of what they say seriously.
And bravo to Jessica Chastain! The smartest and wisest actress of her generation. I can see why they say she is the next Meryl Streep.
I was thinking about fanbases. Maybe they could. Diane Keaton’s done more of the RomCom type stuff. I guess she’s been successful.
Antoinette
I think you’re missing her point. You only think the likes of Sarandon and Lange couldn’t open a movie because they haven’t had the chance to do that in decades. Who knows, they may just be able to do it, were they given the kind of commercially viable scripts like The Devil Wears Prada, It’s Complicated, Mamma Mia etc. I think we have a tendency to forget that though Meryl Streep was/is definitely a highly acclaimed dramatic actress but NOT a solo Box Office draw up until The Devil Wears Prada (2006), as crazy it may sound, that was her STARmaking turn, she has been always highly acclaimed and respected by both the industry and the public, but make no mistake, until Prada, she had never opened a film and since then she opened SEVERAL…all happen to be commercially viable studio comedies that are historically easier to sell to the masses than the kind of dramatic work she had done almost exclusively before. Chastain is simply pointing out that there are OTHER female acting giants and legends out there who earned the right to be offered leads in studio films but sadly are not.
Are Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon having problems getting work? I feel like they’re always there. I didn’t know what the controversy was before reading this so I thought it was going to be that she was dissing those actresses.
The idea of a Wonder Woman movie was always out there. But the problem always was that no one could come up with an actress to play the role. Now in the upcoming Superman vs. Batman they’ve hired someone who is little known and it would be unrealistic to think she could carry her own film. I thought there were talks of a Black Widow movie for Scarlett but I don’t know how interesting that character is in the comics.
I understand wanting more roles for women. There have been a bunch of recent successes for younger women but if she wants other women of a certain age besides Streep then you’d have to turn to people like Barbra Streisand or Cher. I don’t think the actresses she chose would get people out to the theater on opening weekend.
Good for Chastain. She calls it like it is and asks the right questions.
Perhaps Kathleen Kennedy, Dede Gardner, Alison Owen, Megan Allison, Emma Thomas or Nina Jacobson, all producers recently annointed “trailblazers” by EW and best known for their boy’s movies, can come up with some answers. Time’s awaitin’.
Chastain + LvT = Christmas
I’d love to see Chastain work with Lars von Trier. He’s one of the only filmmakers who consistently creates powerful, meaningful female roles. If she doesn’t mind flying out to Denmark.
How about let’s tell people what the offensive headline said:
Are we deliberately not going to say which nasty rag of a newspaper twisted the words of Jessica Chastain into a fake quote that she never said? I’m ok with that.
The collective idiocy are those people who read that rag of a newspaper and don’t know that the headline lingo was concocted out of thin air to create the tabloid sensationalism that lures a special type of idiot to buy that rag of a newspaper.
I have a pile of scripts – most of them with female leads and/or very central dimensional, interesting female roles. In the indie film world I honestly don’t think it’s about whether it’s a female or male lead – it’s just so freaking hard to get a movie financed if you’re not well established. I hope I can get at least one movie made (especially with a female lead) to improve this situation just a tiny bit. But, it’s also about the audience and what people want to see – whether it’s an indie or mainstream film. Audiences have to realize that paying for a movie is sort of like voting for it, and saying “I want more of that.” Frances Ha did so-so at the box office but it’s been very popular on Netflix. But, the way Netflix pays out (as far as I know) is they pay a license fee and they don’t pay-per-click – so the movie doesn’t make more money because you decided to wait to see it on Netflix. Whether it’s a female led movie – or just something unique – please pay for these movies. That’s the only way more of them will get made.
…and the irony is that Meryl Streep will be the first to tell you she agrees with every word Chastain said. Just remember all the acceptance speeches she used to demand the industry ‘to give Viola Davis a movie’ (SAG), to recognize less buzzy but nonetheless brilliant performances like Mia Wasikowska’s Jane Eyre (Golden Globe) and to remind people how brilliant a fading actress like Judy Davis is (Emmy)…and those are just a few of the MANY times she shouted from the rooftops to help women in film.