Jessica Chastain is no stranger to telling true stories, famously being nominated for her role in Zero Dark Thirty, along with portraying poker entrepreneur Molly Bloom in Molly’s Game and WWII animal lover Antonia Zabinski in The Zookeeper’s Wife. One of Chastian’s latest roles is the actress’ most impressive transformation yet, as she plays televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker for The Eyes Of Tammy Faye. Though according to the actress, a recent interview led to some misinformation about her time playing the role.
When speaking to The Los Angeles Times about portraying the late television personality earlier this week, among the things Jessica Chastain talked about included the journey to look like Tammy Faye, who famously packed on a ton of makeup. The actress shared that becoming unrecognizable in the role took up to seven and a half hours a day along with these words:
I think for sure I've done some permanent damage to my skin on this. Listen, I eat very pure, and I take very good care of my skin and I stay out of the sun and all that stuff. But it's heavy. And when you're wearing it all day, every day — the weight of it on your body, it stretches your skin out. I finally took it off, and I was like, 'I look 50 years old!' No, I'm kidding. But it's fine. It's for my art.
The popular headline that came out of the interview is word that playing Tammy Faye had done “permanent damage” to her skin, as stated above. Jessica Chastain has since taken to Twitter to clarify her comments and say that no, the makeup she wore for The Eyes of Tammy Faye did not alter her skin forever:
Sometimes interviews can be taken out of context when quoted onto websites because readers lose the particular pitch and tone actors like Jessica Chastain was using when speaking about things like The Eyes of Tammy Faye. The actress shared a picture of her face that looks clear as day, while also clearing up that being in the movie perhaps ruined her skin.
It’s highly possible that the quote created some backlash amongst the makeup artists involved in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, who wouldn’t be happy to hear that their work damaged an actor’s skin. Plus, the movie seems to be one that could be up for Best Makeup during awards season, and press relaying it ruined one of its stars' skin is not helpful to have out there. Check out Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye trailer:
The upcoming movie will also star The Amazing Spider-Man’s Andrew Garfield as Tammy Faye’s husband Jim Bakker, who worked with her as a team to create the world’s largest religious broadcasting network and theme park. The Eyes Of Tammy Faye is coming to theaters on September 24.
