“To be honest, I’m mainly surprised about my nomination,” Jessica Chastain told The New York Times regarding her recently announced Golden Globe nod for “Molly’s Game.” The actor took home a Globe in 2013 for “Zero Dark Thirty” and is a two-time Oscar nominee. She wasn’t doubting the worthiness of the performance in her latest film — she was just being realistic about the potential cost of consistently using her platform to loudly and proudly support women and tackle misogyny.
“As an actor, I have a lot of fear, thinking that if I speak my mind, or something that feels like it deviates from the norm as a woman, am I going to be made to disappear in my industry?” Chastain explained. “When the article came out about [Harvey] Weinstein, I immediately started tweeting. I’ve got a good group of girlfriends on WhatsApp, and I said, ‘I’m really terrified I’m destroying my career right now. I wonder if people will still see me as an actress, and want to work with knowing I have these opinions.’ In the way that only good girlfriends can do, they helped me eliminate fear and understand that the only way to change something that’s wrong is to change it, not ignore it. And rather than saying it’s an industrywide issue, it’s more than that. It’s a societywide issue. We can’t ignore farmworkers or women who have been invisible.”
Those familiar with Chastain’s Twitter account realize that she does not hold back. You won’t find her mincing words. You will find her addressing abuses of power, speaking up for women directors, and addressing Hollywood’s toxic masculinity.
“It really is a new world,” Chastain said of the post-Weinstein landscape, where (some) men in power are finally being held accountable for (some) of their inappropriate, abusive behavior. “We’ve been since birth in a society that makes us feel like we’re easily replaceable, that we need to be grateful for any work, and grateful for what we have,” she observed. “But what that does is it limit our acknowledgment of the power we have, especially when we work together. It’s like what Margaret Mead said. ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.’ And that’s what we’re doing.”
“Molly’s Game” sees Chastain playing Molly Bloom, a former Olympic-level skier who ends up running the world’s most exclusive, high-stakes poker game attended by movie stars, athletes, and billionaires. “This is a film about gender politics, patriarchy,” Chastain says of “Molly’s Game” in the NYT. Just imagine a high-profile actor promoting her film using these words 10 or even five years ago. Chastain’s right — we’re really living in a new world.
“Molly’s Game” hits theaters December 25.
