Jessica Chastain laments Hollywood's sexism: 'I have to go through male actors to be heard'

(Image credit: LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images)

published 10 December 2015

Jessica Chastain makes it a point to act in films that have women on set. Since 2008, four of Chastain's 21 features have been shot by female directors, a notably high 19 percent in an industry in which a mere 4 percent of studio films are directed by women on average. The movie she's filming right now, The Zookeeper's Wife with director Niki Caro, employs a higher percentage of women than any other set she's worked on — and, Chastain writes in her recent Hollywood Reporter essay, it makes a huge difference.

Gone is the feeling of a "hierarchy" or of being "bullied or humiliated" or treated like a "sexual object," Chastain says. "I've been on sets a couple times where I've noticed that if I have any idea about a scene, I have to go through the male actors to be heard," she writes. "It's really annoying. The male actor will have a better relationship with the male director, so I have to get the actor on my side. That's the only thing that sometimes feels very icky."