Jessica Chastain joined host Jimmy Fallon on Friday’s Tonight Show to showcase “every audition ever.”
In a short video segment, Chastain showed up for a casting call in which she was reading for the role of “Angela.” Her lines were simple enough: “Hi, my name’s Angela. It’s nice to meet you.”
The Oscar nominee read her line to camera and immediately received direction from the casting director (Fallon). “That was great. Can you do that again, but … hot?”
Undeterred, Chastain once more tried the line and received the direction: “This time can you try it sweet and modest … but also hot? And can you be younger?”
Multiple takes followed, including ones in which Chastain was asked to read the line as a “spicy little peppermint with a secret,” a “Girlboss, but pouting, but sleeping, but also you love him, but hot” and “Wonder Woman … like, hot.”
Eventually, Chastain was asked to perform the lines as “smart, accomplished and empowered,” to which she looked grateful. Unfortunately, Fallon’s casting director had misread his notes: “Sorry … try it hot.”
Finally, the actress was thanked for her time and exited. She was followed by a male actor, who simply read the line, “Hi, my name is Mike,” to which Fallon’s casting director applauded and said, “Perfect. No notes!”
Chastain has been a vocal advocate for equal pay and has spoken out about misogyny in Hollywood. She addressed facing the issue in her own career during The Hollywood Reporter‘s recent Actress Roundtable, saying, “After Zero Dark Thirty, I was sent a lot of scripts where it was a female protagonist, and they wouldn’t do my deal until they knew who the male actor was because they needed to do his deal first and then see what was left over.”
Watch the clip below.
