From Interstellar, to It: Chapter Two, to The Huntsman: Winter’s War, Jessica Chastain is no stranger to a blockbuster. But she’s rarely had the chance to be an all-out action hero, brawling with henchmen, firing machine guns, and pulling off daring stunts – until now. Enter The 355, an action-packed spy thriller from director and co-writer Simon Kinberg – and co-produced by Chastain herself – that sees the star play ‘Mace’ Brown, a CIA agent who assembles a global team of espionage agents (including Lupita Nyong’o’s Khadijah, Diane Kruger’s Marie, and Fan Bingbing’s Lin Mi Sheng) to take out a catastrophic new threat. Watch the trailer here:
Pulse-pounding stuff, right? And with a brilliant cast on board – also including Penelope Cruz as psychologist Graciela – it’s all about forging a new set of female action icons on screen, with a title that nods to a real-life one. “355 was the code name for the first female spy during the [American] revolution,” Chastain explains to Empire. “No one knows what her name is: all that we know about her is that she was ‘355’. So women today use that 355 moniker as a badge of honour, and a reminder that there are people doing the work behind the scenes that aren't recognised. And they need to be valued.”
For Chastain, it was a chance to take on a more physically demanding role, grappling with intense fight choreography and clambering on the outside of skyscrapers – for which she took on some of her own stunts. “I hadn't realised how tall the building was going to be when [I was saying] ‘I want to do it, I want to do it!’” she recalls. “Our great stunt coordinator, Jimmy, said, ‘Hey, you don't have to do this’, but I could feel the entire crew looking at me and I was like, ‘I’m doing it’. And it was really fun.”
Not that she’s angling to become the next Tom Cruise, or anything – though the action icon did visit The 355 set during the shoot. “He was amazing, and so kind, and really, you felt the excitement. We were just like, ‘Oh, he's really a beacon that we look to in the genre’,” says Chastain. “With Tom, I mean, I don't know if there's ever been anyone like him. I don't know that there ever will be anyone like him. He's such an inspiration. He's an incredible pilot, and motorcyclist, and he really kind of does everything. And this is our first foray into it. My skills are not Tom’s skills! He has so many more years of doing this kind of work than I have.”
The 355 is expected to arrive in UK cinemas in early 2021.