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Few people knew who Jessica Chastain was before she broke on to the Hollywood scene in 2011, by appearing in seven different films that year – that includes her Oscar-nominated turn as a bodacious, platinum-blonde Southern housewife in The Help – and, thereafter in 2012, the actress barely slowed down, with roles in films like Lawless and a second Oscar-nominated performance as the woman who was responsible for tracking down Osama bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty.
Deadline is reporting that Chastain has now begun negotiations to join the cast of director Christopher Nolan’s upcoming science fiction project, titled Interstellar. The Dark Knight trilogy filmmaker has worked alongside the cream of the crop of acting talent, for the past several years, and that has not changed with the casting for his latest genre artistic genre narrative presented on a grand scale.
Chastain will play the third lead character featured in the Interstellar script, which originated as a screenplay that Jonathan Nolan, Christopher’s brother, put together for Steven Spielberg to direct (back in 2006); however, the current shooting script draft features some additional material incorporated by C. Nolan. The under-wraps plot is rumored to involve wormholes, time-travel, and other ideas proposed by the Caltech physicist and relativity expert Kip S. Thorne; chances are, the Nolan siblings are using these mind-bending concepts to present a more personal story, as was the case with Inception.
The Interstellar cast also includes Oscar-winner Anne Hathaway – who collaborated with Chris Nolan before on The Dark Knight Rises - and Matthew McConaughey, who is in the midst of a career resurgence as a respectable actor. That began with his role in The Lincoln Lawyer, but picked up steam following McConaughey’s acclaimed performances in Bernie, The Paperboy, Killer Joe, Magic Mike and, most recently, Mud (read our review).
So far, we have yet to hear about veterans of the Nolan-verse (besides Hathaway) coming aboard for Interstellar; though, at this point, we’re mostly just waiting for official confirmation about Michael Caine having a role (not a complaint, mind you).
[UPDATE: No surprise, Deadline is now reporting that Caine has formally joined the Interstellar cast, making this project the sixth collaboration for the actor and Chris Nolan (after the Dark Knight trilogy, The Prestige and Inception).]
Nonetheless, it’s encouraging to hear that Chris Nolan is making new friends, so to speak, and hiring different, but still accomplished, actors to work alongside with on his new project; not to mention, casting Chastain and Hathaway is, hopefully, a signal that Interstellar will offer female characters as engaging and complex as the male counterparts (that’s not been the case with most of the director’s past films).
For Chastain, it appears Interstellar is the next item on her to-do list, followed by her role in director Guillermo del Toro’s haunted house motion picture Crimson Peak, which begins shooting in early 2014. The actress was said to be circling the new Tarzan live-action film earlier this year, with Harry Potter director David Yates at the helm; filming has since been postponed until 2014, so it may be a while before we learn, for certain, whether Chastain is still interested or has moved on.
Interstellar opens in regular and select IMAX theaters on November 7th, 2014.