During awards season, Jessica Chastain made some minor headlines for accessorizing with a face mask. I didn’t think much of it at the time. I thought maybe it was a way for her to stand out a bit, but I figured she was just wearing it out of an abundance of caution and didn’t give much thought to a specific reason. It turns out it was both an abundance of caution and a specific reason — she was on Broadway in “A Doll’s House” at the time and wanted to make sure she didn’t get sick and have to miss a show.
Jessica Chastain says she wasn’t attempting to make a “political statement” when she wore a mask at award shows this past season.
The Zero Dark Thirty star, 46, shared at The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Tony Nominees Roundtable that she got some criticism after she was spotted at several awards shows wearing a face mask in order to prevent contracting COVID-19 while she tackled the leading role on Broadway in Henrik Ibsen’s iconic play, A Doll’s House.
“We were testing every day on our show, and even if you had no symptoms, if you tested positive for COVID, you were out for a week — and I was meeting people at the stage door who flew in from Shanghai and flew in from all over the world. To be out of the show for a week? It just felt like it was so irresponsible,” said Chastain, who received a Tony Award nomination for her role.
But not everyone understand her instinct to take precautions.
“So I was wearing the mask at the Oscars. I got quite a lot of flak for that. A lot of people thought I was making some political statement. I don’t know what they thought,” she shared with the group.
Josh Groban, who also participated in the roundtable, cut in, telling her, “theater people knew. We knew.”
“Well, OK, good,” Chastain replied. “I’ll tell you, the best thing is someone at the stage door gave me a mask that said, ‘I’m On Broadway.’ But yeah, the SAG Awards, the Oscars, a lot of people were like, ‘What are you doing?!’ I just couldn’t get sick. And I didn’t. I haven’t missed a show.”
Back in January at the Golden Globe Awards, a Twitter user posted a picture of Chastain in her mask, which matched her sparkling silver gown, along with a caption that read “and you know who didn’t get COVID at the Golden Globes?”
Chastain retweeted the post, adding “Phew!”
While walking the red carpet at the Golden Globes, Chastain explained her reasoning for masking up at the big bash.
“I’m doing a play right now in New York. I’m going to be doing A Doll’s House. I’m playing Nora,” she shared. “I’m really excited about that. I’m a little nervous about getting sick but I got my mask, I’m doing both. But also you have to be so careful in the theater because I don’t want to let my cast down.”
Several other stars did catch the virus following the award ceremony, including Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Chastain also paired her Gucci gown with a black mask at the Oscars, though she appeared unmasked during the red carpet and while presenting the award for Best Actress.
Jessica’s reasons are pretty solid here. Maybe covid isn’t as deadly due to the vaccines, but it still sucks. When I had it in the winter, I had literally every symptom except shortness of breath and I was flat on my back for a week. I mean, perhaps the understudy was disappointed she didn’t get to show her chops, but Jessica was really being considerate of everyone by wearing a mask. If she’d gotten covid, it could have spread to the rest of the cast and stage crew as well as audience members. Also, if people are paying to see Jessica Chastain, they want to see Jessica Chastain, no matter how talented the understudy is. That’s just what happens when movie stars take on Broadway shows. Also, she did the right thing because a bunch of people got covid at the Golden Globes, and now she’s nominated for a Tony! My one quibble would be that she didn’t necessarily need to invoke people traveling from Shanghai in any context to make her point.
Photos credit: Robin Platzer/Twin Images/Avalon, Darla Khazei/Avalon, Getty
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