I'm excited to see Jessica Chastain.
Hi!
Hi, it's been so long.
Come, please, let's.
I will.
You've been here all alone…
I've been waiting for hours actually.
So, this reminds me of when we met.
Does it?
No.
We met on the set…
- … of "Dark Phoenix". - ... of "Dark Phoenix".
And I was terrified to meet you.
Really?
- Yeah, I was really scared. - Am I scary?
No, you're not scary.
A little bit, am I scary?
I think because I hate meeting celebrities, idols,
because I just embarrass myself, I get so scared.
But it happens with everyone.
- So you're not special! - So you're not special.
Yeah.
But then I met you and you were lovely.
Thanks.
And here we are.
In a restaurant.
In a little restaurant.
Thank you very much.
It's in French.
It is all in French.
Can you speak French?
A little bit.
Oui, un petit peu.
My husband is Italian so… Italian, you know.
So a little of Italian just slips in, you know.
We should probably do a French wine, shouldn't we?
They're all French.
I don't know wine!
I liked your Instagram from the hockey game.
Thank you.
It was so confident. It was like so... this.
What is this?
It's called a dab.
It's what the young people, young millenials…
... the young millennials dab.
And then I just chugged it.
Well, I'm going to drink what you're drinking.
I'll drink whatever it is.
- Okay, girl! - Let's get a bottle.
- Let's do it. - Let's get wa... yes!
What's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you on set or…?
On set…
Or stage, or…
Oh, okay.
On set, easy.
I was doing a romantic scene with an actor that I had a crush on,
years ago before I was married.
And in the middle of it, and I didn't realise it,
but in the scene I was calling them by their first real name.
No! No!
It's terrible.
And I didn't realise until we cut the scene.
Who said?
He did.
Oh no!
It was so embarrassing.
Who was the actor?
I'm kidding.
- Oh my God, that's awful. - It was terrible.
What you want to eat?
Yes.
- I'll have the asparagus. - I'll have the asparagus too.
And…
Then we have mashed potatoes.
Yes, please.
And I'm vegan, so whatever the chef has that's vegan would be great.
- Thank you, ladies. - Thank you.
What's the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you?
When I was, I think, 13 or 14, I had to have my period on screen.
And so, I kept having to, like…
It was so embarrassing.
I had to like lift up my dress and the director would be like: "Blood! Blood!"
Like chucking blood on me.
Then a camera right there…
Was the director male or female?
Male.
You were 13 years old and there was a male director putting fake blood on your body?
It wasn't him putting it on.
Okay.
It was the costume girls.
Okay.
So we were good.
And then, how old were you when you did "Game of Thrones"?
13.
That's young.
How old were you for your first time?
I was out of college and my first film didn't come until I was in my thirties.
Really?
I've only been in the acting industry for nine years.
Isn't that crazy?
That's crazy. Isn't that crazy?
That's crazy.
I know, I feel like I've done a lot.
That's why I can't imagine at 13…,
you know, to have so much kind of responsibility on you.
To have a job, to have a fan base
and the excitement that that show brought, I mean…
Yeah, I guess it wasn't really like that in the beginning,
like the show never picked up excitement until the series three or four,
or something like that.
- So, I didn't really feel like it was something… - Like a life changer.
A life changer.
Did you dye your hair red?
Yeah.
I know.
I thought we were both redheads.
Did you?
I actually did.
- No way! - Yeah.
It's because you have the personality of a redhead.
- Do I? - Yeah.
- You're spunky. - My mom's a redhead.
- That makes sense. - My mom's a redhead.
She has the same colour hair as you.
Exactly.
It looks really good, thank you.
Enjoy.
Thank you so much.
Cheers.
Oh, darling, cheers.
To lifelong friendship.
Lifelong friendship…
and to "Dark Phoenix".
"Dark Phoenix" comes out June 7th.
Wait, so you have two brothers, right?
Two brothers, two sisters.
What about you?
Two older brothers.
It makes sense.
What do you mean that makes sense?
That you have two older brothers, because you're tough, you're scrappy.
Oh, okay.
Thanks.
You're welcome.
I like scrappy.
I feel scrappy.
And what did your family say when you wanted to get involved?
Well, I didn't tell my parents that I auditioned for "Game of Thrones".
