Jessica Chastain began
her career in several guest-roles on TV before making her feature
debut in the critically acclaimed Jolene. After her incredible
performance, she soon broke through to the mainstream with major
roles in The Help and Zero Dark Thirty. She’s since
become the go-to actress for brilliant, understated and unexpected
performances, and her fantastic range has seen her become a regular
on the awards circuit. To celebrate the release of her latest, crime
drama A Most Violent Year, available on Blu-ray, DVD and
digital platforms from May 18, 2015 courtesy of Icon Film
Distribution, we take a look at some of her greatest roles to
date...
A Most Violent
Year (2014)
Chastain gives
an electrifying performance in this crime drama, alongside Oscar
Isaac. At a time when New York City is experiencing a spike in
criminal activity, small businessman Abel Morales (Isaac)
fights to make himself a living, support his wife Anna (Chastain)
and protect his interests. Always looking for a way to expand his
business, Abel nevertheless strives to keep things honest and to do
things by the book. However, when he becomes the target of
opportunistic thieves, he takes matters into his own hands to track
down those responsible. But, in doing so, he also attracts the
attention of the Assistant District Attorney (David Oyelowo)
who takes an unwelcome interest in Abel’s business practices...
Interstellar
(2014)
Christopher Nolan’s
epic sci-fi stars Chastain alongside Matthew McConaughey,
Anne Hathaway and Michael Caine, and charts a future in
which Earth has been devastated by drought and famine, causing a
scarcity in food and extreme climate change. Humans are facing
extinction, when a mysterious rip in the space-time continuum is
discovered, potentially giving mankind a chance at survival.
Explorers including Cooper (McConaughey) and Brand (Hathaway)
undertake a mission beyond the solar system in a last ditch attempt
to find a planet that can sustain life. Chastain plays
Cooper’s daughter Murph, who remains on earth and works with
Professor Brand (Caine) to try and discover an equation which
could help save humanity.
Miss Julie
(2014)
Liv Ullman’s
adaptation of August Strindberg’s play stars Chastain
alongside Colin Farrell and acts as the perfect vehicle for
her to demonstrate her incredible range, as she takes on the role of
the conflicted, strong willed Miss Julie, who over the course of one
evening battles with her feelings for valet Jean (Farrell), as
they engage in a psychological game of cat and mouse in the
oppressive, claustrophobic environment of the family manor’s
kitchen.
Mama (2013)
Andrés Muschietti’s
horror won multiple awards on release, and tells the haunting tale of
two little girls who are abandoned in the woods after their mother’s
murder. After their father’s breakdown and attempt to murder them
too, they are saved by a ghostly image. Some years later they are
rescued and taken in by their uncle Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau)
and his girlfriend Annabel (Chastain). However, it seems that
whatever being has been guarding the girls so far has followed them
too- and now their lives are in grave danger...
Zero Dark
Thirty (2012)
Kathryn Bigelow’s
Oscar-winning chronicle of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and his
subsequent death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in 2011
stars Chastain as CIA operative Maya, whose dogged pursuit of
Bin Laden continues for several years, until finally in 2011, it
appears her work may finally pay off. A U.S. Navy SEAL team is
dispatched to kill or capture Bin Laden- but Maya’s confidence in
the location of their target is challenged by her colleagues, and no
one but she believes with absolute certainty that Bin Laden is where
she thinks he is.
Lawless (2012)
Nick Cave penned
this Depression-era crime drama, which recounts the lives of the
three Bondurant brothers- Forrest (Tom Hardy), Jack (Shia
LeBeouf) and Howard (Jason Clarke), who are forced to
contend with the corrupt District Attorney Mason Wardell (Tim
Tolin) and Special Deputy Charles Rakes (Guy Pearce),
after refusing to pay the bribes required to maintain their
bootlegging and distillery business. Chastain turns in a
wonderful supporting performance as Maggie, a dancer from Chicago
with a hidden past, who Forrest hires as a waitress for the
distillery, and who he eventually falls in love with.
Tree of Life
(2011)
Terence Malick’s
impressionistic tale of a Midwestern family in the 1950's stars
Chastain alongside Brad Pitt as a married couple
bringing up a family including their eldest son Jack (Hunter
McCracken). The film follows Jack, through the innocence of his
childhood up to his disillusioned adult years as he desperately tries
to reconcile his complex relationship with his father (Brad Pitt).
In adulthood, Jack (now played by Sean Penn) finds himself a
lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the meaning of life
while questioning the true nature of faith. The stunning performances
from the central cast are supported beautifully by Malick's
signature striking imagery.
The Help
(2011)
Based on Kathryn
Stockett’s bestselling novel set in pre- Civil Rights
Mississippi, The Help recounts the trials and tribulations of
the African American maids in a tight-knit community, including
Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) and Minny Jackson (Octavia
Spencer). Initially reluctant, they eventually agree to recount
their experiences to aspiring writer Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone)
for her book on the lives of maids. Meanwhile, Minny is forced to
take a job with a newly settled married couple- one half of which is
the kind-hearted but calamitous Celia Foote, played by an utterly
charming and scene-stealing Chastain.
The Debt
(2010)
John Madden
directed this espionage thriller, which begins in 1997, when retired
Mossad agents Rachel (Helen Mirren) and Stefan (Tom
Wilkinson) receive shocking news about their former colleague
David (Ciaran Hinds). Celebrated for decades due to a
hazardous mission they undertook in 1965 to track down Nazi war
criminal Vogel (Jesper Christensen), they are now faced with a
moral dilemma of unimaginable proportions. Told in flashbacks to
1965, where the trio are portrayed by Chastain as Rachel,
Marton Csokas as Stefan and Sam Worthington as David, the
film jumps between two time periods, and the tension builds to an
astonishing climax, in which the true extent of the secrets kept are
finally revealed.
Jolene (2008)
Chastain
delivers an astonishing performance in this adaptation of EL
Doctorow’s acclaimed short story- a coming-of-age drama about
Jolene (Chastain), a teenage orphan who spends a decade
travelling cross-country on an adventure which finds her crossing
paths with everyone from the manipulative ‘Uncle’ Phil (Dermot
Mulroney), who seduces her and destroys her marriage, to wealthy
fundamentalist (Michael Vartan), to an ex-mobster (Chazz
Palminteri) desperately attempting to win big in Las Vegas. Ably
by supported by a strong ensemble cast, the film offers an early
glimpse of just how incredibly talented and versatile an actress she
is.
A Most Violent
Year is available on Blu-ray, DVD and digital platforms
from May 18, 2015 courtesy of Icon Film Distribution.
