Jessica Chastain Receives American Cinematheque Award; Chuck Roven Accepts Power Of Cinema Honor

As I approached her Friday night at her table where well-wishers were congratulating her on being this year’s recipient of the 38th American Cinematheque Award, Jessica Chastain caught my eye and immediately grabbed me and exclaimed, “Can you believe this? Can you believe this?, I am so stressed out tonight. I have never been so stressful. This is like going to your own funeral, ” she laughed before I told her she has had a remarkable career to date and deserves this kind of career recognition that the Cinematheque gives for those they define in mid-career. Chastain isn’t even 50 yet. She told me she knew she might get emotional but was going to do everything she could not to cry when delivering her speech. For this rabid film fan getting this honor from an organization that lives and breathes movies and their continued restoration and health, it was a very big deal.

In fact Chastain took the spotlight off her in our conversation to heap praise on Cynthia Erivo who she had just seen in Wicked. “I tried three times before I could even get tickets, and then I went at 8:30AM. She is just spectacular. To watch her do those stunts with wires and all. I have done a lot of stunts but she actually sang so incredibly LIVE while in that physical condition!,” she said as I turned it back to her and asked what he next film was going to be. “I am going to play Dororthy Kilgallen in a movie for Barry Levinson, with Al Pacino, Brendan Fraser, and Bryan Cranston who plays my husband,” she said while informing me Kilgallen, who I only knew as a regular panelist on the 50’s game show What’s My Line, was actually a Pulitizer Prize winning journalist. Levinson’s movie apparently deals with another take on the JFK assassination, and finds Chastain once again taking on an interesting real life person role after winning the Best Actress Oscar for The Eyes Of Tammy Faye.

I told her I was thinking especially about our mutual friend, the late great director Dan Ireland who told me once about a frustrating experience with his movie, Jolene which was being held up by the producer who financed it. He said he couldn’t wait for me to see this new actress who plays the title role. He was raving about Jessica Chastain whose first movie leading role this was. I think the film was held up for something like five years before it finally got released in 2008. As I said in the quote from my review on the film’s poster, “it was worth the wait”.

This was quite a night at the Beverly Hilton for Chastain with stories and praise from colleagues like Cranston, Octavia Spencer (who was nominated against Chastain for Supporting Actress in The Help), Aaron Sorkin, Sebastian Stan, Casey Affleck, and directors Michael Showalter (The Eyes Of Tammy Faye), Niki Caro (The Zookeeper’s Wife) , and Guillermo del Toro who told a touching story about Chastain turning up in full costume from their 2015 Crimson Peak in his hospital room when he was gravely ill with a pulmonary problem. “It was then I knew everything was going to be okay, ” he said about the visit from his star.

Pacino who co-starred with her in another early film, Wild Salome (which also took years to finally get released) and in his upcoming Lear Rex, appeared via video as did Peter Dinklage, Matthew McConaughey, Oscar Isaac (hilarious), Ralph Fiennes, and Jeremy Strong. Her Molly’s Game director Sorkin got a laugh when he began his speech, “I’m told there was going to be a roast of Jessica Chastain. I am delighted,” he laughed before repeating some advice he offered when another director inquired about possibly casting her in something. “Hire her. I don’t know what the role is, it could be George Washington. Just hire her.”

Certainly many have done just that and the show liberally sprinkled clips in addition to the forementioned titles throughout to prove it including The Martian, Zero Dark Thirty, Interstellar, Mama, The Tree Of Life The Good Nurse, George & Tammy , Scenes From A Marriage, and so many others.

Earlier in the evening the Power Of Cinema award was presented to producer Charles Roven who most recently had won a Best Picture Oscar for Oppenheimer , a highlight of a long career full of blockbuster success. Oppenheimer’s Robert Downey Jr. appeared to present the award to Roven. “He is a Hollywood cowboy. He is tough as nails. He is as Texas as you can be without being from there,” he said. “For all his success, it is clear that he still understands that we work in a service industry, and what is special about us is the unique service we provide. The Power of Cinema is best served by people who behave in a principled manner and put the drama on the screen where it belongs.”

Roven began by delivering a passionate plea to return Hollywood filmmaking to Los Angeles and then emphasizing his belief in the theatrical motion picture business expressed his optimism for the future. “One thing I never worry about is the movie business, because the audience will always be back. People want to be together. We want to see films on the biggest screen possible. We want to experience that magic,” he said. “For many decades, naysayers have been riding off the theatrical, first television, then home video, DVD, now streaming with each amazing innovation comes a new fear. Well, I say we need to take a page from sports. When great basketball players miss a few shots they do not slow down. The only way to score points is to keep shooting.”

Roven also listed a lot of names of filmmakers and actors he has worked with over the years. “It sounds like I am going to namedrop everyone I have ever worked with tonight. Maybe I will, ” he laughed. When Affleck appeared to talk about Chastain he first noted he also worked with Roven but wasn’t among the many names he called out in his speech. “I guess he doesn’t know who I am,” the Oscar winner joked.

Finally Chastain got her moment on stage and told a poignant story about all the women in her family and how theatre became her ticket to breaking out and finding her own voice, something not everyone n her family was able to do due to societal norms of the times. “In my career, I have worked to dismantle the restrictive roles society imposes on women. In January 2013, right in the beginning of my career, I reached a major milestone – landing the weekend in the two top box office films, Mama and Zero Dark Thirty. These roles broke new ground… Showing women as complex, powerful, and non-traditional. It wasn’t just about box office success. It was proof that audiences were hungry for stories of powerful, multifaceted women.”

Finally she paused and got emotional when acknowledging and thanking two of her table mates for the evening, her mother and grandmother. At that point Chastain couldn’t help but also shed tears she vowed to avoid. It was a nice moment in a very nice evening.

American Cinemetheque Chairman Rick Nicita and President Mark Badagliacca opened the proceedings with news of the organization’s many projects including welcoming over 300,000 people to various screenings, and now creating a travelling show hitting cities across the country.

See Jessica Chastain’s speech here.