"Jessica Chastain"

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How's the summer going? It's so nice. It's so summery.
It's really summery and hot.

It's so summery.

We're doing a summer podcast.

Yeah.

This podcast today is going to be hot, hot, hot.

Sorry about your mouth, Sean.

Jesus, fuck, dude.

Did somebody punch you in the mouth before we start?

Oh, no, you're eating.

Sorry.

Silly me.

Oh, my God.

Look at my microphone.

Ew.

There's tuna all over your microphone.

Oh.

Welcome to SmartLess.

Smart.

Smart. Smart.

Smart.

Smart.

Smart.

Smart.

Hi, JB.

Hi, JB.

Sean.

Hey, wait.

Let me just say this. Let me just say JB.
Sean, I mean... Hey, wait, let me just say this.

Let me just say this.

JB, it's 9.30.

It's morning where you are.

Sean and I are in the East Coast.

Yeah.

So what time are you up today to get prepared for your day?

I got up at 7 today.

You get up early every day.

I do. Well, 7's not early.
No, it's usually 6 or 6.30. Today was a little bit later.
I'm still battling. I'm long hauling something.
It's not COVID. It's some sort of a head cold kind of sinus thing.
Little coffee, little sniffly. Like I beat it and then 48 hours later it came back.
What is that? Well, you're not the first person in your house to beat it. Let's be honest.
Yeah, yeah. The first owner.
I love that song over here. That's true.
Wait, but it's not COVID. You're not sick.
I mean, I'm sick, but I'm not, I haven't tested, but maybe I should. You know, it's so weird.
I just got back. I go do physical therapy and a friend of mine at that office, he was trying to get a tick out of his daughter's arm and he squeezed the tick and it busted open and squirted in his eye and he got COVID from it.
I swear to God, that's a true story. He literally just told me like an hour ago.
Hang on. Wait a second.
So ticks carry COVID now too, right next to their briefcase full of Lyme disease? Yeah, no, I don't know. He said he got home.
Nobody wanted to deal with the tick on his daughter's arm, so he squeezed it and it squirted in his eye. Well, maybe he got COVID from his COVID-infested daughter instead of the tick.
The tick can't carry two briefcases full of virus. This sounds like a pretty elaborate way to make an excuse for something that he's obviously leading like a double life.
And so what he did was... Yeah, exactly.
He's like, yeah, I squeezed the tick and then the tick got on my eye, honey. Anyway, that's why I didn't come home last night.

The tick squirted in his eye.

By the way, it should be noted also that JB,

that Amanda, you can't tell Amanda that story.

She's so tick nervous.

Every time we talk about the East Coast,

we talk about going to see friends.

She gets very ticked off.

She talks about going to visit friends in Martha's Vineyard or coming to see us out here,

and she's all about the ticks. You guys talk amongst yourselves, I need water okay he just gets up and goes oh he's coughing up a storm out there he really is, well we're getting all of this, this is good if you're a doctor and you're out there please just listen back well here's the thing boy, you know, you go 8 million miles an hour, kind of like I do a little bit, and you never get sick.
I never see you sick. I saw you sick last year maybe once.
Yeah, I'm pretty good about it. I mean, I don't want to tempt fate, but I am pretty good about staying.
Although, Jason, you never really get sick either. Jason never gets sick either, ever.
No, I really don't. I don't.
But, you know, I'm fired up. Guys, I'm excited to be smart-listing today.
Are you? Are you guys ready to smart-list? That's so gross. I'm introducing it as a verb.
Are you getting your smart-list on? I'm trying. I'm trying to fire up.
I'm trying to fire up here, you know? Yeah. Hey, I'm glad that you're really excited to be here today and to be smart listening.
And you mentioned because we have a guest because we don't just have a guest. We have an incredible guest today.
Really? Yeah, well, because... Can we vote on that after the guest is revealed? Sure, sure.
But you know who has voted on this guest? Oh, America. America.
The world. The Academy Awards has nominated this person three times and she's won tighten up um for best actress stood up i stood up all straight nominated two other times i mean she's won golden globes so she's won for three she's won i mean she's won everything she's won every possible award been nominated multiple times for the do you like the golden globes or the you know theater

awards or tony awards or the theater awards but academy award winning academy award she once i start listing her credits you're gonna go oh yeah and i know exactly what this is because these are movies that you like they're movies like am i gonna go oh my god zero dark 30 or The Eyes of Tammy Faye or...

This is Jessica Chastain.

This is Jessica Chastain. like.
They're movies like Zero Dark Thirty or The Eyes of Tammy Faye

or... This is Jessica Chastain.

This is Jessica Chastain.

Are you joking me? Wait a minute.

Yes.

Do I take it off now?

Wait a minute. What?

This is insane.

This is crazy. I just saw you yesterday.

I know. It's insane.

Congratulations, darling. Thank you, honey.
I was really rooting for you. Sean, congratulations.
I mean— Now, I know you don't want to talk about it, Sean, but it's a big deal. Congratulations.
Thank you, honey. Thank you.
It's a big, big deal. I mean, how amazing to be on that journey with you the whole time.
It was so great. We had one event where we were just mouthing words to each other the whole time to try to save our voices.
And then I left. And then you left, really.
So, listener, we're taping this at a time that is just after Sean's win at the Tony Awards. So we're trying not to talk about that because this is delayed, but given that...
Oh, I get it. Okay, we're not allowed to talk about it.
Yeah, but since you guys are both, they're in the midst of it right now, it just ended, listeners. So we apologize for being a little bit late.
But we can still talk about the experience. Because it was weird, not the experience of that, but the theater experience for people who are listening.
Jessica's theater was literally right next to mine. So every single day I got shut off.
I'd be like, there's Jessica Chastain starring in a doll's house. And there's Sean Hayes starring.
It was really, really cool. Could you guys ever hear each other's show while you're performing?

No, but the line to get in was always mixed.

It was like, you don't know if people were in line for your show or my show because it was always mixed up.

Yeah, it was really cool.

And people waiting outside afterwards.

So my stage door was on 45th Street, which is the back of the theater.

And your stage door was on 44th.

So my car was on the other side.

