Jessica Chastain on ‘hiding’ from her co-stars and allowing herself ‘not to be liked’
Jessica Chastain says she “hid” from her co-stars during her latest project, going out of her way to distance herself and allow herself “not to be liked”.
The 46-year-old Oscar winner, who stars in Michel Franco drama Memory, told Sky News: “Sometimes I play characters who know everything. They’re the smartest person in the room, and they know what’s going to happen.
“It was interesting to play something and to work in a way where you just didn’t know, and you were free to discover.”
She plays Sylvia, a recovering alcoholic, whose past trauma is reawakened when Saul, played by Peter Sarsgaard, follows her home from their high school reunion.
Dopesick star Sarsgaard, chips in: “I don’t mind the smartest person in the room as they also listen.”
Happily married to Oscar-nominated actress Maggie Gyllenhaal for 15 years, he tells Sky News: “I remember when my wife was younger, some arsehole telling her, ‘Oh, you always have to be the smartest person in the room, don’t you?’
“And I think that’s something that’s levelled on people, certain women, especially, and those same people, if they’re really good at what they do, also really listen”.
Despite their good working relationship, Chastain explains how she used a method approach to bringing her character’s conflicted emotions towards Saul to the screen.
(L-R) Peter Sarsgaard and Jessica Chastain. Pic: Ketchup Entertainment/Bohemia Media
‘I didn’t know if the sound of my voice annoyed him’
“Peter and I didn’t really talk on set. We would say good morning to each other, but I kind of hid from everyone. And then we got to know each other as the characters in chronological order.
“So, every time we would get to set and speak, I was looking at him, not knowing how he felt about me, not knowing if he liked me, not knowing if the sound of my voice annoyed him.
“Just these normal things that we think about someone else, I was experiencing as Sylvia because I was allowing myself to not be liked.
“Sometimes you feel like you need to woo someone when the cameras aren’t rolling, so they’ll like you. And I was willing to be ok if he didn’t like me, to find out how the characters would interact.”
Chastain used the same approach with her onscreen daughter, Anna, played by Brooke Timber.
“I hung out with her, I had a lunch with her, but at the same time I kept her this little bit at arm’s length because Sylvia would have acted like that. And I allowed that to create a little bit of an unknowing and a tension between us.”
She goes on: “Sylvia never had an example of what good mothering would be. So, she doesn’t really know how to communicate, and to solve a problem she buys an iPhone for her daughter… I really was discovering a whole new way of mother daughter dynamic in this film.”
Pic: Ketchup Entertainment/Bohemia Media
‘The goal was Jessica Chastain’
Meanwhile, Sarsgaard’s character Saul faces a different challenge – he is suffering from early onset dementia.
Sarsgaard says he’d never seen this aspect of dementia bought to the screen before, “the period where families are adjusting, people are adjusting to new conditions and trying to figure out how to live their lives”.
Gleaning insight from real-life dementia sufferers, including his own uncle who had the disease, he pieced together a way to faithfully portray the condition in the film.
“For me, the condition in the end was just the obstacle. The goal was Jessica Chastain… He’s just a guy who wants something incredibly beautiful. You know, he wants something that we all want in our lives. And so, it was very easy to play on some level.
“I was playing someone who had nothing to lose and didn’t mind being rejected or partially rejected – I mean I minded it – but my reaction to rejection was always to put my heart out a little bit more, show a little bit more of myself, show up, try to connect.”
Michel Franco’s next feature
Both Chastain and Sarsgaard speak incredibly highly of the man leading the film, Mexican director Michel Franco.
Chastain says the 44-year-old filmmaker whose movies often depict dysfunctional families, kept his cast on their toes.
“He did surprise me from day one when he said during rehearsals: ‘Go to the Target [a big US discount superstore] and find some clothes for Silvia’. I was like, ‘Wow, I’ve never worked like this before, except in drama school where I’m getting my costumes together for scene study class’.”
It’s a process she clearly enjoyed, reuniting with Franco over the summer on his follow-up feature Dreams, which is currently in post-production.
Memory is in UK and Irish cinemas now.
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Cara Delevingne reveals how Topshop inspired her fashion sense – as brand relaunches in London
Fashion brand Topshop celebrated its relaunch with its first catwalk in seven years.
The company’s website promised everyone was invited as models strutted down a runway on Trafalgar Square in front of noughties fashion icons Cara Delevingne and Adwoa Aboah and the London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan.
The label has been operating on the online fashion platform ASOS after ceasing to operate as a standalone business in 2020.
Topshop held a catwalk in Trafalgar Square. Pic: PA
A model on the catwalk
Its previous owner, Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia group, collapsed into administration and all of Topshop’s physical stores – including the Oxford Circus flagship in London’s West End – closed soon after.
Delevingne told Sky News she was “totally blown away” by the relaunch event.
“It was like nostalgia mixed with something eclectic but also something brand new,” she said.
“For me, it really brings back a time of exploration of my own fashion sense because I think for me at Topshop I got to discover so much.”
The model, who is working on a capsule collection for next year, has already unveiled a choice edit in this year’s show and said her relationship with Topshop precedes her fame.
She said: “I would go in and my friends would be like ‘you would look good in that’ and I would go ‘no, that’s not really me’, and then you’d try it on and be like ‘oh maybe I can explore more’.
“They really have everything for everyone, and I feel like they brought that back.”
The runway showcased highlights from its Autumn-Winter 2025 collection, as well as an early preview of pieces set to drop later this season, including showstopper gowns, the classic white tee, and an aloe vera-coloured faux fur coat that surely should not have been on display – to prevent just about everyone rushing to buy it.
Topshop’s relaunch was staged at Trafalgar Square
Models in front of the National Gallery in London’s Trafalgar Square. Pic: PA
Reclaiming the high street
But sharp tailoring and statement outerwear suggest the brand is ready to reclaim the high street.
Must-have denim pieces completed the womenswear line-up while the Topman collection screamed modern utility by blending refined formal wear with sharp new silhouettes.
Casual pieces are grounded by authentic denim in deep indigos, which stood out on Trafalgar Square’s magnificent stone steps.
Topshop’s relaunch comes as the high street continues to struggle and as the UK operation of Chinese fashion giant Shein announced pre-tax profits of £38.3m for the year, up some £14m from 2023.
‘Top end of the market’
Moses Rashid, global marketing director at Topshop/Topman said they are competing in a different space.
Topshop has been operating on the online fashion platform ASOS after ceasing to operate as a standalone business in 2020
“We’re at the top end of the market. We’re about elevation. We pride ourselves on the quality of the product,” he said.
Those products are being designed in north London, and managing director Michelle Wilson said the aim is to stay that way.
“We are a British brand, we want to be a positive force for fashion. We want to bring London to the world. It’s fundamental to who we are as a brand, our style is very much London-driven.”
The majority Danish-owned company has suggested it will slow fashion down by opening physical stores where customers can touch the products, browse collections and try things on, though the flagship on Oxford Circus is unlikely to return because a Swedish fast furniture brand has since occupied the space.
Designer Wayne Hemingway has previously collaborated with Topshop and said the relaunch must be more than nostalgia.
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“They can’t rely on their old customers because their old customers have now got kids of their own to spend their money on, and they’ve got mortgages and all of those things of what being an adult means.
“They’ve got to have designers, marketeers, people who understand – who are on the pulse – who understood, number one, what was a success back then, and also a young generation of people who are there saying, ‘this is what our generation needs’, and who are bright and can help deliver that. They can’t rely on the past.”
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