Jessica Chastain has been camped out in Paris all week for Fashion Week. When did she become the It Fashion Girl? That’s very interesting, isn’t it? I’m including photos of Jessica from the Louis Vuitton show, the Chanel show, at the Carine Roitfeld party and outside of the Meurice Hotel (where I assume she’s staying). Jessica must have gotten invites to ALL of the Paris fashion shows, which is something that usually happens to only Salma Hayek (and even then, Salma is married to the boss). I think her best look is the black-and-white Chanel look. She just looks comfortable and professional there, I like it.

In other news, the ubiquitous Chastain is rumored to be “the first choice” to play Jane in a live-action version of Tarzan. You know who is probably going to play Tarzan, right? Alexander Skarsgard!! Can you see Chastain as the Victorian lady Jane to Skarsgard’s rugged beast of a Tarzan? Hmm…

Jessica Chastain, Queen of the Jungle? The overworked actress and recent Oscar nominee is said to be the first choice to play Jane in a new version of “Tarzan,” reports The Post’s Richard Johnson.

Alexander Skarsgard is reportedly in the running to play the title character in the Warner Bros. reboot. In this story, the jungle boy is fully assimilated to life in London when Queen Victoria asks him to investigate troubles in the Congo.

Samuel L. Jackson is rumored to play an ex-mercenary who helps Tarzan save the Congo from a vicious warlord. David Yates, who helmed four “Harry Potter” movies, will direct.

[From Page Six]

Chastain, Skarsgard AND Jackson? Damn. I would watch that. I forget… in the original Tarzan story, does Jane bang Tarzan? I know there’s a lot of sexual tension between the characters, but I forget if they were doing lustful things amongst the jungle and Victorian England. Let me look it up… in the original stories, Tarzan and Jane do get married (but that’s in the sequel book). So, chances are pretty good that if this casting goes down, we’ll see Alex and Jessica get hot and heavy. *takes a shot of tequila, rips off blouse* Let’s do this. I’m down with this pairing. I think Jessica and Alex would be hot together.

Also: Jessica stepped out with her boyfriend Gian Luca Passi yesterday. My reading of their body language? They have one major thing in common: they’re both in love with Gian!

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

Here are some new photos of Jessica Chastain in Paris over the weekend. She’s in Paris for Fashion Week. Do you buy that? Do you buy that Jessica is now a major Fashion Girl who gets invited to all of the Paris fashion shows? I’m not sure if I’m into it. Jessica looked good for the Oscars – remember that copper/gold Armani? – but I might have been the only one who didn’t think that the Armani gown was, like, the best thing ever. I just thought it was better than everything she’d worn the entire awards season, which wasn’t saying much because Jessica was (and IS) a disappointment as a Fashion Girl. And I’m not saying that to completely disrespect her – she’s an incredibly talented actress. But I just don’t buy her as someone who delivers with any consistency on a red carpet.

Anyway, these photos are from Jessica’s appearance at the Givenchy show (she’s wearing those bizarre beige-lace-inset pants) and the Viktor & Rolf show (the black coat, and then inside she wore black slacks and a black top). Do you see what I’m talking about? Her styling is lovely for the Givenchy show – who knew she could pull off flat-ironing? – but those pants are unfortunate. And then at the V&R show, it’s her styling that stinks – too garish with the makeup. I’m saying this because I would love it if Jessica started wowing us with consistency. I’m saying this because I know she’ll be up for an Oscar again, and it will probably be very soon.

Also, did you hear about the controversy with Vanity Fair writing something mildly critical of Chastain during the awards season and then pulling it completely from their site?

We all know that tensions rise during those final weeks leading up to the Academy Awards as media outlets decide who’s worthy and who’s not. So this begs the question: with so much money and prestige at stake, is it possible for even major and reputable media outlets to voice any negative opinions while Oscar campaigning is underway? Especially if they want Academy Award contenders to take out ads and sit for interviews and come to parties? Increasingly, no.