And so every time I would leave, I would see all of the people waiting outside for you. It was very sweet.
Oh, that's crazy. It's fun, right? Kind of you guys are like in this, your own little sort of in that world and feeling like you're really part of a community and kind of in the trenches together in a way.
Yeah, right? It was also nice to just have a comrade to go through it with, right? Do you guys have tickets to each other's show, or do you have to pay for those? Well, the thing is, we can't see each other's show because we're performing at the same time. But now I closed.
You guys had the same days off? You closed. The same day.
We had Mondays off. I closed until now.
I mean, I'm after a week in Tahiti. She'll be there tonight, Sean.
I'm going to come see everything. A Week in Tahiti, that sounds so good.

I need a complete reversal of location.

That's about the opposite.

Although that does sound like a play as well, A Week in Tahiti.

That could be, right?

Jessica's return to Broadway.

Maybe that should just be the title of my autobiography, A Week in Tahiti.

Have you been there before to Tahiti?

I have, but a friend of mine invited me during COVID. So who had, and he had a boat there.
So I basically was just in the water of Tahiti, but we didn't go. You're going to strike land this time.
I am. I'm very excited.
Are you exhausted from doing it? Oh my God. I don't know if you can tell my voice is like, I'm done.
I've been taking all these immunity medicines and stuff. Cause I just feel like any second my body's going to go, my God.
I don't know if you can tell. My voice is like, I'm done.
I've been taking all these immunity medicines and stuff

because I just feel like any second my body's going to go,

all right, now's the time.

I'm going to kick your ass.

Well, let me ask you, I'm going to ask you,

because we've been going through this with Sean.

I feel like we're all on this journey with Sean, Jason, and I.

But Jessica, tell me if you have the,

and this actually goes to both of you guys,

you know that what you're about to embark on when you're going to do a play on Broadway is going to be really demanding in a lot of different ways, but especially physically. And so you prep yourself, I imagine, like you get yourself up.
You're like, okay, here we go. We're going to do this.
I'm going to be fine. And then what is the point you, when you start doing it, you go like, oh my God, this is way worse than I thought it was.
Is it a week? Is it two weeks? Is it a month? Oh, gosh. I mean, after the first week of previews for me, at one point I went to the director and I said, I don't think this is sustainable.
I don't understand. This level of motion, I don't think it's sustainable.
And he's like, no, you can do it. That was just his response to every time.
I was like, are you could do it how long did you do your show uh we oh god we did 137 performances but my show also it was it was it was pretty emotional there's like there was heavy crying for like an hour each show so it was it definitely is not something we're gonna it again somewhere. I'll have another life next year.

But in very short, much shorter runs.

Because otherwise I'll lose my mind.

Can you flick the switch on crying pretty easy?

Or is it a big process for you?

Some people it's easy.

No, I'm like, you know, the kids when they do.

I always think about this with my kids. When I see them playing, they absolutely believe what they're doing.

They're so in it.

At school they call it dramatic play. And I kind of feel like that's just what happens is I'm in the scene and then I just believe it's happening.
Right, and the tears come. Sometimes if the mood is right, Scotty and I call it role play instead of dramatic play.
Oh, that's definitely for a different show. And then you believe it's happening, Sean.
You believe it. I do.
I didn't order this pizza. Well, what do you mean? Are you not hungry? I didn't say you could just come into my apartment, but you're here now.
This is a meat lover's pizza. I'm confused.
I love meat. Do you find that you spend all this emotion, like you're on stage, you're bawling for an hour, and then you get home into your life and stuff happens and you've got no emotion left for anything else?

No, in fact, I'm like the opposite, which probably my poor family and friends have been so sweet with me.

I just become so kind of raw that I'm a little bit like a baby where things that shouldn't make me emotional make me emotional. And it's just, I start to feel like I'm losing my mind.
Which is why now I'm looking forward to another Zero Dark Thirty, like, you know, playing a character who really doesn't, am I allowed to cuss on this? I mean, I've heard before, a woman who doesn't give a shit, just is like, I'm, you know, she's just walking through. I need to play that next.
I love that you asked if you could cuss. You're the first nice, respectful guest we've had.
Was it always part of your life growing up too? Were you, as a kid, were you in high school? It was. My grandma took me to see a play when I was seven.
I didn't have the easiest of, you know, childhoods in some sense because we were, you know, I was raised by a single mom and she really struggled a lot financially. And I was kind of an angry kid a lot.
And so my grandma took me to this show at the Music Circus Theater in Sacramento, California. It was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Awesome. And she told me because it was a big deal.
it was a professional show, she kept saying that this was their job, these actors. And then it started and there was a little girl on stage and I was like, oh, this is what I am.
It wasn't a sense of like, this is what I want to be. I was like, oh, this is what I'm going to do.
And I just spent like, my poor mom was like, can you bring me to LA to audition for commercials? Like, from that moment on. Wait, how old were you when your grandma took you to that?

Seven.

Yeah, because I saw Chorus Line when I was 10,

and I always wish I'd seen it earlier,

like when I was like, I don't know, five, six, seven, eight.

Oh, my God.

Wonderful.

I'd be so sorry about that.

He can set himself up and hit it all in the same way.

He did.

That was really good. I'm so happy about that.
He's got a one-man volleyball team. He loves it and then he spikes it himself.
But I do want to say, you know what's interesting? It occurs to me how many kids, their first introduction to theater is Joseph in the Technicolor Coat. I know, right? Right? I mean, that's like the sort of gateway.
One of them. Because it's like safe for high schools to do and it's safe for like kids to do.
Yeah, and a lot of kids go and see, they'll go see it with their family or they'll go see it with their school or like in, my question is, do we need to update what that is? Yeah. I don't even remember what happens in the show.
That's the sad thing. I think that's the one and only time I ever saw it.
You know what? It was the first play I think I saw. Oh, really? It's the reason I brought it up.
I saw it in black and white, though. Oh, no.
What was the one with the roller skating? Starlight Express? Yes. Remember that one way back when? Yeah.
I think that was my first one. Was it really? Cats.
Then there was some cats. Roller skating.
And a lot of siblings, Jess, in your family? Or just you? Yeah, two boys and two girls. Oh, wow.
And anybody else? I was the oldest. You're one of five.
Yeah, one of five. Wow.
And your youngest? My youngest brother is 24. Oh, so are you in the middle? I'm the oldest.
No, she's oldest. Oh, you're the oldest.
Sorry, sorry. Yeah.
Now, so then the acting, was it something that came, because you started so early,

was it something that came very naturally to you or did you start training early on?

