Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain at the 89th Annual Drama League Awards in New York City on May 19, 2023.Photo:Bruce Glikas/WireImage
Bruce Glikas/WireImage
Jessica Chastain’s relationship with longtime palOscar Isaacchanged after making a divorce drama together.
The actress, who starred with Isaac in the 2021 HBO limited seriesScenes from a Marriage,admitted toVanity Fairin an interview published Tuesday that the project “was very tough.”
“And I love Oscar [Isaac], but the reality is, our friendship has never quite been the same,” said Chastain, 46. “We’re going to be okay, but after that, I was like, I need a little bit of a breather.”
InScenes from a Marriage, Chastain and Isaac, 44, play Mira and Jonathan, a married couple whose relationship falls apart over several years. The series is an American adaptation of the 1973 Swedish miniseries of the same name.
“There was so much I love you, I hate you in that series,” Chastain toldVanity Fair.
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Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain inScenes from a Marriage(2021).hbo
Chastain and Isaac, who have been friends for over 20 years, famously sent social media into a frenzy withtheir red-carpet chemistryat the Venice Film Festival in September 2021.
Ina slow-motion clipfrom Getty that went viral on Twitter, Chastain wrapped her arm around Isaac’s shoulder as he gazed deep into her eyes before appearing to plant a kiss on her inner arm.
Both Chastain and Isaac are married to their respective partners:Gian Luca Passi de PreposuloandElvira Lind, whom they each married in 2017.
AsStephen Colbertprepared to ask the actress about the viral incident during an episode of his late-night show weeks later, Chastaincalled the host out immediately, telling him, “I know where you’re going,” before adding that she and Isaac “go way back.”
Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac attendScenes from a Marriageon Sept. 4, 2021, in Venice, Italy red carpet.Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty
Amid the release ofScenes from a Marriage,Chastain chatted with PEOPLE about how she and Isaac havebeen close friends for decades.
“Oscar I’ve known for 20 years. We went to college together,” she said. “We have the same process. When I got the scripts, I knew immediately it was going to be like a play, because most of it’s just him and I talking for an hour, sometimes not calm.”
The actress explained that her close bond with theStar Warsactor helped them navigate some of their characters' more challenging and emotional scenes.
Chastain, who trained at Juilliard with Isaac and previously played his onscreen wife in 2014’sA Most Violent Year, also admitted she had to employ a little mind trick to “see Oscar in a different way, which was complicated because these characters are best friends, and they know so much about each other.”
“They know everything about each other, so that was easy,” she told PEOPLE. “But then I was like, ‘Okay, how am I going to switch [Oscar] in my mind? Because he’s literally not Jonathan at all.’ So I had to, I literally changed his name in my phone to Jonathan. I did. Because every time he texted me, I wanted it to say ‘Jonathan,’ so it could just remind me of the project, you know?”
source: people.com
