Something nice about Jessica Chastain’s InStyle cover: she looks beautiful in jewel tones, and as we’ve seen before, shades of lavender/purple look especially great on her. Something not nice about her cover: I’m not sure if it was a great idea to put her in a cutout dress AND pants, because it looks like she’s wearing granny panties under that dress. Anyway, I wanted to cover this InStyle interview separately because the quotes are somewhat interesting. I kind of think Jessica is throwing some shade at the Gwyneth Paltrows and Blake Livelys of the world, plus Jessica talks about her sister’s suicide. She rarely opens up about her sister, so this is notable.
She’s a professional actress, not a lifestyle guru: “My favorite thing is the world is acting, and I want to be seen as a professional. I don’t have a lifestyle website. I’m not interested in the fame of being a personality. Some people are, and they love it, and that’s great for them. But the whole anxiety I had in 2011 was about not wanting to be in a room and have everyone stop and look.”
Getting the part in Tree of Life, playing Brad Pitt’s wife: “I knew the second Brad signed on it was a game changer for my career. Then I was just scared that I was going to get fired. It wasn’t until after a week of shooting that I started to relax.”
She’s no Angelina Jolie: “I’m sure if Angelina Jolie were sitting here, it would be a very different experience. Because you would have 30 people who are not paying attention to their breakfast companions and are instead staring at her, and that definitely is an extreme. That, for me, would be terrible.”
She’s not interested “in playing a stereotype.” “There were two kinds of roles for women. You’re either the girlfriend, incredibly beautiful but not much going on, or the victim, like the weird neighbor. It’s like the two ideas of women that are talked about: the slut or the wife. And that’s not so interesting…As an audience member, I go to the movies a lot and I want to see women portrayed like the ones I know—women who are really intelligent and strong and vulnerable.”
Attending Julliard on a scholarship granted by Robin Williams: “I always thought in some way I would have a chance to pay him back. It was a very strange thing to have never met him. I didn’t want to be stalkerish, but then you always question yourself: Did I do enough? I’m hoping there’s a way to continue his legacy and keep the scholarship going.”
Her sister Juliet committed suicide in 2003: “It completely changed the person I am. A movie, Oscars, a dress, if someone thinks I’m stupid … I realized nothing is that important.”
She will never date an actor: “I made sure when I started that I was known for my work, not for whom I was dating. Acting is all about being open to another person, and to date an actor, it just confuses it, because how do you even know if it’s real?”
I think she’s being genuine when she talks about her anxiety of being the center of attention. She doesn’t want attention as Jessica Chastain, but if she’s inhabiting a character, that’s probably the only way she’s comfortable with being “seen.” But is she throwing shade at the actresses who want to be known as lifestyle gurus and have no problem becoming a “brand”? I’m not sure if it’s shade, but there’s some subtle judgment there. Like, she’s judging Gwyneth and Blake for using their fame to launch their side projects when they should just focus on their acting.
Just FYI: tonight is the NYC premiere of A Most Violent Year, so I’m sure we’ll have new photos of Chastain tomorrow as well. AMVY is her possible Oscar-contender – she’s already picking up critics’ awards, and I’m sure she’ll be on the Golden Globes shortlist later this week.
Cover courtesy of InStyle, additional pics by WENN.
I don’t really see any shade but that’s me. Talent, humility, honesty…now if her stylist only paid attention!
yes that cover photo outfit. gross
I’m not picking up any shade in her comments, either.
I didn’t get shade either, she did say “that’s great for them.” I think she was noting how some people do more than just act and really embrace and expand upon their celeb status and she doesn’t want to do that.
I feel for her about her sister, how tragic. I get what she means about how it makes the typical Hollywood concerns pretty meaningless and shallow.
But on a superficial note, I do like the color and texture of the blue thing (dress? tunic?) she’s wearing.
There’s no shade. She specifically says it’s great for them but it’s not for her.
I dont think she was shading anyone. She wanted to make it clear lifestyle career + being a celeb is not her goal.
I would agree with that if Jessica herself did not stage pap shots as often as she does, especially when she’s in Europe.