It's something, because I went to public schools, I just remember like they would assign the plays in schools

to the people who got really good grades and I didn't get good grades.

Oh, no.

So it was always like the person on the side or holding the tree or whatever. And then we got to middle school.
Holding the tree. Not even the tree, just holding the tree.
I know, just like holding it up. And then we got to middle school, and it was the first time we started like, you know, having a class, the elective, where you could choose what class you wanted.
And I chose the drama class. And then, you know, that's when I really started um doing stuff I actually won a monologue competition um and I have a little the little trophy for and I actually had it's like that to me is one of the most is the sweetest things in my house because um I think I was like 12 or 13 and it was a big deal it was the first time I was like wow I actually people think I'm yeah I'm good at this.
Yeah, I'm good. Yeah.
Yeah, I love that. You know what's interesting, though? So you grew up in Sacramento, not exactly like a hotbed for theater, right? But you go, you see that play, like, how do you make that leap from being a little girl in Sacramento who sees a play and is super interesting, that's me, to, I don't want to jump all the way to becoming an academy academy award-winning actress but like what's that first move you're like in sacramento like i gotta go from here to what yeah well i i mean i was going i i had no idea because i don't know anyone in the industry yeah and again you know it was kind of a it was a tough situation you know at home and I was doing a lot of community theater

and working at uh Sac City College doing like their Shakespeare I think I did Taming of the Shrew and all of this stuff and then I I actually dropped out of high school which is crazy I might I dropped out of high school I had to take PE twice and I think I didn't graduate because I missed because I failed PE 20.

Oh, wow.

Because I had to take PE twice. And I think I didn't graduate because I missed, because I failed PE twice.
Oh, wow. Because I had no interest in, like, doing pull-ups.
And, like, I just had, like, no. And I was reading, you know, Shakespeare.
In cutting class, I was such a nerd. Wow.
I'm probably, yeah, I can't even understand it. But I dropped out and then I started working and I did some regional theater.
I played Juliet at Theater Works in Silicon Valley. And then the guy who was playing Romeo got into Juilliard.
And I was like, I don't think he's that much better than me. So maybe I could go.
Right, right. And so.
And did you? I did. Oh, wow.
Great. Yeah.
That's amazing. It changed my life.
Wait, going back to high school. I remember, I remember in my high school, there was a thing called like the debate team called, it was called forensics.
I did that. Of course you did.
Because like everybody I knew in high school did it. I didn't do it.
And it freaked me out because people were. What is it, Sean? It's like when you are in a debate team and they teach you how to debate, like improv debate, right? Right, right.
No, they don't. Yes, they do.
I'm sorry. And it freaked me out.
It was my first experience watching kids my age face a wall and talk to the wall because they would be rehearsing. Yeah.
I was like they crazy? It was like an audition lobby. It was like a mental institution.
And also different voices because you play different characters and they're narrating. Yeah, it was wild.
How funny, by the way, for the listener, how funny, and you guys can attest to this, are, and weird, are, Jason just said audition lobby. Remember going into a casting office and everybody's holding their sides and people are like find like a little corner or they're sitting on the edge of a chair and they're just going I don't know what going over their beats going over what they're doing practicing their faces yeah their faces their thing that they like their little angle their little beat that they've got on the thing that they're gonna do And then you get older and you do it like the four of us as a profession and then you find yourself doing it and you're like, oh, well now it's not so weird because I'm doing it.
I don't know. Yeah.
You know? Yeah. And we will be right back.
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And now back to the show.

So Jessica, so you were all in.

So you go to Juilliard.

There was no other sort of like, you didn't go to like a college where you had, well,

I'll major in drama, but I'll minor in business or something like that. I'll interrupt to say also, not just that, Jessica, you got, didn't you get the Robin Williams scholarship at Juilliard as well? Oh, wow.
Yeah. So it was, that was actually a huge deal financially for us because he went to Juilliard and he was, everyone, you know, that talks about him, such a generous human being.
And he gave the scholarship every two years, and it basically paid for everything. It didn't just pay for tuition.
It paid for my apartment. It paid for me to fly back and forth to go see my family at Christmas.
It paid for food. It was a ginormous help.
He was an incredibly generous guy. Did you guys know Robin a little bit?? I met him.
I only shook his hand once. Yeah.
He was such a, I had the pleasure of, of spending a little bit of time with him, uh, over the years, a few times. And he was an incredibly generous, sweet, sweet guy.
I mean, anytime you check in with anybody who knows him. So it doesn't surprise me that he did.
I mean, that's so thoughtful. And as a young person and going to do this thing and going to New York, those kinds of expenses are just tough to cover.
Yeah. For anybody.
Yeah. Yeah.
And to have somebody do that. So then you get to go to Juilliard.
And then how do they assign that scholarship? Obviously, those that need the economic assistance are the candidates. But I imagine that there's some sort of a, is there like an act off to see who gets it? Like a competition sporting event? Yeah.
Or like gladiators? Yeah. Was there any sort of that you were aware of? I've been acting off since I was like 12.
Yeah. I don't think so.
I mean, the first two years, it was a lot of, you know, loans, you know, like those Sally May loans. I was just, I had borrowed so much money to try to sustain it.
I was in the dorm. And then, so the scholarship went to your final two years.
Gotcha. And I think it just was based on the work you had done your first two years.
Oh, gotcha. I played, I don't know, I played Arkadina and the Seagull as my final project my second year.

And it went over well with the teachers and maybe that might have had something to do with it.

I don't know, but it was a big deal.

So I'm sorry, I may have missed this.

I apologize.

You're one of five kids.

Yeah.

And was it a single mom or?

Single mom.

Yeah.

Exact same situation.

No.

