Jessica Chastain – This Had Oscar Buzz

This week, we are returning to the work of the recent Academy Award winner Jessica Chastain. In 2017, the actress headlined the adaptation of the popular non-fiction book The Zookeeper’s Wife, detailing Antonina Zabinska and her husband Jan’s efforts to help Polish Jews escape the Nazis by hiding them within the Warsaw Zoo. Directed by Niki Caro, who had previously guided two previous Best Actress nominees, the film held much early promise before being slated for an early year release after distributor Focus Features had its hands full with two Best Picture nominees the previous season. By the end of the year, Chastain herself would have a heavier hitting contender in Molly’s Game, leaving The Zookeeper’s Wife as a quickly forgotten prestige effort.

This episode, we look back at Niki Caro’s rise as the director of independent dramas to massive studio tentpoles and Chastain’s omnipresent arrival in the early 2010s. We also get into how the previous season resulted in her as our newest Best Actress winner, Daniel Bruhl’s typecasting in Nazi roles, and Focus Features’ upcoming lineup.

Topics also include Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, Netflix’s 2022 supertrailer, and our May Miniseries starting next week!!

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“This was very disrespectful.” Once again, Kevin O’Keeffe joins us to talk about the one and only Jessica Chastain for A Most Violent Year. Starring an on-the-rise Oscar Isaac as an emerging entrepreneur in the 1980s trying to avoid crime in dirty business, the film chased Oscar after writer/director J.C. Chandor’s Original Screenplay nomination for his debut Margin Call. But the film’s closest shot at Oscar was the supporting performance by Chastain as Isaac’s wife with a secret or two, which earned her Critics Choice, Independent Spirit, and Golden Globe nominations. Though many predicted Chastain, a surprise nomination went to Laura Dern for Wild, and A Most Violent Year was left out in the Oscar cold.

This episode, we talk about the Oscar Isaac performances that deserved Oscar attention, including the year where the likes of he and Tom Hanks missed out on nominations. We also discuss genius cinematographer Bradford Young, the film’s Best Picture win with the National Board of Review, and just how many people actually watched Triple Frontier.

Topics also include the value of nail acting and coat acting, this current season of Drag Race All-Stars, and who might have been second place to Patricia Arquette in 2014.

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Tag: Jessica Chastain

191 – The Zookeeper’s Wife

156 – A Most Violent Year (with Kevin O’Keeffe)