It’s well known that The Hollywood Reporter and Variety cravenly promise Oscar hopefuls flattering coverage. But Vanity Fair? Granted, its year-round showbiz coverage has all the heft of a marshmallow. But its Deputy Editor Bruce Handy this Oscar season wrote for the magazine’s website one brief but hardly brutal column dissecting Jessica Chastain’s body of work. This wasn’t some freelancer: this was the magazine’s #2 who dared to express mild criticism about the Best Actress Oscar nominee for Zero Dark Thirty.

“I’m surprised it’s being hailed as one of the year’s great performances, and that it has earned her an Oscar nomination for best actress,” Handy opined. “It’s not the sort of flashy thing, like playing a transgendered murder victim or quadriplegic boxer, that the Academy normally rewards.” He included much praise but also said Chastain was an “empty vessel”‘ and “recessive presence” who doesn’t “quite hold your eye”.

The piece posted on the VF website January 25th at a pivotal point in Oscar campaigning: just before final paper ballots went out and online voting began. Within a day, the analysis was gone. Not just gone from the VF website but really really really erased from the Internet at large. Publicists for Sony Pictures and Chastain’s BNC flackery told me it was “not true” that VF deleted the article. But, to its credit, Vanity Fair owned up to it. Explained VF spokeswoman Beth Kseniak: “We took it down because it ran counter to what a number of people at the magazine believed.”

[From Deadline]

You can read the original VF article in its entirety here at Deadline – it is critical of Chastain, but it doesn’t cross any “too harsh” lines at all. It’s just a well-written piece of actor/film criticism, one which dozens of major sites would have published with ease and little fanfare. I think it’s interesting that Chastain’s people denied that VF deleted the article but VF had to cop to it. Perhaps Chastain has some ball-busting people working for her? Huh.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.com.

In the whirl of the Oscar coverage plus a particularly nasty stomach virus (ugh!), I completely forgot to update everyone on the “Jessica Chastain’s boyfriend” situation. Months ago, the tabloids tried to suggest that Jessica was secretly dating Tom Hiddleston, then a theory was floated that maybe Jessica was dating her Zero Dark Thirty costar Jason Clarke (who is HOT). Jessica basically gave everyone a blind item for her dating life, claiming that she has a boyfriend and he’s “in fashion”. Well, now we know his name: Count Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo. I’ll just call him Gian. Gian is a fashion executive with Moncler, he’s about five years younger than Jessica, and according to Star Mag, he’s kind of a famewhore.

With her recent Oscar nomination, Jessica Chastain has held a major part of the Hollywood spotlight, but there’s one thing she hopes doesn’t get attention – her playboy boyfriend!

Jessica, 35, has quietly been dating Italian heartthrob Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo for a while now, and according to a source, he’s a complete playboy.

“He’s dated hot models and is well known for bouncing between women,” spills the insider. The Italian count and executive for the French clothing brand Moncler, 30, is no stranger to the Hollywood life and counts Leo DiCaprio and George Clooney as friends.

“He loves attention and craves the spotlight,” says the pal. “It she’s smart she’ll leave him before he breaks her heart! After he gets the publicity he wants, he’ll break up with her.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition]

Ladies, if your man is BFFs with George Clooney and Leo DiCaprio, that’s a dealbreaker! (God, I love Liz Lemon!) Anyway, I guess it’s nice to know that Jessica actually does have a real boyfriend (as opposed to a fictitious boyfriend “in Canada”). I’m kind of disappointed that she’s not with Jason Clarke, just because that would have been really hot. I kind of wonder about this Star story, though – I wonder if it’s wildly on-target. I was going to defend the guy by citing a bunch of “getting to know Jessica Chastain’s new boyfriend” articles until I realized… there are a bunch of articles about him this week. This dude has a publicist and Gian is milking this relationship for some publicity. Of course, it’s perfectly possible that he genuinely cares about Jessica AND he wants attention. Also: they’ve apparently been together since early last summer…? So it’s been a while, in actor-time.

Some sessy photos of Gian:

Photos courtesy of WENN, Vanity Fair.