Yeah, five kids, single mom. But in fairness, did your mom have two eyes, Jessica? Stop.
Because this is where it's not oranges to oranges. We'll allow it.
Please answer the question if your mom had two eyes. Were you the eldest in your family, Sean? Youngest.
Youngest. Youngest.
Yeah, she had to keep an eye on five. Guys, I got a lot.
It's been a year and a half. Wait, JB, did you get that text I sent you about what my sister posted? Did you get the one-eye crying emoji? Well, Jessica, my mom and you go, Will.
Sean's mom had one eye her whole life, and've talked about it extensively on the program but when Sean won the Tony, his sister put on Facebook, my mom, she'd be so happy she'd be crying her eye out. Oh my God.
You know, you either laugh or cry, Jessica. It's really good.
That's interesting though. So you guys do have very sort of.
In that way. And then you both end up in the theater.
Yeah. That's wild.
Sean, why didn't you go to Juilliard? Jesus. What's the matter with you? What's wrong with you? Because I can't spell it.
Oh. G-U.
What's that feeling like when you come out? So you go to Juilliard, which is, you know, arguably like the most, you know, sort of acclaimed, certainly in America, theater school. You come out of there, art school.
You come out of there, and is the feeling like, all right, I'm just ready to go, and everything's just going to, offers are going to fly at me? Like, I always wonder what that experience is like coming out of an acting school in that way. Well, I was very lucky.
I got a deal. So my class was the first one to do a L.A.
showcase. And actually, I brought it to the administration because I had come to Los Angeles the summer before the fourth year and found out that other schools were doing it.
And then I really, really pushed for it. And we got it.
So by coming out here and doing the showcase, I got from that, I got a deal with John Wells.

And so it was very helpful. It was like right out of the bat, I had someone kind of in my corner.
And then I could, you know, do plays in New York. Like I worked at Playwrights Horizon.
And I'd fly back and forth to Los Angeles to audition for his shows and whatnot. But I made that money last for like four years.
That's amazing because I think, Will, like what you were kind of saying is like, and to me too, growing up, you think Juilliard is the pinnacle of all, is the best of the best. And you just, like me, just assumes every single person that graduates from Juilliard, whether it's music or art or theater or, you know, a job you know and it's like so it's it's wild to um yeah like graduation day they're like all right here are the parts that we're going to be handing out today right that's you're doing this thing for paramount you're going to be shooting it right yeah so jessica i mean like is it you you seem like you're still very aware of your upbringings and your journey and that you're fully appreciative of where you are.
Like, thank God it doesn't seem like it's lost on you that your whole life you have seen this path. You've wanted this path.
You've trained for it. You've respected what it's going to take to get there.
You've done everything that you should. And you've done it.
I mean, you've got an Oscar. You're like one of the most respected actors in the world.
Like, that's got to feel fantastic. And I don't want to embarrass you.
And I don't expect you to sort of say, yeah, yeah, it's awesome. But how about like, is your mom still with us? Are your siblings like...
And my grandma, I took my grandma to the Tonys the other night. No way.
That's awesome. Yeah, the sweltering Tony.
She's like, when's Joseph coming out? Exactly. Are they, do they help you take your very, very deserving smell of the roses every once in a while? Oh, yes, completely.
But also too, I think because it doesn't feel that far away. And, you know, a lot of my life was a little bit of like, okay, I know what I'm going to do.
I don't know how I'm going to get there exactly, but I'm very aware of the people who show me a lot of kindness. And actually, Jason, I don't even think you remember.
Uh-oh. You took me.
I'm sorry. Let me just start with I'm sorry.
No, no. I'm going to talk about how kind you were.
I have addiction issues, Jessie. No.
No, no, no, no. Jason, don't admit too much.
Okay, sorry, sorry. Until you know the charges.
My boyfriend was... Ned Benson.
Ned Benson. So you do remember.
You took me to a Dodgers game with Ned. Yes.
And it was the first time I was like sitting there and I was like, I have never, I mean, I was so close to the players and I'd never experienced anything like that before. When was this? And you were so kind.
This was 20 years ago? Yeah, a long time ago. Before anyone even cared anything about anything I did.
Or me or Ned. I mean, Jason didn't care.
He didn't even bring it up. He's been talking to you for half an hour and you had to bring it it up.
How embarrassing. You wonder if people remember things, because I sure don't.
Jason, can I talk to you for one second? You don't know what the guest wants to talk about. It's her show.
By the way, he just did us a favor, because he did, that shows a sign of respect out of Jason, that he didn't just bring the Dodgers up and talk about them for 20 minutes. Oh, yeah.
Because he would love to do that. Or Ned.
Or Ned. Or Ned.
Love Ned. So, Jessica, because we had similar backgrounds to you, is that part of, you know, some people think it's not cool to talk about drive or ambition, but everybody has it who has any, even the smallest amount of success.
You have to have some drive. Yeah.
Why does that get a bad rap? Like, you're supposed to want things in this life, yeah, and then you're supposed, then you get mocked for actually pursuing them? I know. And then if you don't, then you're called lazy and...
Right. Unmotivated and entitled.
Yeah. I wonder if it's that people mistake drive ambition for ego, for like narcissism, when In reality, like my drive and ambition comes from, I mean, we're gonna get real deep here.
Maybe it comes from a sense of like wanting to be better. And maybe that also comes from my upbringing, a sense of like, I want to be better than I, you know, I just wanna get better every day.
Just to see how much better you can get. It's just challenging yourself, right? And it's not like, I want it all.
It's just, I want to do a good job. See if I can do more or take on more.
Yeah, I mean, this all falls under the heading of challenge yourself probably, right? And if you're not, I suspect everybody here is the same in this way that for instance, I constantly say like, you know, I'm just going to retire, I'm just too tired and stuff and then I think like, I couldn't do it for six hours because it's not that I get bored but I just want to, that's the whole purpose of life is to engage and to challenge yourself and to be constantly, right? Yeah, and hopefully you're constantly in a state of having the courage to ask for more because oftentimes I've been in a place of, oh, my God, I can't. Thank God I'm not being asked to bear any responsibility because I just don't have the ego or the confidence to take it on right now.
Like I've been in that place a lot of times in my life. And if you find yourself in a place of like, no, please let the phone ring.
I want the ball. That's a great place to be.
That's a gift and that's a positive. Sean, do you want the ball? Or both? I think we have a couple of them.
Jessica, let me ask you this because I've been going through this lately, which is, you know, I'm 53 and I think. You look great.
You look amazing. I was not trying to elicit.
Thank you. I was thinking...
Incredible t-shirt. You can play a day only 35.
I mean, you can tell that you hang out a lot. It's real.
You work out a lot. It's real.
The tan is real. Look at that hair piece.
That's not a cheap one, you know? No. This one's new, by the way.
I think it works. I can tell it.
It's really high. I think I rotated.
I forget how I get this one. But I've been having this thing lately where I'm working on stuff for doing things.
And I've been able to say, I think I was saying to you, Jay, maybe the other day that I can admit that I'm like scared. Because I'm about to do something, you know, that is maybe out of my comfort zone a little bit.
And I think when I was a younger man, I had a tougher time admitting that. Or I wasn't involved enough, or I wasn't mature enough.
And I wonder if you have those things, because you do a lot of things that are very challenging, certainly when it comes to your work. Do you have those moments now as you get older where you go like, yeah, I'm scared about this, or I'm nervous? Not that you're not going to do it, but that you recognize that.

