Jessica Chastain: Ridley Scott is a game changer

Jessica Chastain has praised Ridley Scott for boosting women’s careers in Hollywood.

The actress has teamed up with the iconic director for The Martian, about an astronaut who is accidentally left stranded on Mars after a space mission. As well as being thrilled to land her role as Melissa Lewis, Jessica is excited to work with someone who is so pro actresses.

“I’ve always been a fan of Ridley’s. He’s a gem of a human being, for starters. And he provided so many great roles for women. Look at Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis in Thelma & Louise,” she told British newspaper The Daily Mail’s writer Baz Bamigboye.

“And there was Sigourney Weaver, as Ripley in Alien. That was originally written for a man, and he changed it to a woman. That doesn’t happen a lot in our business.”

Jessica is an outspoken feminist and has often bemoaned the lack of juicy parts for women. She doesn’t mind not being front and centre in her flicks, but has said she will never take on a role where she’s just a prop for a story about a man.

This seems to be the case in The Martian, with Matt Damon playing the stranded man Mark Watney and Jessica’s character the person who leaves him.

“I get to be an astronaut, with the astronaut suit,” she explained. “My character’s not in the whole movie - it’s Matt’s movie. But my character’s still a badass and she’s pretty cool. She gets to go to space, and I did zero-gravity training.”

The Martian also stars Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels and Chiwetel Ejiofor and it’s due out later this year.