|
The Oscar triumph for Chastain, 45, virtually
unrecognizable in heavy makeup as Tammy Faye Bakker, followed a
Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance and capped the
third Academy Award nomination of her career.
She clinched the Oscar over a field of rival nominees consisting
of Olivia Colman for "The Lost Daughter", Penelope Cruz for
"Parallel Mothers", Nicole Kidman for "Being the Ricardos" and
Kristen Stewart for "Spencer".
Chastain was previously nominated for an Oscar for her 2012
portrayal of a CIA analyst on the hunt of Osama Bin Laden in
"Zero Dark Thirty" and her 2011 supporting role as a Southern
socialite in the 1960s racial drama "The Help".
Chastain's latest film charted the real-life story of
evangelical power couple Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, who built
their PTL Club television ministry into a worldwide Christian
broadcast network during the 1970s and '80s.
But their lucrative empire crumbled in a series of highly
publicized sex and financial scandals in 1987, ending with Jim
Bakker's conviction and imprisonment on multiple fraud charges
and the couple's divorce.
Tammy Faye later married and took the last name of developer Roe
Messner as she rebuilt her reputation through a documentary and
reality show before her cancer death in 2007.
Although the film drew mixed reviews, critics credited Chastain
with rendering a nuanced, sympathetic portrayal of a figure
much-lampooned in her day for her outlandish makeup and clothing
styles and an emotional television persona bordering on
histrionic.
Taking the stage to accept her Oscar on Sunday, Chastain spoke
admiringly of the real-life character she played, saying, "in
times like this I think of Tammy and I'm inspired by her radical
acts of love".
Chastain has said she spent several hours a day on set in the
makeup chair having facial prosthetics applied and recreating
the famously heavy eyelashes that streamed mascara when Bakker
cried on camera.
Assuming Bakker's rapid-fire speech and girlish,
Midwestern-accented voice, Chastain also made her big-screen
singing debut in the film, performing a number of Bakker's
gospel tunes.
Co-starring actor Andrew Garfield as Jim Bakker, the film
focuses on Tammy Faye's point of view, highlighting her defiance
of conservative evangelical leaders by preaching acceptance of
LGBT individuals and people with HIV at the height of the AIDS
epidemic.
Born in Sacramento, California, Chastain graduated from the
Juilliard School and worked on television and live theater
before making her film debut in 2008 as a sexually abused
teenager in "Jolene", inspired by the Dolly Parton song of the
same title.
She went on to co-star in such films as Terrence Malick's 2011
ethereal drama "The Tree of Life" opposite Brad Pitt and the
sci-fi hits "Interstellar" with Matthew McConaughey and "The
Martian" with Matt Damon in 2014 and 2015.
She is married to fashion executive Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo,
with whom she has two children.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting
by Nichola Groom; Editing by Sandra Maler and Emelia
Sithole-Matarise)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