What?
They just kind of found out when I was like…
How did you get an agent?
Nina Gold, the casting director, went around schools in the area…
Some random schools.
And me and all my friends auditioned,
we just thought it was a fun kind of jokey thing to do.
We auditioned and I guess I just got callback after callback after callback.
And you kept going to the callbacks and you didn't tell your parents?
No, my parents found out when I was in the final seven.
And then my mom kind of freaked out.
And she called up my dad and she was like: "I don't know if we can do this!"
And my dad was like: "Shut up.
This is what she's wanted her whole life. You have to let her just give it a go."
What did you do when you got the part?
My mom walked into the room and told my best friend
so that she could wake me up and tell me.
We were on holiday in France and she jumped on me and she went:
"You got the part!"
And then we both ran and jumped in the pool and ate loads of pizza the whole day.
It was the best day ever.
Correct me if I'm wrong, because I remember this from a while ago,
but was it Al Pacino that chose you specifically for a role?
Yeah.
I'd just been auditioning for like little television series
and nothing was really opening out, it was okay.
I got a call that said:
"Al Pacino wants you to audition for "Salome" for the Actors Studio."
I was like: "I've never met Al Pacino, I don't understand,
I'm so confused, but sure".
That's crazy!
It was crazy.
So it was like: "please wait here."
You know that moment before…
And they go into the room, I'm standing there, and then all of a sudden I couldn't breathe,
my heart was going like this.
And I was like: "Oh my God, I'm going to ruin this audition."
You know when you know you're about to have a panic attack?
And I could hear him talking in the room and I was like…
I came in and I started reading the part.
And then Al started talking in the audience.
So as I was acting, I would hear: "Wow!"
No!
"She's amazing!"
Like all this crazy stuff that was coming out of the audience, and I was like…
And every time he kept saying something, I was like: "I'm amazing!"
- And he knew what he was doing. - If Al Pacino says it...
Yeah.
- He knew, like… - Ladies.
How were these?
- They were delicious. - Delicious.
Thank you very much.
- Thanks. - Thank you.
This is a very small red wine glass!
It is, which is good.
Okay, thank you.
I actually have, like…
That brought me to a question.
I get so nervous before going into auditions that I almost always fuck it up.
I used to be like that.
I can't audition.
What is the worst scenario that happened to you when you went in
and you were like: "I messed this up"?
I mean, honestly, when I was young…
Oh my God, what happened?
When I was young, I used to get stage fright and I used to pee.
While you auditioned?
No.
Auditioning for "Game of Thrones", I wasn't peeing myself.
But when I was younger, much younger,
at primary school, like too old to be peeing yourself,
in Nativity plays they used to…
Wait.
Would you pee yourself or would you not pee yourself?
I would peed myself.
I was angel Gabriel, but I'd pee myself.
And you'd pee yourself in front of the whole audience?
Yeah.
So maybe I just always have that fear.
Like you're gonna pee…
I just can't do a good audition.
Is there a way to reframe it in your mind?
Well, actually, my fiancé told me to always put a hundred dollar note in your pocket
when you walk into a room,
because then you feel like: "you don't have a hundred dollars in your pocket".
That's good.
But also don't think of them as testing you out.
You're coming in, you've prepared it, you're there,
it's like a scene class and their job is to direct you.
So, you are in the control seat unlike they are, in some way.
It's you that are playing the role. You own the character physically.
It's just like I get so nervous that all I care about is just remembering the f****** lines.
- Really? - Yeah.
So nervous.
Interesting.
And what were you thinking about when you forgot them?
I don't know.
I was probably thinking: "Remember the f****** line."
I mean, especially in theater for me, that's what happens.
Like if you're doing Shakespeare that lasts three hours,
it's not like you can just make up the lines.
Instead of the panic of "is it coming back?",
I kind of just go: "it's going to come back, I'm just going to wait until it does".
There it is!
- And then it comes back to you. - Yeah.
The panic makes it go away.
The panic will make it like you just won't remember.
Do you have your pages in your hands when you're auditioning?
No.
You should.
I bet that would give you security. Don't look at them…
Know where it is on the page.
I always worry that they'll judge me if I have my pages in my hand.
This is what I think.
If you have your pages in your hand, they're going to think that you're workable.
I think, sometimes, if you come in completely prepared without the pages,
it looks like: "this is my performance."
And it's not going to grow from there.
But with the pages in your hands, then it looks like:
"Oh… yeah, you know, I'm exploring it", but you're not set.
I like that.
I mean, who knows.
That is interesting.
Thank you very much.
Beautiful.
Bon appétit!
You don't know what you have.
I think it's zucchini.
It looks like zucchini and sprouts.
Oh, wow.
This mashed potatoes is good!
Can you eat mashed potatoes?
Yeah.
Yeah, you can.
How long have you been vegan for?
For 14 years.
14?
Before they were really vegan options, I was like: "I'll have a salad."
What made you go vegan?
Was it ethical or…?
Health.
I just played a part where I would stop eating.
When I finished that film, my body was just out of whack.
It was too cruel to do that.
And how old were you then?
I was 20 something.
The movie was held forever, because I had bad luck with my movies.
There was "Jolene", I did "Salome", I did "Tree of Life", I did 'The Debt"…
Oh, with Tye!
I know, little Tye.
Little Tye…
So weird to me now that you're making out with him.
I know.
- Do you feel like quite protective of him? - I could see him as a 10-year-old boy.
The second that we were on set together,
while I was walking in, I was like: "she's a big actor,
just prepare yourself, she might have weird quirks,
she might not want to talk to you…"
I was just preparing, "just prepare yourself".
Then you go on set and you were just like: "Should we play a prank?"
And I was like: "Yes!"
I mean, you have to be careful.
Of course.
There's some actors, you're like:
"I can't get near, this person is so deep in where they are".
You can't do it to Joaquin Phoenix.
No.
Or sometimes Fassbender, I wonder.
I don't know if he's the guy you prank.
I know.
I've been trying to figure that out for a while because I'd love to prank him.
I think you prank him off set.
Yeah, I think so too.
You pranked Mac Attack.
We pranked Mac Attack and he was so grumpy that day.
But didn't you know… but it loosened him up.
It did, it loosened him up.
We were a little nervous because he came on set and he was rumbling, and we were like:
"is this the day to do the prank?"
I know.
I'd love some tea.
You want some tea for dessert?
Yeah, I'd love some tea for dessert.
Chamomile?
- You know me so well. - I know you so well.
Two chamomile teas, please.
Thank you.
Do you want to be a producer?
I do, in the future.
I want to be a producer-director.
I'd do a movie you directed.
- Really? - Yeah.
I would do a movie you directed.
Thanks.
As an actor, you can only have so much creative control.
I want to be able to have full creative control and create my own vision,
and that's something I'm quite passionate about.
My best friend Maisie -who's on "Game of Thrones" with me,
who plays Arya- she and I have a very intense friendship,
a friendship that I haven't had with any of my other girlfriends before.
So, we felt like we wanted to write a movie about our friendship
where it's kind of like you're soulmates, but you're friends,
and it's like this beautiful connection, but it can also be quite destructive.
Have you started writing the screenplay?
No, but I bought a screenplay writing book.
Did you really?
I did.
To teach myself, because I can't write well, but I want to.
But I'm just not talented enough.
You are talented enough.
You haven't seen me writing yet.
Would you send me something?
To read it.
I want to read some pages that you wrote.
So why don't I write something and you write something and we swap it?
Okay.
- And that's the tea. - And that's the tea!
It's hot.
It's going to burn your taste buds.
I like the heat.
I bet you do.
How did you come up with "And that's the tea"?
I think it's something that drag queens say.
Are you serious?
I think it is.
I think good drag queens say "Spill the tea" or "That's the tea"
and so I would think up things that I wanted to say
and I would just say false facts or facts and I would just be like: "And that's the tea".
Can you do one now?
Sure.
I'm too drunk to film this Vogue video and that's the tea.
Now you try.
Is that still too hot for you?
It's a little too hot for me.
I'm sensitive.
You are the Dark Phoenix.
That's right.
Chug it!
Chug that tea!
I love you so much!
Let's get the check.
- Check, please! - Check, please!
Here he is.
Thank you so much.
- I will take care of this. - This pickle's on you?
I think he's giving us a discount because he likes us…
Love you.
What a great dinner!