If not for
Tom Cruise's understanding, Jessica Chastain would have never been able to play
the CIA agent on the hunt for the terrorist
leader Osama Bin Laden in Kathryn Bigelow's hotly debated thriller Zero Dark
Thirty.
"I got cold-called by
[director] Kathryn Bigelow," said the actress, describing how she first
got word of the role. "I was in Toronto, and I had heard from [producer]
Megan Ellison. We had done a film, [2012’s] Lawless, together. And she said, ‘By the way, do you know
Kathryn Bigelow’s trying to get a hold of you? She wants to meet with you on
something.’ And I was like, ‘What? Please give her my number.’"
After getting in touch with
the filmmaker, Chastain accepted the role without even
laying hands on the screenplay by Mark Boal. With the script now in hand, the
actress knew she absolutely had to make the film, however, something stood in
her way.
"I was signed to do
another movie," Chastain continued. "I was contractually obligated to
do something else that I was really wanting to do, and I was excited to do [the
2013 thriller Oblivion, starring Cruise]. But when this came my way, I realized
I had to do this. And the person who made it possible for me to do this movie
is Tom Cruise. Someone contacted him from my agency and said, ‘Listen, she
wants to work with you. And she would love to, but there is this other film,
and it’s so important.’ And he said, ‘OK, we’re going to let you out of your
contract.’"
Zero Dark Thirty, which also
starred Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Chris Pratt, Jennifer Ehle, James
Gandolfini, Harold Perrineau, Mark Strong, Edgar Ramirez, and Joel Edgerton, went
on to receive five Oscar nominations, including one for Chastain for Best
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.
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