Everyone was talking about Jessica Chastain’s Armani Prive gown last night, did you notice that? I think it’s because Jessica was one of the first big names to arrive on the red carpet, and she made sure she got photographed a lot on the red carpet. I think people were also talking about her because she got it mostly right last night, and that’s unique because Jessica has been completely underwhelming (if not downright awful) throughout this awards season. I had two complaints with this look: one, the gold/bronze shade was too light for someone so pale, and Jessica’s ginger extensions looked kind of cheap. But other than that… victory!! Her side-part with soft waves looked great, the dress had a beautiful cut, she looked comfortable and beautiful and I was genuinely sorry to see her lose the Oscar to Jennifer Lawrence. Sorry, Jessica!

Also wearing a shade of gold: Renee Zellweger in Carolina Herrera! Is it just me or does she look… healthier? We can debate whether or not she got bolt-ons (I think she did), but I think she’s just gained some weight overall and it’s throwing me off. Don’t get me wrong – the weight looks AMAZING on her and we need to encourage her. As for the bad stuff: the ruby-encrusted cuff doesn’t really work with the gown, her hair looks greasy (and the style sucks) and her face still looks really pinched. But overall… an improvement.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.

Obviously, Oscar weekend is the biggest weekend in Hollywood and there are about a million events scheduled all over the place, so instead of trying to play catch-up next week, we’ve decided to do some postings as the photos come in. Unfortunately, last night wasn’t a crazy-awesome night for parties thus far – CB covered the QVC event, which was seriously the biggest event of the evening. I’m just covering a hodge-podge of some of the other events. Here is Jessica Chastain at the Annual Women In Film Pre-Oscar Party. Jessica is wearing Preen – I actually like it. It’s a great little party dress. It gives me hope that she might wear something good for the Oscars.

Here’s Viola Davis at the same event, looking boss.

Sharon Stone at a party to celebrate the Best Documentary nominee, How To Survive A Plague. That documentary is about the AIDS crisis. Sharon is barely wearing any makeup.

Here’s Anna Paquin & Stephen Moyer at the “GREAT British Film Reception to honor the British nominees of the 85th Annual Academy Awards” which was held at the British Counsel General’s office. Apparently, Anna is wearing Monique Lhuillier? But it looks like an old Alexander McQueen dress, doesn’t it?

Gina Carano & Henry Cavill at the same event. I know a lot of you dislike this pairing, but I still think they’re so sexy together. And doesn’t Gina look crazy-happy? But yes, she needs to stop wearing hose with open-toe shoes. Rookie fashion faux pax! And those shoes are just flat-out awful.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

Here are some photos from the Writers Guild Awards, which were held last night in NYC and LA. Winners included Mark Boal’s original screenplay for Zero Dark Thirty, with the Argo script winning adapted screenplay. The TV winners included Lena Dunham, Louis CK, and scripts for episodes of Mad Men and Modern Family (which are two of the arguably best-written shows on television today). Shall we talk about fashion? Let’s talk about fashion. Jessica Chastain was there to celebrate Mark Boal, and she wore this Christian Dior dress which… I don’t like. What is Jessica’s issue with tailoring?! This bustier thing looks flat-out LUMPY. And it’s the wrong color for a pale ginger too.

Here’s some Walton Goggins, just for Bedhead (and no one else!).

Nathan Fillion, because bitches be all up on some Fillion.

I love Mindy Kaling. I LOVE The Mindy Project, which… if you haven’t watched it and you’re one of these people throwing fits about Girls and Lena Dunham, you really should watch The Mindy Project. Mindy is hilarious, it’s an exceptionally well-written romance-comedy show, and it has a great supporting cast. So, even though I love Mindy, I just CANNOT START with this outfit. The dress looks cheap and the booties are terrible.

Bad news, y’all. Amy Poehler got breakup bangs. NOOOOOoooooo.

