Chastain: Box Office Queen

 

 

 

OK I was going to try to avoid  a post about Jessica Chastain (just to break the monotony) but this one couldn't be avoided because of it's rarity.

 

It's been talk of the blogosphere and twitterverse that Jessica Chastain dominated the box office this weekend!  Her film Mama where she plays a punk rock bass player charged with taking care of two feral children earned the top spot at the box office during this extended MLK weekend.  It is projected to earn $33 million for the extended weekend.  Previously, bloggers were worried that Mama could be Chastain's "Norbit" (you know, the awful Eddie Murphy movie that came out around the same time as Dreamgirls.  Some people believe it cost him the Oscar).  Surprisingly this Guillermo Del Toro produced horror flick gained favorable reviews in several publications with critics like Richard Roper and The Hollywood Reporter plus it's getting a 62 % fresh rating in Rotten Tomatoes.  Clearly, Chastain's knack of choosing her projects have paid out. 

 

Coming second at the box office is her nominated and critically acclaimed Zero Dark Thirty (my review soon to follow) which earned $17.6 million (it's cumulative total is now $ 56 million).  Both films beat out the Walhberg/Russell Crowe Broken City and Schwarzenneger The Last Stand.  Websites such as EW, Awards Daily, Rope of Silicon and The Wrap who follow the Oscar race have stated that this 1-2 punch at the box office is a rare occurrence where the same actor plays the lead in two distinctly different movies (franchise or non-franchise).    All this while she's still starring on Broadway in The Heiress during this crucial Oscar season!

 

Addendum (1/22/2013, 11:53 pm): It also appears that post-Golden Globes win, Ms. Chastain's play The Heiress earned a 13.7% bump in the box office selling out all shows this past weekend.  The play earned $ 150K more than the week before.  Read it here.

 

(photo above from IMDB.com)

 



SAG: Conversations with Jessica Chastain

"If you do the work even though no one is watching, luck will eventually find you." -- Jessica Chastain

The quote above was the parting words Jessica Chastain gave to actors and SAG members who attended a Q & A with the award winning actress yesterday (Jan 17).  The event was sponsored by the SAG Foundation and was streamed live but fortunately for us, made available on their youtube channel.

I love hearing actors talk about their process and how they find their characters.  I don't know why but I just do.  Having heard her Golden Globe speech where she talks about struggling and fighting for roles, it's particularly interesting when you hear her talk more specifically about her first few years in the business and her big reality check when she moved to LA after Drama School ( around 20:00 min).  What is even more impressive is even in those years of constant rejection, she remained focused and constantly challenged herself, working on her craft even when no one was watching.  It makes you understand how she evolved into this extraordinary actress who is able to transform with every role.

In the Q & A clip, she also talks about getting her SAG card by being in an episode of ER back in 2004.  She played a girl who tried to keep her abusive father alive so he can feel pain.  Here is that episode:



And so, here she is again in yet another transformation for her movie MAMA which opens today, Jan. 18: