page_title: Jessica Chastain
section_title: 2014–present: Science fiction and feminist roles
hierarchical_section_title: Jessica Chastain / Career / 2014–present: Science fiction and feminist roles
caption_attribution_description: Jessica Chastain at press conference for the Martian, 2015 Toronto Film Festival
context_page_description: Jessica Michelle Chastain is an American actress and producer. Known for her roles in films with feminist themes, her accolades include a Golden Globe Award and nominations for two Academy Awards. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012.
  Born and raised in Sacramento, California, Chastain developed an interest in acting from a young age. In 1998, she made her professional stage debut as Shakespeare's Juliet. After studying acting at the Juilliard School, she was signed to a talent holding deal with the television producer John Wells. She was a recurring guest star in several television series, including Law & Order: Trial by Jury. She also took on roles in the stage productions of Anton Chekhov's play The Cherry Orchard in 2004 and Oscar Wilde's tragedy Salome in 2006.
  Chastain made her film debut in the drama Jolene, and gained wide recognition in 2011 for starring roles in half a dozen films, including the dramas Take Shelter and The Tree of Life. Her performance as an aspiring socialite in The Help earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
context_section_description: Chastain appeared in three films in 2014. She played the eponymous protagonist in Miss Julie, a film adaptation of August Strindberg's 1888 play of the same name, from director Liv Ullmann. It tells the tragic tale of a sexually repressed Anglo-Irish aristocrat who wishes to sleep with her father's valet (played by Colin Farrell). Chastain was attracted to Ullmann's feminist take on the subject. The film only received a limited theatrical release. While filming Miss Julie in Ireland, Chastain received the script of Christopher Nolan's science fiction film Interstellar (2014). With a budget of $165 million, the high-profile production, co-starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, was filmed mostly using IMAX cameras. Chastain was cast as the adult daughter of McConaughey's character; she was drawn to the project for the emotional heft she found in the father-daughter pair. Drew McWeeny of the entertainment website HitFix took note of how much Chastain stood out in her supporting part. The film earned over $675 million worldwide to become Chastain's highest-grossing live-action film.
  Chastain's final release of 2014 was the J. C. Chandor-directed crime drama A Most Violent Year. Set in New York City in 1981, the year in which the city had the highest crime rate, the film tells the story of a heating-oil company owner (played by Oscar Isaac) and his ruthless wife (Chastain). In preparation, Chastain researched the period and worked with a coach to develop a Brooklyn accent. She collaborated with costume designer Kasia Walicka-Maimone to work on the character's wardrobe, and contacted Armani who provided her with clothing of the period. The San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle believed Chastain to be "the embodiment of a nouveau riche New York woman of the era", and Mark Kermode, writing for The Guardian, found Chastain to be "terrific" in a part inspired by Lady Macbeth's character. She received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination for the film. For her work in 2014, the Broadcast Film Critics Association honored Chastain with a special achievement award.
  In 2015, Chastain took on the part of a commander in Ridley Scott's science fiction film The Martian. Starring Matt Damon as a botanist who is stranded on Mars by a team of astronauts commanded by Chastain's character, the film is based on Andy Weir's novel of the same name. Chastain met with astronauts at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Johnson Space Center, and based her role on Tracy Caldwell Dyson, with whom she spent time in Houston. The Martian became her second film to earn over $600 million in two consecutive years. Chastain next starred as a woman who plots with her brother (played by Tom Hiddleston) to terrorize his new bride (played by Mia Wasikowska) in Guillermo del Toro's gothic romance Crimson Peak. She approached the villainous part with empathy, and in preparation read graveyard poetry and watched the films Rebecca (1940) and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). Del Toro cast her to lend accessibility to a part he considered "psychopathic", but Peter Debruge of Variety found her "alarmingly miscast" and criticized her for failing to effectively convey her character's insecurity and ruthlessness. Conversely, David Sims of Slate praised her for portraying her character's "jealous intensity to the hilt".
  After portraying a series of intense roles, Chastain actively looked for a light-hearted part. She found it in the ensemble fantasy film The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016), which served as both a sequel and a prequel to the 2012 film Snow White and the Huntsman. She was drawn to the idea of playing a female warrior whose abilities were on par with those of the lead male character, but the film was poorly received. She then starred as the title character, a lobbyist, in the political thriller Miss Sloane, which re-united her with John Madden. Chastain read the novel Capitol Punishment by Jack Abramoff to research the practice of lobbying in America, and met with female lobbyists to study their mannerisms and sense of sty
caption: Chastain at an event for The Martian in 2015; the film ranks as one of her highest-grossing releases
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-ZS19", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.1", "Image DateTime": "2015:09:12 00:54:55", "Image Artist": "Picasa", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "642", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D2": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D3": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2822", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6689", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/80", "EXIF FNumber": "6", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Portrait Mode", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:09:11 15:03:32", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:09:11 15:03:32", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "331/64", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "731/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2757", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3871", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "4320", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "3240", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2674", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "409", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "80b733e4fcdb559dc9437772c45c16fc"}