So what’s my superpower? The force of female fury!
Jessica chastain said that for the longest time ‘ we women have been taught to be good little girls . . . you can be seen but not heard’. But the time for good little girls to be quiet is coming to an end.
in the new X-Men film, Dark Phoenix, chastain plays smith, an alien who thinks emotions make you weak. ‘she’s very clinical and incredibly intelligent,’ the Oscar-nominated star said of her character, who tries to harness a powerful force within mutant Jean Grey, played with extraordinary intensity by sophie turner.
Women dominate the movie. at one point Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique tells James Mcavoy’s avuncular charles Xavier that it’s the female mutants who do most of the saving . . . and the group should be called X-Women.
chastain (pictured) laughed when this was mentioned and suggested, diplomatically: ‘the X-Force is what it should be called.’
But without a doubt, female fury is unleashed. ‘i love that about this film,’ chastain said. ‘it explores female rage and this idea that, for the longest time, we women have been taught to be good little girls. You can be seen but not heard.
‘ if a woman speaks with authority, she’s out of control, at least in a patriarchal society.
‘if a man has an opinion, he’s brilliant. if a woman does, she’s difficult. My character tells Jean: “are you gonna follow the rules of this guy? Or are you going to be the most powerful creature in the universe?”
‘ so many women should embrace that rage inside them; and we’re starting to see it with all these women’s marches . . . they’re starting to have their voice.’
in X- Men: Dark Phoenix (which opens here on June 5) chastain’s signature red tresses are disguised beneath a white-blonde wig. she wears a little powder and lip gloss but otherwise displays a very fresh face. she told me she was going for a look that was ‘like an elevated form of human . . . so i just thought of tilda swinton’.
While everyone else in Dark Phoenix is flailing about, chastain’s smith assesses the situation with an unearthly coolness. (chastain said she channelled a little bit of Robert Patrick’s bad terminator in
terminator 2). she enjoyed making the film with old friend Mcavoy. the pair worked together on the Disappearance Of eleanor Rigby, and he was instrumental in ensuring they both received equal pay — for which, she told me, she’ll be eternally grateful to him.
she said the film industry is slowly getting to a place where ‘we have equal pay for equal work’.
She laughed and added that there have been situations where ‘let’s say i’ve joined a film first and my salary is a typical number; and a male actor comes on, and their lawyer will call mine and say: can we get equal pay with Jessica?’
in July, chastain will join Penelope cruz, Lupita nyong’o and Bingbing Fan in an espionage thriller called 355 (the code name of a female spy ring during the american Revolution), which will shoot in London.
the project was developed with business partner Kelly carmichael and their colleague arianna anderson, in Jessica’s living room, through her Freckle Films company. (it will be directed by simon Kinberg, who made Dark Phoenix.)
chastain wondered aloud why spy movies don’t focus on female agents unless they’re
used as honeypots. When making the thriller Zero Dark thirty, she did research into women intelligence officers. ‘ Women found Osama Bin Laden!’ she marvelled.
Will there be Bond boys in 355, i asked?
‘Oh yeah,’ she replied. ‘We’ve got some eye candy.’
sebastian stan and edgar Ramirez have been cast, and a third dude will join the project soon.
chastain and Mcavoy had a discussion on this very subject recently, and he asked if she was going to ‘ objectify men, like women have been objectified’.
‘i said it’s kind of incredible to let women know we have a female gaze, and we are also sexual creatures.’ But she said they wouldn’t be objectifying the men.
she did say that the roles for the men are great. ‘i’m going to allow a female audience to sit there and go: “Wow! isn’t he beautiful!” ’
Later in the year, chastain will portray television evangelist tammy Faye Bakker (with andrew Garfield playing tammy’s first husband Jim Bakker), having acquired rights to a documentary film about her several years ago. (i broke the story last week that elton John, Jake shears and James Graham have developed a tammy musical for Rocket stage that will open next year.)