Watch Jessica Chastain Educate Jimmy Fallon on Female Roles in Hollywood
Jessica Chastain knows there's a problem for women in Hollywood. Well, besides the sexual harassment. And the pay disparities. And the inane red carpet questions. OK—Jessica Chastain knows there's a lot of problems for women in Hollywood, but this week on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon she wanted to talk about underwritten female roles. Like the distraught wife of the hero who saves the day. Or the distraught girlfriend of the man who would and does risk everything. To illustrate just what actresses are dealing with in terms of a lack of depth of the characters they're asked to play, Chastain asked Fallon to help her read some scenes, with the late-night host taking the female parts while Chastain read for the men, and the result was obviously hilarious—and very telling.
Fallon didn't have to stretch himself much to read for the leading lady in a rom-com, when a meet-cute had the guy waxing poetic about the unpredictable nature of the universe and the possibility of fate, while his female companion...just giggled mostly. He was completely silent during Chastain's action hero monologue (though, on set he'd probably need to do at least some pained expressions when the hero said, "You wait here"). He did get an actual chunk of very technical dialogue for an imaginary sci-fi script, with his heroine outlining her perfectly calculated plan to save the ship, but it's still not exactly a shining beacon of feminism at work—her plan was quickly and simply dismissed by her male counterpart.
Chastain and Fallon made sure to plug Time's Up, the initiative to fight gender inequality that's been rampant in the world of Hollywood and beyond, at the end of the sketch, making it clear that this awards season, poking fun at problems in the industry isn't going to cut it; there need to be clear indicators that positive changes are truly coming.
Watch the sketch for yourself, below:
