Jessica Chastain Has Done A Lot Of Nudity, And She Has Rules
Jessica Chastain has always been okay with nudity as long as it's the decision of the actress and balanced with the leads.
Jessica Chastain is an award-winning actress whose career, after 20 years, only seems to be growing bigger. Early start on, Jessica Chastain was okay doing nude scenes, but she has since won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. And with those, her career seems to be consistently on the rise.
Jessica Chastain Is Ok With Nude Scenes
The one word you can’t use when describing Jessica Chastain as an adult is “shy.” Starting with her 2008 feature film debut in Jolene, Chastain has shown off her assets (sans clothing) in numerous nude scenes without issue.
In fact, she explained her take on taking it all off for the camera in a 2018 interview. “I have no issues with nudity, especially in a lot of European cinema that I adore, but I find that in American cinema, the idea of nudity has always bothered me,” she told Vulture.
“I realized why: For me, I’m uncomfortable with nudity when it feels like it’s not the person’s decision to be naked, when it’s something that has been put upon them. In a way, I see that as like a victimization.”
Jessica Chastain continued, “It trains an audience that exploiting someone in their body should be normal for nudity, when I think the opposite. When people are completely in control of their decisions, that is a really exciting thing. I love the human form — male nudity, female nudity, I’m all about it. I had to get to that place where, for me, it was my decision.”
Jessica Chastain’s First Nude Scenes In Jolene
The number of nude scenes Jessica Chastain does in Jolene is extensive and extremely steamy. In the movie, she plays a 15-year-old who ends up marrying someone much older. She goes on to become an exotic dancer as well, leading to the aforementioned nudity. The movie was not all that well received when it first came out.
She’s never gone that far again, but Jessica Chastain has since done nude scenes in numerous other projects.
Jessica Chastain In Lawless
She followed up Jolene with Lawless, in which she plays Maggie Beauford…
Taking It Off In Salome
She then jumped at taking her clothes off for the movie Salomé…
Mainstream Nudity In The Zookeeper’s Wife
And even did a very brief nude scene in the very mainstream 2017 movie The Zookeeper’s Wife.
Mutual Nudity In Scenes From A Marriage
Then came the series, Scenes from a Marriage, in which Jessica Chastain starred opposite Star Wars sequel trilogy star, Oscar Isaac. It was time for Jessica to stand up for her nudity beliefs, and she did so after reading the script for the HBO limited series.
“I said to Hagai [Levi], who wrote and directed the series — in the very beginning, I said, ‘I’m comfortable with all the nudity, but any part of my body that you show, you’re going to have to show the same with Oscar,'” she explained via Insider.
So, how did Isaac take the ultimatum? “So, like, there’s a shower scene that I have in episode two, and you see my body. And so now, like, you see his body,” Jessica added. “So for me, though, I wanted it to be balanced.”
Isaac plays Chastain’s husband in the miniseries and says he wasn’t even sure his mini-Poe made the final cut and only knew for sure when he watched the episode. “You get sent the stuff to look at, to be like, ‘OK, I’m fine with that,'” Isaac said.
“But I saw it on a laptop, quite dark, and I didn’t notice what was happening down there. And so it was a surprise when I started seeing all these things of, like, ‘It’s full-frontal.’ I was like, ‘No, what are you talking about?’ And I saw it, and clear as day on the big TV there, it’s there for everyone.”
You can actually see Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac discuss this in a clip from The View below.
Jessica Chastain Awarded For Not Going Nude
It wasn’t the nudity that grabbed Jessica Chastain her Academy Award. Instead, it was her performance as Tammy Faye Baker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye that brought her the golden statue.
Although the film wasn’t a huge success, Chastain’s performance was a big-time winner. It’s one of the reasons she’s now considered a top acting talent of her generation.
Jessica Chastain Nude On Television
She went on to resume doing nudity in more projects. She was happy to take her clothes off in another Tammy-named project called George & Tammy in 2022. This time it was for television.
She also wore some pretty amazing outfits for the project…
Jessica Chastain deserves a lot of credit for being willing to take it to the maximum for just about any role she’s involved in.
Jessica Chastain Showing Off On Instagram
Along with not being afraid to show some skin, Jessica Chastain has little problem on social media as well. Her Instagram account is a hit with her followers, a number that is getting close to five million, and she loves to post numerous different things, from smiles…
…and even to make-up…
It’s hard not to love an actor or actress who calls it as they see it. There’s a reason that Jessica Chastain has accrued such a huge social media following and why she says so active on Instagram.
In all, Jessica Chastain is still an empowered actress, one of the truly best we’ve seen on the big screen. Being comfortable with herself and her art is a big reason for it. She continues to be one of the most sought after actors around, and for good reason.
