'I Was A Dramatic Kid': For Jessica Chastain, Acting Came Naturally

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

The new movie "A Most Violent Year" is set in New York City in 1981, a chaotic time of spiraling crime. The story involves corruption in the heating oil industry - businessman trying to stay on the straight and narrow, a prosecutor who has that businessman in his sights, oh, and a wife who may hold all the cards.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A MOST VIOLENT YEAR")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Where are we exposed?

JESSICA CHASTAIN: (As Anna Morales) We follow standard industry practice on every front.

ACTOR: (As character) What does that mean?

CHASTAIN: (As Anna Morales) You know what it means.

ACTOR: (As character) I know.

CHASTAIN: (As Anna Morales) I need to know what they're saying we did.

BLOCK: That's Jessica Chastain as Anna Morales, daughter of a Brooklyn gangster. Upwardly mobile, she keeps the books for her husband's fuel business and a number of secrets. And as Anna pushes her husband to be tougher, Chastain told me, she becomes tougher herself.

CHASTAIN: She breaks free from this mold that she's been living in - the idea of this perfectly coiffed wife. I mean, I - it was really important for me also that she have really long nails - obnoxiously long.

BLOCK: (Laughter) They are an impressive set of nails, we could say.

CHASTAIN: (Laughter) Yes.

BLOCK: Perfect.

CHASTAIN: Not from, like, even just a cosmetic point of view, but I wanted it to be like a predator. And I also wanted her to be a character that you underestimate, but when you underestimate someone that's when you really get hurt.

BLOCK: Let's listen to a scene from the movie where you are confronting the prosecutor who's about to indict your husband for tax evasion and fraud. And you tell him we're not who you think you we are.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A MOST VIOLENT YEAR")

CHASTAIN: (As Anna Morales) My husband is not my father, not even close. So if I were you I would start treating us with a little more respect or I guarantee he will make it his mission in life to ruin you. This was very disrespectful.

BLOCK: And, Jessica Chastain, that last line - this was very disrespectful - you've just tossed your cigarette butt on the ground and you do this little motion - this little loop-de-loop motion - with your finger with this incredibly long fingernail.

CHASTAIN: I had no idea, but it's funny. As soon as that was released it was in the trailer. I've had people come up to me do that.

BLOCK: That motion.

CHASTAIN: Like, flicking of an imaginary cigarette on the ground, doing a little circle with their finger and saying this was very disrespectful (laughter).

BLOCK: That's become your thing.

CHASTAIN: I guess so. Who knew?

(LAUGHTER)

BLOCK: Have you tried just tossing that into sort of your daily life every once in a while?

CHASTAIN: Oh, no.

(LAUGHTER)

CHASTAIN: No, no, no, but it was fun. I mean, what I loved so much about this scene is that yes, she thinks, and everyone thinks, that she is talking about her husband. She's actually talking about herself.

BLOCK: You know, I'm thinking about this scene and thinking about another scene from your movie "Zero Dark Thirty." You played a CIA agent named Maya who was obsessed with tracking down and hunting down Osama bin Laden. Let's listen to a scene from that movie. This is where you're confronting your boss, the CIA station chief, in Pakistan.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ZERO DARK THIRTY")

CHASTAIN: (As Maya) Either give me the team I need to follow this lead or that other thing you're going to have on your resume is being the first station chief to be called before a congressional committee for subverting the efforts to capture or kill bin Laden.

BLOCK: Jessica Chastain, as you listen back to that scene, are you seeing threads between these two characters? Both of whom you see, I think, clearly as really powerful, powerful women in very different ways.

CHASTAIN: You know, I don't see threads between the characters so much because Maya in "Zero Dark Thirty," especially in this scene that you just played, she's a woman that, in some aspects, is out of control. Anna's not like that and Anna's much colder. She's more calculating. She's more serpentile (ph) I think, but I wonder if Maya was born earlier (laughter) and it was in 1981 if she would be more contained because there is less freedom for a woman in industry the further back you go.

BLOCK: I'm talking with the actress Jessica Chastain. Let's talk a bit about your background. You grew up in Sacramento and it sounds like your family was not connected to the business in any way, didn't even particularly enjoy going to movies. Do you remember a moment when you thought I know what I want to be when I grow up and it's an actor?

CHASTAIN: (Laughter) It really was such a natural thing that happened. My grandmother took me to a play and then it started and there was a little girl on stage. And as soon as I saw her on stage I thought this is my job.

BLOCK: How old were you?

CHASTAIN: I was probably, like, 7 or 8. I was very young.

BLOCK: And what was the play?

CHASTAIN: (Laughter) It was "Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" (laughter).

BLOCK: And you knew, I mean, were you are dramatic kid? I mean, did you have a flair for performing?

CHASTAIN: You know, I was never - well, yeah, actually, you're right. I was a dramatic kid. I remember I was very young and once I knew what I wanted to do I, like, created a theater company and I would direct and we'd sell lemonade to buy props. I was, like, 10 years old and I had my own theater company, cul-de-sac theater company.

BLOCK: Oh, it had a name.

CHASTAIN: No, it just was in our cul-de-sac.

(LAUGHTER)

BLOCK: I was going to say you could've done better with the name.

(LAUGHTER)

CHASTAIN: So yeah, it became - it was such an outlet for me. And I went to public school and I didn't do well in school. And it wasn't until actually I got into school at Juilliard - it was the first time in my life that I thought, oh, maybe I'm not stupid because I was so inspired and passionate about what I was learning. And it was the first time in my life I had felt that.

BLOCK: Was it a scary thing to be at Juilliard, at such a prestigious and, I'm sure, high-pressure environment there?

CHASTAIN: Yeah. It was very scary for me. I - my grandmother came with me when I moved out to New York. She stayed with me for a week. I was, you know, living in the dorm. The first year I had a lot of anxiety and (laughter) I remember my teachers kept saying I had so much jaw tension. Like, I couldn't even, you know, in taking voice and speech classes I could hardly open my mouth. I was so terrified.

BLOCK: Oh, wow. What did you do about the jaw tension?

CHASTAIN: I went to a doctor and, you know, of course, got a mouth guard at night, so I didn't get rid of all of my teeth. And then every night, usually, I would just get a, like, a hot towel and put it on my face.

BLOCK: And it worked.

CHASTAIN: I think more than anything like that what worked is just getting some confidence. Julliard - when I was there - I don't know if they still have it, but they had a probation and a cut program. And I'm the first person in my family to go to college. My grandmother was helping me financially. It was a really big deal that I was there and the idea that they would've sent me home was incredibly traumatic. But I had to start to feel like, OK, I belong here. It's all right. They're not going to send me away.

BLOCK: It sounds like your grandmother was a really, really key person in your life.

CHASTAIN: Yeah. She's very, very important to me. I've taken her to the Oscars both years and she's really a special lady and has helped me in more ways than I could ever explain.

BLOCK: What's her name?

CHASTAIN: Marilyn.

BLOCK: And she's still with you.

CHASTAIN: Thank God, yeah (laughter). I can't even ever imagine thinking that she wouldn't be, so yeah, she is.

BLOCK: Well, Jessica Chastain, it's been great to talk to. Thanks so much.

CHASTAIN: Thank you. It was a pleasure for me.

BLOCK: Jessica Chastain stars in the new film "A Most Violent Year." Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.