And if she were not a such a constant presence at almost all the Fashion Week events shows and promos.
I think she likes being a celeb very much indeed
Jessica staging pap shots?! Paps don’t even follow her unless she’s promoting a film on that trip. What the hell… smh.
Trust me. Her staged pics don’t appear in most mags but they do on many sites.
They may not be appear because as poster lisa2 says in a post below, she has niche appeal rather than mass appeal.
Sorry but you have it all wrong there. I am a HUGE and I mean HUGE fan of hers and I save all of her pictures, including pap shots. Unless she’s promoting something and she is followed from one event to another, there very few pap shots of her simply out and about (shopping, etc.)
I loved her since The Help she is a good actress and I do appreciate that she is not hawking a $5000 scarf or a 200$ candle. We need classic actresses (who can actually act).
What Gweneth and Blake are supposed to do? They don’t have talent as actresses and if people bu their 200$ candle, it’s people fault.
Watch out for “Red Flubby Cake Pie”.
Isn’t she a “spokesperson” for some cosmetics company or fashion house, thou? I am not sure now but I think I’ve seen her in print ads.
She is the face of YSL Fragrance.
Thanks, M.
So… that’s not acting either, is it?
Well, to her defense, she talked about her love of fashion in another interview, and the man she’s dating is in the fashion industry. It’s one of her hobbies. Plus, if she’s not doing a bunch of big movies, then she probably needs a few endorsements to pay the bills. She does live in N.Y. after all.
As you can tell, I’m a big fan. She’s from my home town (Sacramento) and I’ve only heard nice things about her. Here’s hoping she’s nominated for an Oscar again. It will be a battle of the pretty redheads (Moore versus Chastain). I’m a big fan of both!
Easy for her to throw shade, she has a rare career – over 30 and getting great acting roles. The c-listers need to make a living too.
I don’t think it’s shade, more like an explanation. Maybe she gets a lot of offers to use her name and fame in different ways and people are surprised she’s just staying with acting.
This is the first time I hear about her sister, it sounds horribly painful.
Never say never.
Such good advice. Life changes and all of a sudden something that seemed beneath you now seems like an opportunity worth exploring.
Or a hot actor. You know what I mean? BEIGE BOOTY SHORTS 4EVAH. ;-Q
I wish this “throwing shade” crap would pass. If an interviewer asked me a question, something like, “RN, how do you feel about going to church?” and I answer with, “well, going to church isn’t really for me, but there are people who love going and that’s great for them” then I am NOT “throwing shade” or judging them. I am simply stating my preference in contrast to theirs.
How is anyone allowed to express an opinion anymore if it can be interpreted as being disrespectful to others who feel differently? I see nothing in those sentences where she said anything other than how SHE feels.
Totally agree…how did differences of opinions become shading all the time?! Sheesh
+100000000!
I feel like we’ve become too politically correct these days.
We are no longer allowed to be different at all as people. We live in a socialistic world whether it’s explicitly stated so or not. We have confused equality of opportunity with the results of that equality. This has created a social-speak where no differences of results or desires are allowed. It’s systematized into today’s global society.
EXACTLY. Disagreeing with or not wanting to be like someone isn’t throwing shade, or on the opposite side of the argument, jealousy. Can we stop trying to pit people against each other? Particularly women? Oops, maybe I just threw shade at the author.
She can’t seem to give an interview without talking about other actresses, methinks the lady dost protest too much
I like her as an actress, I think she doesn’t get that the public drives “celebrity”.. I don’t see that the public is that interested in her personal life; whether she is dating an actor or not. I was at the bookstore looking for a particular magazine. And it was so funny seeing so many of these women on magazine covers that are not selling. I saw her, Amy Adams, and too many others. Tons of magazines that are not moving. Why? because while they my be praised for acting the pubic is not interested in reading their interviews on covers.
Jessica is known for her work.. I do think and have said before that she works too much. She always has way too many films released back to back. And for me as a fan of her in some ways I have no intention of seeing 3 to 4 films of hers each year. They run together.
