Jessica Chastain has a new profile in the current issue of Haute Living. It’s one of those weird interviews that actors do on behalf of their advertising contracts. Chastain was recently named the international spokesperson for Piaget, so some of this piece is about jewelry and watches and her style and most of that stuff is boring. But the piece gets more interesting when Chastain starts talking about feminism, women supporting women, and whether she’s ever beefed with Jennifer Lawrence. You can read the full piece here.

Working on The Zookeeper’s Wife: “It was the first time I had been on set with so many women… If you’re one of the only women on a set—if it’s you and a bunch of men—you feel like your value doesn’t come from your thoughts and your talent and what you say: your value comes from how you look and how you’re perceived by the men around you….I’m not saying that you should have a film set where it’s predominantly women, I’m just saying when you have more women and you have more balance in a situation, it’s going to be a healthier experience.”

Representation in film & the changes to come: “The more that people communicate about the problems that we have, the better it’s going to be. That’s how change happens; you can feel it percolating. You look at the Best Picture nominees from last year, and there was not one that had a female protagonist. That is so upsetting to me, because that means that every picture that they deemed worthy of a nomination was from a male point of view. This year, there are four of the seven that have female protagonists. I do think that the industry itself wants to change— we want diversity—and I think it had just gotten stagnant. I think the more that we shake it up, it will make a difference. I’m starting to see it.”

On Jennifer Lawrence’s op-ed: “It was incredible. I loved her op-ed…and I was really disappointed after she wrote it that she got criticism. Sometimes people have that attitude where, ‘You’re an actress making a lot of money, how dare you complain?’ We’ve kind of been programmed to be grateful that we’ve gotten this job, so don’t rock the boat. I don’t think that’s fair. Jennifer Lawrence coming out and saying that was really important.”

She never beefed with J-Law: “There has been a stigma out there that women don’t work well together. I’ve never seen women like this. I remember growing up hearing this myth, that women fight when they’re together and it’s completely inaccurate. I’ve never seen it. I know also during Oscar season [2012-2013] media, because they were trying to get headlines and get clicks, were trying to fabricate a fake rivalry between Jennifer Lawrence and myself and I immediately came out and said this is a media myth that has to stop. The women I know are not like this and I cheer for women to succeed because I know when an actress succeeds that means there’s going to be that many more roles for women because an audience is going to demand it.”

[From Haute Living]

Just FYI: since it’s my job, I actually pay attention to Oscar beefs and rumors about beefing actors, and I never heard anything about Jessica Chastain having a beef with Jennifer Lawrence. Like, Chastain went to the Oscars that year knowing that she wasn’t going to win. Now, I do remember that there some rumors of some tears and maybe some beef the year before, when Chastain was nominated for The Help and she lost to costar Octavia Spencer. Do I think Chastain had a genuine beef with Octavia? No. But I do think Chastain was disappointed that she didn’t win that year, and that’s fine. She can be disappointed and still be a feminist and want other women to succeed.

Also, I really do think J-Law’s essay was a major touchstone for women in the industry. I’ve been enjoying the fact that the essay has given other actresses an opening to talk about all of this stuff, and I think the fact that J-Law got pushback means that it really was a big deal to a lot of people, and a lot of the men in the studios.

Photos courtesy of WENN.