Do you have that at all?

Are you asking me?

Yeah.

Yes, I definitely have.

I don't care what they think.

I mean, it's also the sense of because I don't feel far away from how I grew up,

I always want to feel like I'm grateful and thankful.

So I find laziness in who I am, I find it to be the worst trait. And I also have difficulty with lazy, you know, if someone's super lazy, I have difficulty being around it because I feel like, wow, you could do so much.
You could do, you know, there's all these incredible things out there that you could be a part of if you just showed up, show up for yourself and show, you know, for others. And so I have that in me where it's, it's like, even if I'm really scared, if there's someone that believes that I can do it, I don't want to let them down.
And I really want to push myself and I don't want to allow my, any kind of nerves or fear. And especially, especially with Tammy Faye, I had so much fear of like, oh my God, this is such a swing.
And I'm going to get made fun of so... But this idea of like...
Crushed it. I can't like allow...
And that's ego actually. If you allow your ego to stop you from doing something.
Because it's all about how you're perceived. But do you think...
Yeah. That's interesting.
But at the same time, but is it ego... I ego i'm asking i'm actually like wondering maybe you guys jump in if is it ego to acknowledge that fear meaning a good a good thing or a bad yeah like just to go like hey this is something that's really challenging and i need to and i'm just recognizing it maybe i think it would take i think it would take a healthy ego to admit that something is presenting a challenge to you and And I think, but it is also that same ego that's going to be the fuel to push you through it.
And that you shouldn't be nervous about the fact that you're not feeling the confidence to run into the situation because the confidence lives on the backside of the accomplishment. It's like, no, the confidence will be there once I get through it.
So true.

You know, that's what I'm going to earn.

So don't take it as a false negative.

It would be a false negative to think,

oh God, I can't handle this

because I'm not feeling confident going into it.

The confidence lives after it,

I think, for me.

For sure, for sure.

Totally.

Very well said.

If you're confident while you're doing it,

if I am,

I find that the work is probably bad.

It's not as good, yeah.

For sure.

Anxiety is a good gas. Yeah, when you're like, yeah, I find that the work is probably bad.
It's not as good, yeah. For sure.
Yeah, anxiety is a good gas.

Yeah, when you're like, yeah, I got this, man.

Yeah, exactly.

I am petrified before every single performance.

Is that true?

Petrified.

And it makes you great.

Well, I don't know about that, but I just like... Okay, Tony winner.

No, no, no, I'm being...

Thanks.

Makes you great.

Well, thanks, but I'm just saying it's a true... I don't know if it does.
I'm agreeing with you, Sean. We've seen the show.
But wait, I want to talk... So, Jessica, back to like...
When I was a kid, I was just... I'm asking you if you felt the same thing.
When I was a kid, I had, you know, my dad left and my mom was always working. She was great, but you were kind of left to parent yourself.
And so you kind of are given this option of figuring this life out on your own or kind of just taking a backseat to it. And I think that decision at some point was like, wait a minute, no one's, I have to figure, I have to take care of myself and figure this out for myself.
And I've taken that into adulthood where it's just like, and I think for better or worse, sometimes worse, I don't stop. Like I got to get food on the table.
I got to eat. There's been so many times where I didn't have food.
So it's a fear as much as it is a drive. Wow, we have very similar upbringings, Sean.
It's crazy. It should be noted, Sean, you feed yourself the same way you did when you were 11, which is just tuna salad, potato chips, and soda.
Macaroni and cheese. Don't forget about the mac and cheese.
It's so true. It's so true.
By the way, on my corner of my building, there is an ice cream truck every single day and a fruit stand. I passed that fruit stand.
Yeah. Don't even look at the poor guy.
Yeah. Do you, do you guys find Jessica and Sean that, that you're not at, that you're not great at asking for help, that you're not great at sort of deferring or delegating because you've had to sort of be self-sufficient for so long? Yeah, I do.
I tend to do everything. And to the point where then I get completely overwhelmed.
And I think because I was the oldest child too, there was a sense of having to take care of my, I almost said my kids, my siblings. My mom would bartend and it would be like us there.
So it was really a sense of trying to figure out out you know how everyone was going to be okay um so i i think i also have that now even as like this is too much and my friends are like okay settle down chastain but i try to like if someone has an issue i'm like okay let's solve it let's figure it out let's you know and i've had to understand that everyone has the dignity of their own process yes and i allow them allow them to have their own life. I'm so similar.
And these guys can attest to it. I'm like, hey, should we? I'm on it.
I'm like, I'll get it. I'll take care of it.
Sean, we'll get an email about some work thing. And it'll be like a long email that'll have maybe 12 points to it that most people would be like, let's talk about it and think about it maybe for 24 hours..
Yeah, I'm not even going to read this email yet. Sean, within five minutes, is like, yes and no and yes and we should do this.
I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. And I do say to Sean, Sean and I are talking, I go, it's okay, you can just take a beat.
Let's think about it. Yeah, I have to learn that.
No, don't, because it's so helpful that you answer all these emails.

No, I love that you do that.

We'll be right back.