I don’t have a problem with actors/actresses having other interest. Most people I know have several interest outside their Day Jobs.. So why can’t they. Just because you are a Fireman, doesn’t mean you can’t play in a band on the side, or Being a Teacher doesn’t mean you can’t be on a Professional sports team too. She shouldn’t be so limited in her view of that you can be in addition to acting.
I can see her point. There’s a lot of pressure on having people too focused on you as a personality. If your fans feel disappointed by you, they’ll turn on you quickly. It’s better to remain somewhat anonymous and be known for your roles. But that’s a privilege for character actors, not big stars, so if she would prefer not to have AJ level fame, that also means giving up AJ level paychecks, guarantees of career longetivity, etc.
I wonder if AJ ever aspired to the level of personal fame she has now – if fame was part of her aspiration or if she, too, just wanted to experience life as an actor.
As an aside, I’d love to see the original two films that were re-cut to make “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby.” Does anyone know if there will be a dvd release?
“or date an actor, it just confuses it, because how do you even know if it’s real?”
wouldnt that also go for her partner? sounds very weird coming from an acting.
I thought that was weird too! Is she not real in her own relationships?
Very strange, considering her fake relationship with that Italian guy.
Maybe, she’s referring to PR relationships, where people date other actors for the added drama/fame, and to get to the next level? That would be my guess.
Katy, oh that could make sense. the whole sentence “Acting is all about being open to another person,…” sounds weird anyway. maybe i am not artsy enough. i thought it was more about expressing oneself in front of an audience.
It’s very weird. It’s like she defines a person by their profession, it just sounds shallow.
what even weirder is that she is a person in that profession. i mean deep down we all have our stereotypes about certain professions, but as someone working in that profession it seems very weird to say that.
generally dating someone famous is harder, dating an actor with all the co star affairs and rumors are good reasons to stay away from it. its just surprising that she uses it herself, how would her partner know she isnt faking it?
There’s something a bit odd about her when it comes to relationships it seems.
I think it has to do with the crazy, exponential attention one-actor-dating-another-actor gets. It soon becomes all about your private life more than your work. She seems to have made a conscious decision to avoid that. Matt Damon did the same; he said he made a decision to date “civilians” after Minnie Driver and Winona Ryder. As a consequence, he and his non-actor wife don’t get nearly as much attention as “Ben and Jen”.
thats all true, celeb cuoples get way more attention, but that still doesnt explain her “how do you know its true when you date an actor?” thats a pretty common question, but i never heard it from someone actually working in that profession.
I totally see her point. If you want to act (or sing or whatever) really well, focus on it instead of being a J-Lo or Madonna or whomever who tries to do it all – sing, dance, do a fashion line, create perfume, start a restaurant, a chain of gyms, a lifestyle website, anything and everything to keep you in the spotlight. It means you do a whole lot of things adequately and it keeps you rolling in money but you’ll never win an Oscar.
Didn’t get any shade from her. I really like her after this interview- she seems to have her head on her shoulders and unlike some celebs with “lifestyle websites” (cough) she doesn’t sound like a smug, pretentious know-it-all.
That dress, ugh! The colour and texture is beautiful (especially on Jessica) but that cutout is so WTF.
Yet she tweets and face books pictures of herself that scream look at me modelling and don’t I look beautiful! 😜
Oh I didn’t know about the suicide in her family. What a tragedy.
Yes.
It’s not “throwing shade” just her preference/opinion.
I don’t know, she sure spends a lot of time in the ingenue-getting-dressed-by-designers and photographed-at-hundreds-of-events box. Hard to take her seriously on this point.
Those are work obligations, though. Actors are contractually required to promote films. She doesn’t turn up to the opening of an envelope, we see her when it’s something she’s involved in.
Every time that she has a role that even has a whisper of an Oscar chance, she starts with the sob stories. She grew up poor, was allegedly bullied, her sister’s suicide–yeah, she’s talked about that before– her dad not being around, etc etc. Please. She also needs to stop talking about other actresses. She wishes she had the kind of pull to have a lifestyle brand, but no one knows who she is and no one is checking for her. She keeps dropping these huge hints about wanting to star in a comic book movie. I think she’s desperate to be a bigger star.
