Jessica Chastain says Oscar Isaac sang to her and they drank bourbon before filming ’embarrassing’ love scene for their new HBO series
Jessica Chastain told Vulture she needed liquid courage and a serenade before filming an “embarrassing” love scene with co-star Oscar Isaac for HBO’s “Scenes From a Marriage.” The actors studied together at the Juilliard School, but that didn’t necessarily make it easy for Chastain to film intimate scenes with Isaac.
“I know that sounds sexy, but it’s not,” Chastain said. “Oscar is such a good friend. Because I was so nervous, he played some music and we drank some bourbon.” According to Chastain, Isaac was singing a song he knew she liked between takes, which she says helped calm her down.
Chastain also took his co-star’s advice and acted like no one else was in the room but the two of them.
“The most beautiful part of a love scene is the love in [Jonathan
and Mira’s] eyes when they look at each other. And [Oscar] helped create this,” she said.
Of course, they were filming a TV show and they weren’t alone on set. Chastain recalled an intim@cy coordinator telling the pair after one of their first takes that he didn’t look like they were “making love” and asking them to add “more top-down action” to their movements.
God bless whoever decided to slow down this video of Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain in Venice.
The tender arm stroke, the eyebrow lift…they give us the red carpet chemistry we didn’t even realize we needed pic.twitter.com/lFEu9mTc1B
Chastain and Isaac created buzz for “Scenes From A Wedding” on the Venice Film Festival red carpet when a slow-motion clip of Isaac kissing Chastain’s arm went viral and was compared to “The Family Addams” – but they are married to other people in real life.
Chastain said she and her husband Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo were friends with Isaac and his wife Elvira Lind. She even watched her performance in “Scenes from a Wedding” with her husband because she feels “he needs to see” her “very intimate” performances.