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And now back to the show. Now, what about, I like to ask actors that have had the pleasure of working with so many incredible directors, if there's any desire to direct because you've been exposed to so much great directing and and perhaps has armed you with sort of cherry picking a bunch of different techniques uh that you'd want to see what you could do yeah i mean i've had thoughts about doing it especially when i've met there's certain actors that i've met i was like oh i really want to do something for this person and i had thoughts about doing it, especially when I've met, there are certain actors that I've met.
I was like, oh, I really want to do something for this person. And I've thought about, or like, I've never seen a story about this before.
And I would love to tell that story. And then I think about, well, wait a minute, when you're directing, you got, it's going to take you a year and a half of your life.
Where I usually make like five films in that time. It's a pay cut.
Yeah. And not even necessarily just that.
It's also that maybe I have a sense of, in the same way of my personal life, I feel like I have to do everything. I want to do everything.
Wow, what's it going to be when I really have to be like, I'm only allowed to do this one thing for so long. Yeah, Jay, actually, this goes to both of you, Jessica and Jason.
Do you, because Jay, you do that, when you take a year to go and work on a film and direct it, do you miss getting that variety? And Jessica, on the backside of that is, do you, you say you would do five films. Is that something that you like? You like that constant change and that kind of, that you're working on a film for three months and then you're working on something completely different for another three months.
Is that something that you're cognizant of? You go, Jessica. I would, I mean, I trained in repertory theater, so I love the idea.
And it would be amazing also in theater to be able to do this where one night you're one part and the next night you're another part. Philip Seymour Hoffman and, yeah, remember that? Jesse Riley for, yeah, you saw that too? We are theater nerds.
Even like doing different plays, like having an ensemble and then like every night you get to do something else. I feel like that was the hard part for me of being on this run for so long.
It was the constant sense of like this is the journey. I'm on this journey every day.
And it would be nice to kind of go on the flip side and say like, okay, now maybe on Tuesdays I get to do this kind of thing and explore something else. Well, for you and for Sean, did you guys ever get, and Sean, you're still in the midst of it, you ever get to the point where it's feeling so monotonous that you are very deliberate about making tonight different.
Like, I'm going to play this scene jealous instead of insecure, or I'm going to, like, a completely different energy and not tell any of the other actors, but just pace and intention and everything just is, still works. Well, I think the actors would really appreciate that.
Well, I mean, it doesn't have to be a 180, but something that is, that is just shame. The look from your fellow actor, like I was saying, it's like, man, what the fuck are you you you're painting me in a corner here man but jay do you miss that do i i mean do you miss the variety do you miss that change when you're working for a year no because i just i geek out on all the good processes of directing you know prep and post and all that stuff but but um uh i i feel like if I was on stage doing the same part for months on end, I would, I would probably screw things up a little bit on purpose or start to get excited about, Oh, who's going to forget a line tonight? You know? Yeah.
Cause you miss that. Like you miss getting that.
Like you could say it here. If you want the quote, you like to get strange, like to get some some strange.
Yeah, yeah. To get some strange.
When it comes to work.

When it comes to work, don't be an animal, dude.

What about Jessica?

What about that?

What Jason was saying?

I've worked with someone who is like that.

It's frustrating to work with someone.

I mean, on film, it's great.

Yeah.

It's great.

Do you know what I mean?

I've, like, with actors, we're like, it's still the same scene, but there's all these,

we're discovering new paths through the scene, and who knows where the take's going to go. That's exciting.
But I feel like when the show is set, it's set. Too disruptive.
Yeah, I would, sometimes when someone's done it, it feels kind of almost self-serving, because it's like, well, wait a minute, there's still a whole other journey we have to go on, and now you've kind of taken out this marker. How are we going to get there there that would be a fun war to watch if you were privy to it by being another cast member and you can watch two like oh it happens a lot yeah she just saw that he's trying to do a 180 on this thing oh now she's gonna double that 180 yeah yeah yeah and then who's who chastises an actor the stage manager yeah usually they're sort of the're sort of the cop.
It's ongoing, right? Because if you, I don't think the listener knows this, but if you start messing around with the dialogue, you get like reported to equity and equity can fine you if you start messing around with changing lines and stuff like that. Oh, I don't know about that.
Isn't there, I think the stage manager is like obligated to report you if you start going rogue and changing stuff. It sounds like you snitched before, Jason.
You know the thing about snitches. You know what they get.
What happened? Snitches get stitches, bro. Oh, shit.
Sorry, go ahead, Jessica. What happened? You found out? No, I found out.
I was talking to the director and he said that every night he gets a report. He got a report because we closed.
Where it was like when an actor coughs it said when the actor coughs i know they write down every single thing that happens in every show yeah wait yeah and the producers get to read it yeah yeah so you're very aware i mean it's tough sometimes like i do find like in in there's a misconception about acting where someone's like the more different they are each take, the better actor they are because they're so alive, you know? And so I think people are trying to be sometimes make things alive and exciting and, and, but they don't realize in, in theater that that can be disruptive. Yeah.
Well, yeah. And in film too.
And Jay, you've been through this. I've certainly been through this in post where you're

like, hey, did this guy ever do one

fucking take where he held the thing the same way

two times? Oh, yeah. You're killing me.

I can't get out. I can't fucking edit

this scene. What is he doing?

But it's okay, like, Jay, to what you

were saying, I think it's okay in a play to

play within

the choices that are locked.

Yes. You know,

within the play that is locked, you

Thank you. were saying i think it's okay in a play to play within the choices that are locked yes you know um within the play that is locked you can experiment but not enough to throw like there's this great um there's this um john drudgeski who plays george gershwin i play he's brilliant everybody's brilliant in the show but he's so great at playing within the locked thing he's brilliant and.
And one night, it almost made me laugh. He goes, Aki, you know, Oscar, who wants to hear your music, right? And I say, he's a vision in my head.
He's a ghost, the ghost of Gershwin. And I say, lots of folks, that's who.
And he goes, and the line is, who? Your wife, the kid in the lab coat, right? And one night he goes, out of nowhere, I go, he goes,

who wants to hear your own music?

I go, lots of folks, that's who. And he goes, who?

You got your wife,

you got your kid in the lab

coat.

And then he just goes like this.

And it almost

made me die laughing.

Oh my god, amazing.

But it was good, because it was within the realm

of the character. But like, he was

Thank you. It almost made me die laughing.
Oh, my God. But it was good because it was within the realm of the character.
But like he was listing them. He goes, okay, your wife.
Sure. In the lab coat.
Yeah. You know, Michael Shannon's really good at that too.
Yeah. You know, I've worked with him a lot and I'm mostly on camera.
So he doesn't go, and working with him is like a, it's like kind of working with an animal, because you're like, what is he going to do? But it's always within the structure, and he comes from theater as well. Yeah, I love it.
And it's really like, it's amazing when you're working with an actor who knows where the story has to be the most important. It's not yourself.
That's what it is. It's about whether or not you're selfish.

Because if you're changing it for yourself because you want to feel something new

or you're bored,

that's not appropriate.

But if you're telling,

you have to tell the story

that everyone's there to tell.

Exactly.