Oh and that’s a terrible cover. She looks old and that cutout is atrocious.
Jessica Chastain is hardly alone in her slight hypocrisy regarding privacy. So many of them are the same- in interviews, they say that they want to be known for the work only, their personal life is off limits, they try to disappear when not promoting a film…and very, very few actually live this way.
In my opinion, if you truly want privacy and for your personal life to be off-limits, then you don’t have Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. You don’t acknowledge or talk about your relationship. You don’t walk red carpets other than for your own projects and awards you are nominated for. You live outside of LA. I think it can be very scary to live this way, because as an actor, it is really dangerous to let the public “forget” about you; they all feel insecure about being forgotten and then never recovering their career.
Of her contemporaries, the ones who come closest to this, in my opinion, are Scarlett Johannson (who keeps the details of her private life PRIVATE) and Kerry Washington (the gold standard- I only know she was pregnant because I saw her belly, she puts out no info about her family, marriage, or child).
IMO, the “I don’t want to be a celebrity” line is standard PR. To be fair, celebrities would get torn apart if they publically admitted they want fame/a certain award/etc.
Good points. I think it’s true, as you point out, that being “a name” is part of how they are able to continue working. You often hear about studios only wanting to cast well-known actors with name recognition, so they probably feel they have to be public to a degree. It may be difficult sometimes to know where to draw the line.
Scarlett & Kerry certainly prove that life that be kept private when privacy is prioritized.
I don’t get how someone who is all over instagram, has a twitter/facebook, is on the cover of magazines talking about suicides in the family that happened a decade ago… is still trying to say that she wants to live a very private existence? Give me a break. She’ll sell any part of her life if she thinks it’ll get her closer to her dream of winning an Oscar. She is so thirsty.
I love her, and I think she’s pretty private on Facebook and social media. Usually she looks great but she looks weird in that cover. Like Bryce Howard. Gorgeous and talented and genuine. But, yeah, ambitious – but you’ve got to play the game in most cases to improve your chances of an Oscar. Like any career you’ve got to have a strategy. I hope she wins/is nominated. She’s more deserving than Anne Hathaway, that’s for sure.
Actors should just own it because they aren’t fooling anyway. They need fame and recognition to stay relevant. If they change physically and work especially hard in a controversial role, then darn right they want an Oscar. If they happen to fall into the B, C, D category then yes having a lifestyle website is an option to stay in the spotlight, or a relationship or antics and perhaps a wedding and baby. This is how they get paid so everything is potentially an option. Just keep it real.
Love her!! Oh well if she is.
I think that she should be a lot more careful with what she says. She may be a good actress and wellknown etc but she is hardly a top actress with universal recognition – not that sort ofactress people would go gaga over. and talking abt aj is not right – no matter what – she could have framed her answers differently imo. the expression to each their own sd be her motto – there are people who are multi talented – who can sing and dance and host and act – npharris is one of them if they can make it work then why not. for jennifer lopez – if she can sustain both lifestyle and acting and singing etc then why shouldnt she? perhaps jessica chastain is jealous that she is only able to act?? who knows
I am bummed out because my subscription of InStyle magazine had a different cover version of J.C. on it. In my version it was an almost side version of her with her mouth open. Jessica C. is a beautiful and seemingly intelligent actress and unfortunately, my cover version she looks neither. I do hope she is nominated again for an Oscar. I’m a fan.
She is not throwing shade. It is equivalent to me saying, “I don’t like to wear orange dresses but if some else does good for them.”
I loved her in Interstellar. I wish she had a bigger part in it.
Something Superficial: I love her ponytail in that last photograph. I wish I could make my hair look like that!
She is so bland. I’ve seen her in two movies where she earned nominations. I don’t remember her at all from one of them, and nothing out of the ordinary in the other.
The issue she highlights is not being known for personality/celebrity, but that those are what folks fall back on when they don’t actually have enough talent to make it as a performer.
Now, that’s ^^ shade.