While several directors have spoken out against the Academy Awards’ decision not to air a handful of categories live during the Oscars broadcast, Jessica Chastain became the first major star to express disgust. The Oscar nominee said she might even skip the red carpet to show support for The Eyes of Tammy Faye makeup and hairstyling team since their category is among the eight getting the short end of the stick. Chastain was nominated for her work in the film, but she wouldn’t have been able to completely transform into the televangelist without the film’s makeup and hairstyling artists.
“I will absolutely be present when the makeup category is being called, and if that means I’m not doing press on the red carpet or ABC or whatever it is, then so be it,” Chastain said during the latest episode of the Next Best Picture podcast. Last month, The Hollywood Reporter learned that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is going ahead with a plan to give out eight Oscars before the live broadcast starts on ABC. The category winners’ acceptance speeches will then be edited and aired during the broadcast. While a similar plan in 2019 earned enough backlash that the Oscars backed off, it appears that this year’s plan will not be stopped.
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“The most important thing for me is to honor the incredible artisans who work in our industry,” Chastain said Thursday, reports Entertainment Weekly. “So much attention is on the actors, we’re like the face in some ways, because you go to a movie and you see us. A lot of people don’t understand how beyond an actor’s performance is. Look at this incredible makeup team, Tammy Faye goes through three decades.”
In The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Chastain plays Tammy Faye Bakker, who co-founded The PTL Club televangelist show with her husband, Jim Bakker (played by Andrew Garfield). The movie was inspired by a documentary of the same name and directed by Michael Showalter. Chastain, who was one of the film’s producers, undergoes a dramatic transformation thanks to makeup and prosthetics as the film tracks Tammy Faye’s rise, success, and fall over three decades.
Tammy Faye‘s only Oscar nominations are for Chastain’s performance and the makeup and hairstyling team’s work. Stephanie Ingram, Linda Dowds, and Justin Raleigh came up with intricate ways to make Chastain look like Tammy Faye without impeding her performance. “It’s incredibly important to honor all aspects of cinema beyond just the actors,” Chastain said Thursday. “I will be 100 percent present.”
Aside from Chastain, the other high-profile stars who have spoken out against the Oscars pre-taping eight categories have all been directors. Steven Spielberg, who was nominated for Best Director again for West Side Story, said he disagreed with the Academy executive committee’s move.
“I feel very strongly that this is perhaps the most collaborative medium in the world. All of us make movies together, we become a family where one craft is just as indispensable as the next,” Spielberg said in a statement. “I feel that at the Academy Awards there is no above the line, there is no below the line. All of us are on the same line bringing the best of us to tell the best stories we possibly can. And that means for me we should all have a seat at the supper table together live at 5.”
The 94th Academy Awards start live from the Dolby Theatre on ABC at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 27. Reginal Hall, Wanda Sykes, and Amy Schumer will host the show. Will Packer is producing.