I killed Michael Shannon

in a movie once.

With a gun?

No, no, no.

I stabbed him in the throat.

You stabbed Michael Shannon in the throat? In the in uh let's go to prison uh 20 years ago with the michael ship that's right bob hoden kirk bob hoden kirk how did he take that like a man took it pretty well i remember bob being like okay so michael oh my god so you're just gonna grab i'm like wait how are we gonna do this like michael is so scary he's the best act he's such a great guy but i was like i have to stab him in the throat and, wait, how are we going to do this scene? Michael is so scary. He's the best act.
He's such a great guy.

But I was like, I have to stab him in

the throat and he just, he did all the work.

I just kind of did the motion. He was

just incredible. You just did a bunch of apologizing before the scene.

He was the best. I feel

like we'll be remiss if we don't ask it.

I'm going to ask, usually Sean at this point has already

asked. You've done so much theater.

What's your favorite nightmare theater?

How did you not ask Jessica Chastain? How have I not asked that question? Oh, God. My favorite nightmare story that happened to me on stage? Yeah.
Yes. All right, I can say it now because we're closed.
This is really gross. Great.
I'm going to tell you guys. Grosser the better.
I threw up. Wow.
What? In a doll's house? I threw up and I swallowed it. Oh, God.
Atta girl. No way.
And no one knew. And then...
Because of what? Because of acid reflux or something? No, it's a bad performance from your co-star? What's his name? I think I... And then from then on, I was like, I'm not eating within three hours of the show.
Same. Yeah, it's crazy.
Wait, what happened? I don't know if I was nervous. I was kind of sobbing, and I leaned over, and it happened.

And then for the rest, and I was like, oh, my God, you can't let it out of your mouth. And then for the rest of the show, I couldn't tell anyone because I was on a chair facing the audience the whole time.
Do you have any intimate scenes after that? I had to kiss someone. Sure.
No. No.
Yes. Yes, it was a nightmare, and I couldn't explain.
And then the second we had the curtain call, and the curtain came down, I said, you guys, I'm so sorry.

I vomited.

That's so crazy, because, Jason, didn't you ever think for a long time that women would barf after they kissed you, right? Yeah, which is better.

Yeah, I guess.

Jessica, that's insane. That's crazy.
Can I ask, was it an open mouth kiss that you had to do on stage? No, that night it was definitely a closed mouth kiss. I mean, it was supposed to be kind of like, it wasn't a sensual, it wasn't like a really sexy, like we're about to sleep, you know.
But it was, you know, a sensual kiss. And that night I was like, oh.
I mean, even talking to anyone, I was just so... I have to, in the show, I have to scream in front of this guy, Peter Gross, who's a brilliant, also brilliant in the show.
And we get in a screaming match, and we're literally nose to nose. And one night, I don't know what happened.
It was just like a couple weeks ago.

So much saliva came spewing from my mouth.

It was all over his face as I came around.

And then that night after he goes, he was so sweet about it.

He goes, hey, can I talk to you about that one?

And I go, yeah.

He goes, is there any way that you could spit just a little less when we argue?

I was like, absolutely.

Absolutely. He was so sweet about it.
It was like a tick explosion, right? Yeah, but it's really funny because it's obviously not something you had control over. It wasn't like you thought, like, oh, I'm going to really go to town and saliva all over his face tonight.
No, no, but he was right. I actually can control it now.
Now that he's brought it up, I actually figured it out. Let me ask you, if he hadn't brought it up, would you have continued doing it? Great question.
Spitting that much? Yeah. Probably not.
I probably I know what he meant. I know what he meant.
It was like It was like spitting everywhere. Oh my god.
Poor guy's covered in sloppy joe and chin chin. Sean, you get chin chin flown out.
Sorry, go ahead Jason. Absolutely Jason I was just going to ask Jessica now that the show is done you're going to take some time off I would assume you're going to start doing the thing you're second best at which is probably as good probably a lot of parenting but like what about the is there a hobby Is there something that we would be surprised to learn that you're almost as good at? Do you admit backstage? No, I'm not good at anything else.
That's a terrible thing. Come on, that's not true.
I mean, I have a production company and... That doesn't count.
Yeah, it doesn't count. It's something that's outside the industry.
We're talking about pickleball. Painting.
Cooking. Baking.
Okay, I went to cooking school. What? Yes.
Yeah, I went to school. So after Zero Dark Thirty, I was like, I want to do something completely different.
I went to cooking school. And? So I'm a good cook.
What kind of cooking? What kind of cooking? It's like saucy stuff. I like roasting and I like the kind of cooking that the whole house,

it's like a slow cook situation.

So for hours it'll be like the smell of something.

I love poached pears with sweet potato ice cream and that kind of stuff. That sounds good.

You make the ice cream?

Yeah.

Really?

I like the fall cooking.

Right.

You know, that kind of like it's starting to get cold outside. Yeah, yeah.
And then the house. Remember that? Yeah.
I know. Wait a minute.
Wait, you make ice cream? I'm always fascinated. And an ice cream maker.
I mean, it's very easy. I got to get one of those.
Oh, you do? It's so easy. It takes 30 minutes.
Sean, I wouldn't. That sounds like a real slippery slope for you.
Yeah, dude. Come on.
That sounds kind of interesting. I mean, legitimately.
Yeah. We're going to have to cut you out of your house at some point.
Hey, Jessica, I think that you should do like a food line. I think, or like cookbooks or something.
I think it'd be pretty massive. You think so? Sure.
Yeah, I do. Just fall cooking.
Yeah. With Jesse Boo.
Jesse Boo. Yeah, that's your title.
I love it. Okay.
I don't know that it would be super interesting to watch,

especially if it's like,

it'd be like a four-hour show

where you're just like,

let's look at it in the oven.

No, but if you did like a book,

if you did like a cookbook

and did some stuff

and did a line of food,

I think it would do real, real well.

All right.

All right.

Well, maybe that's my second chapter. And you could call it like juke, right? J-O-O-C.
Kind of like goop, but you know. Juke.
After talking about vomiting on the stage, I could open with that and then say, listen, it's so good you could... No, I don't even...
Oh, my God. It's so good you can eat it twice.
It's so good you can eat it twice. There you go.
We've got it.

Oh, my God.

Listen, we have monopolized.

I've just realized we could just keep talking, but we're crushing you in time,

and you need to go on vacation.

