Through the movie, the actress is also determined to prove that women can get films made without the backing of Hollywood bigwigs, who are typically male.

AceShowbiz - Jessica Chastain and her fellow leading ladies in spy thriller 355 are personally invested the film's box office success because they all have equity in the project.

The Molly's Game star came up with the idea for the forthcoming film, about an all-female group of high-powered international agents, with director Simon Kinberg and recruited Penelope Cruz, Lupita Nyong'o, Marion Cotillard, and Fan Bingbing to join her onscreen.

The stars presented the project to buyers worldwide at the Cannes Film Festival in France last month, when the movie was quickly snapped up by global distributors, which helped to boost their budget.

Jessica, who will serve as a co-producer alongside Kinberg and Kelly Carmichael, her production partner at Freckle Films, reveals she couldn't be more excited about the early buzz surrounding the ensemble project, because they are all so deeply involved.

"Basically, we're making the film independently...," she told breakfast show Today. "We own equity in the film. We went to Cannes and we sold it, and we raised more than we needed to and we're now owners of the film. We're the studio!".

Their success so far in the development of the project has given Jessica a big confidence boost, because she is determined to prove that women can get films made without the backing of Hollywood bigwigs, who are typically male.

"Our industry, for the longest time, they've made actresses feel like we've needed studios or we've needed these executives to tell us (what to do) or to give us jobs," she added on talk show The View, insisting that will all change upon 355's release.

In addition to making strides as a producer for female-focused films in Hollywood, Jessica has also been leading the charge for pay equity, after learning about the deep disparity between what actresses of colour earn compared to their Caucasian peers, thanks to an informative chat with her The Help co-star Octavia Spencer.

Chastain has even gone one step further by pushing for the two old pals to be paid the same amount for a new holiday comedy they are making together, resulting in Oscar winner Octavia banking five times her usual fee for the movie.

"Of course I knew that women of colour got paid less (than their white counterparts), but I just assumed - which is the dangerous thing - I assumed a woman like Octavia Spencer would be compensated fairly for the work she's done and for the awards she received for the work she's done," Jessica shared, "and when she told me what her salary had been, that's what really shocked me, and I thought, 'OK, well we're gonna tie ourselves together in this next film'".

Follow AceShowbiz.com @ Google News

You can share this post!

You might also like
Related Posts