Jessica Chastain lost in space with Matt Damon in The Martian: ‘You’ve never had enough scenes with Matt’

NOTE to NASA: When the first manned mission to Mars blasts off, no matter how much ‘butt’ she kicks in The Martian, don’t put Jessica Chastain in charge.

NOTE to NASA: When the first manned mission to Mars blasts off, no matter how much “butt” her castmates claim she “kicks”, do not put Jessica Chastain in charge.

“Oh gosh, I would be the worst commander on a ship to Mars,” groans the actor from her New York pad. “It would be terrible. No one should put their life in my hands; I couldn’t deal with the responsibility.”

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Chastain commands her Mars mission crew (from left) Matt Damon, Sebastian Stan, Kate Mara and Aksel Hennie in The Martian. Picture: Twentieth Century Fox

Of course, acting the role of commander on a movie mission to Mars is a completely different proposition, one the red-headed, Oscar-nominated star of Zero Dark Thirty, The Helpand A Most Violent Year was willing to dive into on Ridley Scott’s new sci-fi blockbuster The Martian.

“My interest in space exploration started after Interstellar,” Chastain explains. “I had never really thought about it, but then spending so much time with Christopher Nolan and Annie — Anne Hathaway — people who are passionate about it, started to open my mind and now it’s like: Look at all that’s out there that I haven’t paid attention to!

“Then around the time Interstellar came out, Ridley Scott had this film and the character was an astronaut, so I knew it would be the perfect project where I could learn as much as I wanted to.”

Based on Andy Weir’s breakout novel and set in the near future, The Martian begins with the team of Commander Melissa Lewis (Chastain) doing research work on the red planet. When a dust storm sets in, the crew evacuates — but one astronaut, Mark Watney (Matt Damon), is hit by flying debris and left for dead.

Chastain with Damon at the London premiere of The Martian on September 24. Picture: Eamonn M. McCormack / Getty Images

Days later, with the rest of the crew headed back to Earth, NASA realises Watney is still alive and alone on Mars, with help years away from arriving. If Commander Lewis and Co. are to turn around to rescue their shipmate, they’ll have to commit mutiny to do so.

Knowing NASA’s doors would be open, Chastain, 38, “took complete advantage” to research the role. She visited NASA in Texas, JPL (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) in California and met with “an incredible astronaut” named Tracy Caldwell Dyson.

“I’m a perpetual student — I just get to take all these specialty courses,” Chastain says with a laugh. “I’m taking piano lessons now for this next film I’m doing ... Every film, I have no control over the finished product, but I do have control over the day to day of working on a film; so when I leave the filming process, am I leaving having gained something?

“I definitely have with The Martian.”

The practicality of filming The Martian turned out to be a little tougher than the research, as Chastain, Damon, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Michael Pena and Aksel Hennie learnt while acting out that dust storm evacuation in full astronaut gear.

Damon stranded on Mars in his astronaut suit — Chastain found the oxygen in the helmet would shut off a little too often for her liking. Picture: Twentieth Century Fox

“It was a fully functioning suit, it had its own oxygen supply, lighting system, sound system, but also it would latch shut,” Chastain explains.

“So if by chance — and this happened a lot — the oxygen shut off and we were in the middle of a take, by the end you’d be going, (gasping) ‘Someone please take my helmet off!’, trying to get some air again.”

With all that NASA research under her belt, Chastain is convinced man will step foot on Mars within her lifetime: “It’s a fact. It’s happening. It’s happening sooner than we think.”

And she’s in no doubt that any woman not named Jessica Chastain could confidently lead such a mission.

That angle is covered nicely in a viral video released to promote The Martian, where the crew is interviewed by a psychologist. When he asks Lewis if she feels any added pressure at being “the first female commander” of a Mars mission, her reaction is priceless.

“I do like that she hands him his ass,” Chastain laughs.

By the time humans actually do reach Mars, does Chastain believe such questions will still be asked of women?

“I do feel hopeful because I feel like we are making broad steps. This year already I can see a difference in cinema from last year. As an audience member I’m like, oh, look at Trainwreck and Spy! I’m very pleased to have more female stories out there.

“But even this book Andy Weir wrote — he decided that the commander of the manned mission to Mars was gonna be a woman. He wrote that. There’s nothing in the book that comments on her being a woman. No one asks those questions in this film. So I’m hoping we’re heading towards a positive place.”

Much funnier than its serious premise might suggest, Commander Lewis’s love of disco music features prominently in both The Martian book and film: “How could we leave that out?” asks Chastain.

Chastain with Tom Hiddleston in Crimson Peak, a film that “wrecked” her. Picture: Universal Pictures

The only thing Chastain finds remotely disappointing is the fact Damon is stranded alone for most of the movie — meaning she didn’t get to act with him very much.

“You never think you had enough scenes with Matt,” she smiles. “I’ve worked with him twice now and for some reason I’ve had about 10 minutes of screen time with him. I told him we have to rectify this: the next time we’re in a film together we have to make sure we work together.”

After The Martian, it was Chastain’s turn to be stranded alone, in a sense, in Guillermo Del Toro’s gothic romance/horror Crimson Peak, which opens October 15.

Chastain admits her character, Lady Lucille, “was tough on me”.

“People were a bit surprised that I was interested in playing her. I was interested because it was an exploration of profound loneliness — I wanted to know what that does to a human being. But I will say, after four months of being in her shoes, I was wrecked.”

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