I actually chose to do 'X-Men' because I'm working with Simon Kinberg, who's also a first-time filmmaker who I met on 'The Martian' and is an incredible writer and producer.
— Jessica Chastain
What can I do to create a healthy work environment? Because we have all been groomed to the normalization of violence and the normalization of abuse. And we refuse to live in that society.
Gian Luca and I have been together for such a long time, we're in it for the long haul.
I cut school to read Shakespeare and to learn about that because, for the first time, I felt like I really discovered a passion - the passion of my life.
What's wrong with trying hard and showing up and being good at your job? We really need to look at ourselves and say we need to reevaluate this. We need to reevaluate that women who ask for a pay raise or ask for a promotion - it's actually an okay thing. It's okay to be ambitious; it's okay to be over-prepared.
I started a production company - all female led, actually - called Freckle Films.
For the longest time, people would say to me that I didn't feel very modern, that I seemed from another time.
When I get a script that has the opportunity to create discussion and inspire young girls, I don't want to say no to that... I just want to contribute.
We need to understand that femininity is not weakness. And our society, for some reason, equates the two.
I understood the importance of doing an Aaron Sorkin film. He's a political filmmaker.
I went to public school, and I didn't do well in school. And it wasn't until, actually, I got into school at Juilliard - it was the first time in my life that I thought, 'Oh, maybe I'm not stupid,' because I was so inspired and passionate about what I was learning, and it was the first time in my life I had felt that.
We know in our society, women are valued for their sexual desirability and not necessarily for what they have to say.
The power of 'no' means you're educating people in how to treat you.
I'm not taking jobs anymore where I'm getting paid a quarter of what the male co-star is being paid. I'm not allowing that in my life.
My whole life, I wanted to be an actor. Perhaps the seed was planted when I saw Sigourney Weaver in 'Alien', wiping the floor with the men on the ship.
Green tea throughout the day is the healthiest thing I've discovered for me.
I think, in the past, being brave - being powerful, being strong - were qualities that people associated with being masculine. And I think... no, I don't think - I know that now we're realizing they can be feminine, too.
In the characters that I play, I'm so involved in the look; it's very, very important to me. Because how a person presents him or herself to the world, they're saying something about themselves. It's their first form of advertisement.
I'm so inspired by the women who are far braver than I am, who have come forward with their stories and risked everything to help others. What is important is that the voices of these women do not disappear. We must amplify them.
I never heard in my entire life that a man was overprepared for anything. I am overprepared in my life. What's wrong with being ambitious, being overprepared, being one step ahead?
Acting, for me, has never been about wanting attention or wanting to be seen. It's funny that I'm in a profession where that's where I am. There's so much I want to express; it's about connecting with another person and the intimacy of what that is, and so I have to overcome my shyness.
I take great responsibility in any character that I play.
If you're one of the only women on a set - if it's you and a bunch of men - you feel like your value doesn't come from your thoughts and your talent and what you say: your value comes from how you look and how you're perceived by the men around you.
Some people think I've had a nose job. I've never had anything like that done, but I have no judgement of anyone that does.
If I can help create empathy and balance in society, I'm going to do whatever I can to tell stories that subconsciously create that.
I find it very interesting: when 90 percent of the critics that review films are men, how is that helpful when trying to create stories from a feminine point of view?
I struggled for so long to try to create a career.
I was a dramatic kid. I remember, I was very young, and once I knew what I wanted to do I, like, created a theater company, and I would direct, and we would sell lemonade to buy props.
We have grown up watching women be used as props on a man's journey. It's not our fault that that's what we saw as children. But we need to acknowledge that and do better.
If you want me in your film, do a favored-nation clause. Don't determine my worth based on what's left over.
This is what the media does with women. You try to divide and conquer women so you can intimidate and victimise them. This is why they don't make movies where a lot of women get to be on set together. It's about dividing.
Everyone has to learn how to live in an environment that has not made it easy for women to claim their place, so I think it's all women's responsibility to step forward.
If I'm in Italy, I'll have an espresso, but I try not to get my energy from things like that.
When you take away healthcare from women, you're keeping women out of the workforce because you're eliminating their choice of when to start a family.
Only a woman can tell you what it's like to be a woman in a society where men are in charge. When you have one demographic that controls the livelihood of minorities, then you're always going to have abuses of power. So this goes way beyond Hollywood.
This is an industry rife with racism, sexism and homophobia. It is so closely woven into the fabric of the business that we have become snowblind to the glaring injustices happening every day.
When 'Tree of Life' went to Cannes, all the interviewers were asking me about my favorite actors and actresses because I was new to the industry, and they wanted to get to know me.
For me, I'm not in an industry where I'm starving.
I'm very much a hippie from Northern California.
I'm inspired by antiques. I look at things that have a wink to the past but are also reinterpreted in some way and made to feel modern... and maybe that's what I am.
I think when you congratulate yourselves for diversity, that means nothing's really changed.
If someone doesn't want to hire me because they think I'm too vocal, fine. I will do a play. I will always find a job. Let them try to get me out of this industry. I am not going to be silenced!
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?
My grandmother came with me when I moved out to New York. She stayed with me for a week. I was, you know, living in the dorm. The first year, I had a lot of anxiety, and, I remember, my teachers kept saying I had so much jaw tension.
My grandmother took me to a play, and... there was a little girl on stage. And as soon as I saw her on stage, I thought, 'This is my job'... I was probably, like, 7 or 8. I was very young... It was 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'.
I can't tell you how many incredible directors I long to work with, but then I look at their IMDb page, and they haven't made a single movie about a woman.
What I do now, when I'm taking on a film, I always ask about the fairness of the pay. I ask what they're offering me in comparison to the guy. I don't care about how much I get paid; I'm in an industry where we're overcompensated for the work we do.
Women can be powerful, graceful, and complex, with the ability to make any choice they desire.
My goal is that a girl will watch 'The Martian' or 'Interstellar' and think, 'I want to be an astronaut or a quantum physicist.' It's important to show powerful women who are good at their jobs because young girls need those examples.
The great thing about modern feminism is that women can define what it means to them: it can mean being ambitious, it can mean being emotional, it can mean being sensitive and compassionate and also a leader. It can mean all those things.
