Los Angeles, March 2 – Hollywood actress Jessica Chastain has spoken about how she ensured her safety during intimate scenes in the film "Dreams".
The 48-year-old actress plays Jennifer McCarthy, a wealthy socialite who is having an affair with undocumented immigrant Fernando Rodriguez (Isaac Hernandez), in Michel Franco's film. She explained that the film's intimate scenes were necessary for the story, according to 'Female First UK'.
When asked if she was nervous about the intimate scenes, Chastain told Collider, "Yes, I was absolutely... It's like, 'Ugh, do I really want to do a scene with a professional ballet dancer?'. That is so complicated and difficult”.
Chastain continued, "For example, the staircase scene was my request. All the sex scenes were there, and I asked Michel to explain what each one means and how it further the story”.
"The staircase scene was initially supposed to be in the living room, and when we got to the living room, it had all exposed windows. I just thought, 'Okay, I know how you shoot. I don't know how we can shoot this in a way that feels protective of me. Can we find another place in the house?' And what I love about the staircase scene is that we really feel like we're watching something that we shouldn't see, but the reality is, there's not a lot happening. I'm covered the whole scene, but it feels incredibly evocative, and a lot of people talked about it. I think it shows that the more you hide, sometimes the stronger a scene like that can be. You don't have to be gratuitous, basically”, she added.
According to 'Female First UK', Jessica finds that she often performs intimate scenes but is comfortable doing so for the sake of the plot.
The Oscar-winning actress said, "I feel like I do sex scenes all the time. Every project I'm in. Even Tammy Faye, I was doing a love scene where she was pregnant. I mean, it's like something I do. But I'm happy with it because, also, it's not something that I'm, like, wanting to do. It's something that really challenges me and is difficult for me, and when something is challenging and difficult, I know that I need to kind of run to it. "And usually those parts, like Scenes From A Marriage or Jennifer, things like this, are difficult and require that kind of intimacy and vulnerability”.
Chastain revealed that she chose to appear in "Dreams" because it gave her another opportunity to work with Franco, whom she had previously collaborated with on the 2023 film 'Memory'.
She said, "Michel Franco, 100 per cent. I loved working with him on the film we did, Memory. He only shoots each scene as one take, so if you're not great in that take, that's it. There's no editing that can fix the performance. You just show up, and you hope he chooses something that you're decent in”.
“But it's really tough as an actor to work that way. It's like live theatre, but I love it. I love how collaborative he is”, she added.