Yeah.

Thank you for visiting with us, Jessica.

Yeah, Jessica, thank you so much.

I was so happy when I got asked to do this. I, of course, listened to the Cate Blanchett one.
Oh, yeah. I love how much you all tease Sean for being as equally as theater nerdy as all of us.
He's such a good guy. I love it.
With a big smile. He's not just theater nerdy.
He's everything nerdy, as it turns out. Do you have any Star Wars questions for him? I love it.
Or Star Trek. Or Battlestar Galactica.
Any of the stars. Although I will say this.
This is what I wanted to ask you. Before I let you go, just bringing up Star Wars and stuff, you've done a few, I'm going to say science fiction, not really, but in that realm, I mean, Interstellar, Martian, some of the bigger ones that fall, right? I loved Interstellar.
I mean, I know, me too. We were just saying yesterday how much, it's my 14-year-old's favorite film.
He's seen it 30 times. Do you like that genre? Because you've done a bunch on the highest level.
Yeah. I mean, in fact, after I did Interstellar, I got to work with Kip Thorne on that, which was amazing.
And like even trying to, at the end, like writing the equation and all that stuff, that was obviously a lot of work to try to look like. That was believable at all.
But then when I finished that and Ridley Scott came up to me and approached me about doing The Martian, I said, yeah, here's my thing, though. If I sign on, I want to go to space camp.
And he goes, there's no really adult space camp. And I was like, well, we can make one.
So I went to Houston. I want to do this.
To NASA in Houston. And I went to JPL.
And I saw, like, the rovers. I've been there, yes.
It's amazing. Amazing.
And I did, like, the whole virtual reality where you're on Mars. On Mars, you can walk.
Yes. Oh, my God, I did the same thing.
Yeah, And so I was really, like, I'm excited to do things.

Who knows what the film or the project's going to be when it finishes.

But I just want to know that the experience of making something is going to be enriching in some way to my life.

And so that was really, yeah.

I mean, if someone wants to give me another sci-fi space movie, I don't know.

I'm into what else can I learn.

Are you a fan of the genre?

Like, are you a, like, Star Wars, Star Trek, anything like that? No. No, okay.
Jessica, thank you so much for being here. I mean, I am when it's based in reality.
I am when it's... Sean hates you now.
Sean, are you crying? Sorry, Sean. Sean, get it together.
I know. My very good friend, Oscar Isaac, did all the Star Wars, and I, you know, I'm not.
I like it when it's, when it feels like it's happening or Right. Tangible.
Well, don't worry, Jessica. I'm not a huge fan.
I'm with you. Yeah.
But I like Game of Thrones and there's dragons there, so I'm all over the place. That works for me.
Sure. The great Jessica Chessing, thank you so much for joining us.
Thanks, guys. What a pleasure.
What a wonderful surprise. Great to see you again.
Yeah. Thank you, Jessica.
All right, what do I do? Do I cover my mic? Do I get out of here? Just slam it shut if you want, whatever you want. Bye, guys.
Bye, honey. Congratulations, Sean.
Thank you so much for this. Bye, Jessica.
Thank you. Thanks.
Wow. Will.
Well, you classed it up a little bit, Clay, Willie. Classed it up.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, what a surprise.
I mean, I just literally saw her yesterday or two days ago. Two months ago.
Two months ago, Sean. This is delayed.
It's wild. I just saw her two months ago.
How many times do I need to do this? You're going to love show business. How funny, right, Sean, that we had Jessica, because you guys spent so much time, you saw her all the time.
So much time together, yeah. Back in the day over on Broadway.
Always saw her. Always.
She was always so pleasant, always so sweet. And, you know, I fanned out.
She's so, I get it. Who wouldn't fan out? She's so accomplished.
And she's so good at what she does. Yeah, there's not a lot of, you know, back to that Juilliard thing.
You do always think, I always, you know, I always just think you're set. If you go to Juilliard, you're set.
And, like, she's one of those people that made that happen. What a talent.
I know. Have you seen, sorry, I just wanted, I cut you off, but did you see George and Tammy? No.
The thing we were talking about with her and Michael Shannon. Yeah.
Incredible. I know.
It's about Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Yeah.
And she is. Yeah, I want to see it.
They're both so good in it. So, so, so good.
And so, such unbelievable talent. And yeah, it's really, really, really good.
Yeah, and the season one already happened. I think it's season two is coming out or something and I want to catch up.
I don't know. It's amazing and just, I don't know.
Anyway, she's, what a delight. Yeah, easy.
She seems like easy to hang out with too. Sean, and I loved how much you and she have sort of similar trajectories in that way.
Isn't that wild? Yeah. I had no idea.
We didn't really get into it when I saw her. There's never time to like, how was your childhood? You mean when you were doing like press stuff for your plays, you weren't like, hey, did you also have five brothers and sisters and did you grow up with a single? Yeah, we didn't get into that.
Well, that would have been weird, dude. I know.
Maybe if you'd just done the small effort of walking across the street or next door and seen her fucking show. I wish I could, but I'm in the show.
You could have because you had the down nights. No, you had Tuesday nights and you could have gone.
Oh, I did have Tuesday nights. And you could have gone.
Yeah, what were you doing on Tuesday nights aside from just warming donuts in your toaster oven? When was the last time you warned, be honest, warmed donut? When was the last time you cut a donut open, right? You just butterflied it, scooped it, and toasted it in your toaster oven. By the way, how good does that sound? Sometimes there's donuts at work.
Sometimes people bring donuts. And you do the half thing where you're just, I'm just going to eat half.
I promise you. No, I know.
And then a half hour later, you can just count. Oh, when they're flipped open and there's a plastic knife left in there and people just cut little pieces off it? Yeah.
And then the same person comes back and just finishes it. Comes back five times.
That's why in Canada, we got the Timbits, eh? Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah.
If you're going to go to Timmy's. Oh, the Timmy Horton.
He's just got great donuts. I used to eat at Tim Horton's all the time.

Oh, they're so good, eh?

So good.

I can get some.

Turkey sandwich.

Yeah.

Honestly, the thing is,

what's great about the Timbit...

Here comes a bite.

Here comes a bite.

It's just...

You don't have to eat the whole thing.

It's just one bite.

Bye!

Smart.

Yes. Smart.
Bye! Bye! Smartless.

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This episode was recorded on June 13th.

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