STACK #126 Apr 2016

1

2

with JESSICA CHASTAIN

There’s a lot that’s going on in this movie. In one sentence can you describe the story? JESSICA CHASTAIN: Yes. In one sentence. It is a thrilling film about space exploration, but at its core it’s about the powerful bonds of love. Excellent.Very good summary.Tell me about your character. Well I’m playing Professor Brands’ protégé, a fellow astrophysicist. I’m dealing with the agricultural crisis on Earth, and she was hurt really badly when she was a child emotionally. She stopped maturing from that point on. And when we meet her in the film, she’s

hiding behind science. She’s hiding behind numbers. That’s becoming her obsession. Until she, through science, learns that actually love never goes away.

a big budget film. Also he’s very great with expanding the characters like emotionally. He would leave me alone. I’d do three or four takes, and then some days he’d come up to me, give me a quick little word, or just the tiniest little adjustment that would open my character up in a new way. And I thought, “I love working with people like that who are so intuitive and precise.” He’s known for working with practical sets, no green screen or any of that. So can you talk a little bit about what that was like? I’m thinking specifically of the dust storms. It was real dust they were chucking in my face. (Laughs) How was it to film that kind of scene? Listen, it’s not fun. Like when you’re at home that night trying to get the dust out of your ears and like even a month later, you’re like, “Wow. I still have dust all over me coming out of my pores.” It’s not fun while it’s happening, but actually it’s normal for my character. So it just became a normality for me. (Laughs) Yes. I prefer practical sets. I prefer tangible things that I can touch and feel and respond to. I’d rather just concentrate on talking to my fellow actor as a character. I’m very much a reactive actor, and that’s why so much of my performance depends on who I’m acting with because I take what they’re giving me, and I respond to it. I’m like that with my environment too. I’m going to react to what’s happening around me. Was it hard to wrap your head around some of the science that’s in the movie and to be able to communicate it effectively for the audience? And then doing that with Michael Caine, does that add a layer of excitement? It was a dream come true to work with Michael Caine. I just think he’s incredible. He’s a legend of cinema. I’m always trying to get some time with the legends and learn what I can from them. As far as it goes like with the science, I didn’t stress too much about forcing myself to understand the theory of relativity, or these concepts that people spend a life’s work working on. Kip Thorne -- he’s our executive producer, and he’s a leading theoretical physicist. He was on set and I got to talk with him, and he explained some concepts to me. I made sure that everything my character talks about, I understood, because that’s what you have to do as an actor. But I gave myself permission to know that I can’t be method with this role, I have to act a lot of it because she spent 20 years preparing for what she’s doing. Do you enjoy that?That you actually have all the tactile things there?

Tell us about working with director Christopher Nolan. I’d always been a huge fan of his. I still get a little shy around Chris to be honest. He moves very quickly. He’s very funny. Like he’ll say a joke when you least expect it. We finished [shooting] two weeks [early].

Really? Yeah, which is, I hear, kind of strange for

• Interstellar is out April 8

www.stack.net.au