Jessica Chastain is promoting her film Miss Sloane, out December 9th, in which she plays a ruthless Washington lobbyist under investigation by congress. The extended trailer gave me goosebumps (and on a superficial note I really want to get my hair cut like her character’s, I already went red this month in my post-election “change everything” frenzy). It’s a particularly poignant time for a political movie of this nature, featuring a powerful female protagonist. Chastain realizes this of course, and in a new interview with Bustle she makes it clear that she’s a feminist and a fighter and that nothing is going to make her feel apologetic about that. I know she’s not controversial but holy sh-t she always says the right things and I love her so much. Please honk for Jessica Chastain. We need more celebrities who tell it like it is and are bonafide feminists without being clueless asses about it. (See: Lena Dunham, Amy Schumer, et al.)

On preserving the nasty woman message after Clinton’s loss…
“I’m a nasty woman. I’m proud to be a nasty woman. It’s a strange thing to say, but I’m not going to let someone make me feel bad for succeeding and using my power.”

On how society views ambitious women…
“You hear of a woman showing that she cares and that she worked hard, having ambition, wanting to do her job well — it’s not something that typically we celebrate in our society. Women like that are labeled as difficult or as ice queens or almost anti-women.”

“We’re all participating in writing the role of what a woman is supposed to be, and I don’t think it’s accurate.”

On the gender wage gap…
“[When we] talk about the wage gap, for so much it’s been about, OK, why aren’t men paying women equally? But then you have to look at it and go, OK, it’s because women aren’t asking for more. That’s what data’s showing… why is that? It’s because in our society, if a woman steps forward, she’s frowned upon.”

On demanding gender equality…
“I think we just have to look at ourselves and how we’re fitting into society and say OK, let’s step forward, let’s ask for pay raises, let’s ask for promotions, let’s get what we deserve, and let’s not ridicule other women for showing up prepared.”

On the reversal of gender norms in Miss Sloane…
“Usually in film, when you see a female lead character who’s championing something, it’s something that has to do with being female. It’s inherently a female movie, a female issue.” But with Miss Sloane, she says, “I was really excited to see a successful female working in politics that was championing an issue that wasn’t gender specific.”

On the importance of films representing women outside their expected societal roles…
“I was very, very happy to play a character like Elizabeth and show that yes, you can be ambitious, you can be over-prepared, you can be all these things that men have been in the past, and we can still root for that kind of character to succeed. I like women in my life who [are like that], and I like to go to movies where the

[From Bustle]

I bought a “I’m a nasty woman and I vote” t-shirt last month, thinking it would make a nice novelty item when Hillary was in office. I put it away the day after the election and I haven’t worn it again. I don’t feel meek exactly, but am definitely tired and worried about the future. When Jessica Chastain calls herself a nasty woman and says that we should speak the hell up and not be ashamed it’s like a rallying cry for us. It’s not our fault that there’s a wage gap or that assertive women are discouraged and disparaged, but we can do what we can to show that we’re not going away and we’re not shutting up.

These are new photos of Chastain on the set of Molly’s Game in Toronto. She looks amazing with long brown hair like that! She’s also shown at her hand and footprint ceremony earlier this month.

photos credit: Pacific Coast News and FameFlynet