Jessica Chastain: ‘I want to play well-written women’

Molly Bloom is a divisive character, a self-made woman whose underworld dealings and powerful presence earned her the nickname “poker princess”.

In a film written and directed by Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, Jessica Chastain plays Bloom and reminds us of her place in the industry.

The actress has almost exclusively played leading parts in recent years, portraying powerful women in their own right.

“I feel like I just want to play well-written women,” she tells me.

“I think when people see the characters that I play they feel very powerful, but I think that’s because it’s not normal in the film industry to have such strong female characters, well-written female characters.

“Women who aren’t defined by a relationship or man in their life but about what they say and what they do. That’s what I’m interested in playing. That’s what I seek out.”

Working with Sorkin, known for his fast-paced dialogue and sharp storytelling, is something Chastain says she feels like she had been preparing for throughout her career.

“It was a wonderful experience. I kind of feel like everything I’ve done until now has prepared me to do an Aaron Sorkin script.

“There are few writers who can do what he does; people who have their own rhythm and their own style, like David Mamet, William Shakespeare.

“There’s a rhythm to it that, if you drop the ball, you are losing the whole point of the through line.”

For Sorkin, telling Molly’s story unexpectedly became his first venture into directing, something which he did not plan.

“When I was writing the screenplay I didn’t know I was going to direct it – which was probably a lucky thing,” he says.

“I think I probably would have set the whole thing in one room with four walls and one character.”

The film is released during a turbulent time in Hollywood, with the industry facing up to a lot of skeletons in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment and abuse; Molly’s Game is a movie about a real woman, and the struggles and challenges she faced in her own business.

While he was aware the film carried an important topic when he took on the project, Sorkin says that making his directorial debut politically relevant was not a conscious choice.

“It was not a conscious choice, this was a story that I loved very much,” he says.

“The fact that Molly is a woman is very relevant to the story itself, it’s just not relevant to the writing of it.”

Asked about the state of the industry, he says it is not just a recent problem.

“We shouldn’t act like the state of the industry is something that just happened two months ago.

“The fact is, it would appear as if it has been like this for quite some time – if not from the beginning – and everything is coming out of the closet now.

“I would be happy to trade the fortuitous time of this movie for a world in which none of this had happened but, as it happens, the movie is particularly relevant right now.”

Molly’s Game is playing in UK cinemas now.

(c) Sky News 2018: Jessica Chastain: ‘I want to play well-written women’