JESSICA CHASTAIN
{ A DANGEROUS EXTRATERRESTRIAL } STYLING BY { ELIZABETH HAIR BY { DJ
QUINTERO MAKEUP BY { TYRON
STEWART
Clearly, Jessica Chastain has the power to captivate on television and in films. She’s brought nuance to performances in Zero Dark Thirty, The Martian, The Help, Interstellar and The Zookeeper’s Wife. In Dark Phoenix, she plays a shapeshifting alien whose identity was shrouded in mystery prior to the film’s release. What can you say about your character?
Did you have a hard time getting inside her psyche?
I’m fascinated by the powers of Jean Grey [played by Sophie
coming from a very logical place. And so, her decisions and
Turner]. I try to inspire her to embrace her power and not be
actions weren’t motivated by emotion. It was a sense of
ashamed of it. And [I have] devious plans to use it for myself.
figuring out what was in front of me, and X plus Y minus 3
I can say I play an extraterrestrial who comes to Earth because
I didn’t so much have to do that with her, because she was
is this. It’s very much her always moving forward but never
Did you do any comics research?
wallowing.
multiple characters in the X-Men universe, and I couldn’t just
Did you have to spend a lot of time getting into makeup?
Strictly script, because my character is a culmination of research her through the comics.
It’s no makeup. Basically, that’s the color of my eyebrows and eyelashes! [Actress] Tilda Swinton and I have very similar
Did you watch (or rewatch) the earlier movies?
coloring, so I was inspired by her. I was talking to Simon and
I’d seen them all, but I didn’t feel like I needed to go back before
said, “If I don’t wear makeup, my coloring is going to be like
we started shooting, because it is a different film. And I knew,
Tilda Swinton’s, and perhaps with a light wig, there could be
with Simon [Kinberg] directing, it was going to be its own thing.
something really open about that.” I told him I wanted to create a character that you felt like you could fall into their eyes, and
What made you decide to sign up for a superhero film?
by not wearing makeup, it really kind of allows that.
together on The Martian. I loved the Dark Phoenix story. The
This is Simon’s directorial debut. How was he as a director?
It was a connection with Simon, because we’d worked
antagonist and protagonist are both females, which I thought
He’s wonderful as a director because he really leaves space
was fascinating. And there are some great scenes between
for actors to contribute. When I said that I had this idea about
Sophie’s Phoenix and my character.
her as this clinical veterinarian type, he immediately went
movie in their head when they’re writing, so they have trouble
met with Simon and we were talking about the character, I told
seeing it any way other than that, and nothing will ever be
him that I had this idea of her being like the vet who tells you
what was in their imagination, because people are human
ISSUE No. 5
that you must put your dog to sleep. She comes from a place
beings and have their own ideas. He was very welcoming to
where she has more knowledge than you. She’s clinical, not
work with in collaboration.
There was something in that that I really connected to, this
FEATURES
speeches that I have in the film. Sometimes writers create the
She’s mysterious, but she’s very straightforward. When I first
Gio
home and wrote something, and I think it inspired one of the
Is your character complicated?
137
emotional, and if you don’t agree with her to kill your dog, she’s going to judge that you’re not being humane in your decision.
What would you say is the theme of the movie?
The movie is about freedom of being who you are, the sense
kind of clinical, vast, intelligent being that was there just to try
of our happiness and sadness, the light and the dark. One
to, in her mind, help people. She says something about good
can’t exist without the other, and to suppress one side of
and evil just being labels… If you think about Jean Grey, for
who we are, I think, leads to more damage. You must express
the majority of her life she has been trying to be a good girl, to
yourself. You have to talk things through, to communicate
behave a certain way and do what she’s been told. Now she
with your family. And when you cover up what you think makes
feels so much shame about this darkness. Honestly, we all
you ugly by ignoring it, more chaos ensues. When a person
have darkness. You can’t have light without darkness. So she
[goes through a] transformation, do you lose them? Are they
doesn’t have to hide her imperfections or the things about her
no longer who they were? There’s that sense of loss, also. So
that might be messy. That’s what I played with this character.
much about this movie is about family.