And here’s Lena Dunham in Reed Krakoff. Can I just say? I think this is the cutest she’s looked all awards season. No joke.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Last week’s National Enquirer included a story about Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence and their alleged girl-fight. I noted at the time that it sounded like a story that was just made up out of thin air because the tabloids were hungry for ANY whiff of girl drama this awards season. I also said that I wished the tabloids would come up with some juicy boy-drama, like something involving Bradley Cooper perchance. Anyway, Jessica Chastain heard about the Enquirer’s story, and she posted some thoughts onto her Facebook page (which I didn’t even know she had!):

I find it very sad that media makes up bogus stories about women fighting in this industry. Filming The Help was the most amazing experience and yet, that is the film I’m most asked about in regards to “fighting on set”. Why do we support the myth that women are competitive and cannot get along?

I think all of the actresses recognized this year have given incredible performances. But more important, they’ve all shown themselves to be filled with generosity and kindness. I’ve done two photo shoots with Jennifer Lawrence over the years and have found her to be utterly charming and a great talent. I’ve told her how beautiful her film work is.

Please don’t allow the media to perpetuate the myth that women aren’t supportive of each other. Everytime an actress is celebrated for her great work, I cheer. For the more brilliant their performance, the more the audience demands stories about women. With support and encouragement, we help to inspire this industry to create opportunities for women. And as we all know: a great year for women in film, is just a great year for film xxjes

[From Jessica’s Facebook]

Before I discuss this in any detail, I just want to tell you that Jessica is the kind of person who posts a lot of photos of her adorable little puppy Chaplin on her Facebook. Chaplin is seriously the cutest thing of the awards season!! Anyway, about Girl Power and all of that… sure. I believe Jessica is a legitimate feminist and that she admires and honors Jennifer Lawrence and many, many actresses. I believe that pitting two women against each other just for the hell of it is wrong. But I also think the awards shows are competitions in which a lot of time, money and energy has been expended and it’s okay to be disappointed or sad if you don’t win. And when someone is hurt, disappointed or sad that they didn’t win, sometimes some drama will creep in – it’s human nature, as far as I’m concerned. And that’s why Jessica’s management team reminded Deadline that Jessica lost the SAG Award to Jennifer because the SAG voters didn’t get screeners of Zero Dark Thirty. Jessica’s team just wanted to remind people that it wasn’t that Jennifer’s performance was qualitatively BETTER than Jessica’s, it’s just that not enough people had seen Jessica’s performance. And that, ladies, is the non-tabloid girl drama.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Well, this is a surprise! I’m including two women that most critics and awards-watchers considered to be the biggest contenders for all of the Best Actress awards this year, and both of these women left the BAFTAs empty-handed last night. Marion Cotillard was up for Rust & Bone, and Jessica Chastain was up for Zero Dark Thirty, and both lost to French actress Emmanuelle Riva for Amour. Riva even upset fan-favorite Jennifer Lawrence! SHOCK!

Well, at least Jessica and Marion wore “interesting” gowns. I guess. I actually flat-out hate Jessica Chastain’s structured, asymmetrical Roland Mouret gown. It’s just so disappointing! This is her second awards season as a nominee (in a row!), and she just cannot get it right. It’s not that this Mouret gown is “terrible” or anything. It’s just the wrong shade of blue and it’s too tight on her, and her hair is wrong and her makeup is just kind of meh. Jessica could be making such a big impact on the red carpet, and she just… I don’t know. She gets bad advice, maybe? Or she has bad taste?

As for Marion, she wore Dior, obviously. It’s from the same collection as Jennifer Lawrence’s SAG gown two weekends ago. And it has the same weird feature – the dress “comes apart” and there’s sheer netting holding all of the pieces together so that if one part of the dress “rides up” you get a glimpse of legs and/or biscuit. It seems like a really weird design movement, right? As for this particular dress… eh. It’s okay. I don’t like it, but I hate lemon yellow or chrome yellow or whatever you want to call it. I guess the “muffin hip” design is supposed to be super-avant-garde and structural too, but blah. Whatever.

Photos courtesy of FameFlynet and Pacific Coast News.

