Jessica Chastain can’t get used to being famous.
The redheaded beauty first made a name for herself in television before starring in movies including The Help and Zero Dark Thirty. And while her latest project sees her star alongside Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway in Interstellar, Jessica says she has yet to accept that she’s now known worldwide.
“I don’t get used to it, I feel like I’ve found a place in the industry, but that I’m observing everyone,” she told British newspaper The Independent. “That I’ve got into the coolest concert ever, and I’m backstage and I get to hang out with the Stones. I don’t feel like I’m part of a band.”
Jessica also revealed that while she has achieved critical acclaim and countless award nominations for several of her movie roles, she never chooses films because she thinks she will be praised for her performance in them.
Instead, it’s the calibre of the cast and the director that attracts Jessica to a film.
“I’ve been very lucky when I choose a film, I don’t think of the paycheck first,”Jessica explained. “I think, when we end the film, how are we going to be more enriched as human beings' For me I’ve never taken a role and thought that I’ll get something out of this. If you think, ‘I’ll get recognition’, often the opposite happens.”
And working with Christopher Nolan on Interstellar was a once in a lifetime opportunity for Jessica. The 37-year-old admits that she felt a personal connection with Christopher, and is thrilled with the finished result.
“It was great because Christopher Nolan is an independent film-maker who happens to work at a studio,” Jessica said. “Yes, Interstellar is a big budget film, but it’s his voice, you feel completely like it’s his movie all the way.
“When I’m on a film the only thing I don’t want is 20 people directing me. I don’t want everyone showing up to the hair and make-up test, where the director doesn’t have a say on what I look like and what I should wear. That’s not so exciting to me, because then it feels like I’m making a movie for a corporation.”