I think the tabloids have really missed Brangelina this awards season. Last year, Brad Pitt was up for all of the Best Actor awards, and although he wasn’t considered a big contender, the sheer fact that everyone could Brangelina Watch and Brangelina Gossip throughout the awards season made it so much more fun. This year’s awards season has actual competitions – no one really knows who is going to take home the Oscars in most of the acting categories. If I was looking for some juicy drama, I would have gone with Bradley Cooper being super-jealous of Daniel Day-Lewis and Hugh Jackman. But dude-on-dude hate won’t bring in the readership like girl-on-girl hate. Thus, The Enquirer is trying to make some girl drama out of the Jennifer Lawrence-Jessica Chastain competition.

Jessica Chastain has her claws out for her fellow Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence. After Lawrence won at the SAGs, Jessica was fuming.

“Jessica can’t stand the fact that Jennifer is stealing her thunder!” said a source. “What’s more, the critics have been gushing over Jennifer’s awards show speeches and it’s been killing Jessica!”

“It was a real blow to Jessica when Jennifer took the SAG Award… not only did Jessica think she deserved it, she thought she had it in the bag. She tried to put on a brave face for the cameras, but inside she was seething.”

And Jessica’s ire went into overdrive when her nemesis joked about her during her recent Saturday Night Live gig. Jennifer kidded: “Jessica Chastain – more like Jessica Chast-ain’t winning no Oscar on my watch. In Zero Dark Thirty you caught Bin Laden. So what? In Winter’s Bone I caught a squirrel – and then I ate it. Boom. Deal with that.”

The source said: “Jessica felt Jennifer trivialized her acting role and didn’t see any humor in the bit. She can’t stand Jennifer all the more for it.”

[From The Enquirer, print edition]

My general feeling? Jessica is competitive. She wants to win. She will be disappointed if she doesn’t win. She was disappointed when she lost the SAG Award. I think she was very disappointed and upset when she lost the Best Supporting Oscar last year too. She seems like a somewhat fragile, tightly-wound woman who really gets anxious and neurotic about this stuff. Does that make you like her more? Or do you prefer Jennifer Lawrence’s method, which seems to be “Don’t take it too seriously, have fun, try not to embarrass yourself”? I don’t know… I’m starting to get a feeling about the Best Actress race. I’m not going to lay down any money (yet), but I think Jessica is the best bet right now.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

These are some photos from this year’s annual Oscar Luncheon, where everybody who got an Oscar nomination this year gets invited to a fancy luncheon (I believe Wolfgang Puck caters it?) and then they all sit for their “class photo”. What’s special about the event is that there is assigned seating, and all of the “cool kid” actors don’t get to sit together in one table – they are forced to mingle with the editors and screenwriters and costumers. But it’s also pretty typical in that there’s a red-carpet like thing where all of the cool-kid actors get their photos taken. I generally like the event for its business-casual fashion, but this year’s luncheon featured a lot of really awful styles. So let’s get to it!

Here’s Anne Hathaway in a pretty and flattering little black dress. I don’t want to discourage you or anything, but I think Annie looked the best out of all of the ladies. Also: that’s a pretty flat stomach, right? So much for the bump rumors, I suppose. Still, there’s time.

Naomi Watts in Valentino. We might need to start a Bump Watch on Naomi with this dress, right? Here’s the thing – I’m sure she’s not pregnant. It’s just not the most flattering thing on her. And I usually love her style, but she’s been disappointing me the past few red carpets. What’s up with her?

I’m sorry, but Bradley Cooper looks like a Vegas casino pit boss with a not-so-secret heroin addiction.

Amy Adams in J. Mendel. I’m sorry, but this dress is super-fug. I love her, I think she’s incredibly talented, but good God.

Oh, hello Hugh. You look amazing!

Jessica Chastain in Erdem. I could totally see Duchess Kate in this dress. And I suspect I would like it more on Kate. I don’t care for it on Jessica, and I think she made a bad shoe choice.

Joaquin Phoenix with his sister Rain. Um… is this his way of lifting his middle finger to the Academy? Like, “Yeah, I’ll show up but I’ll look like hell because I don’t care because I’m so HARDCORE.” Poseur.

Photos courtesy of WENN.