'Scenes from a Marriage' took toll on Jessica Chastain's friendship with Oscar Isaac

Jessica Chastain. Pic/AFP

Actress Jessica Chastain's friendship with Oscar Isaac has changed ever since they appeared in the lead roles in 'Scenes from a Marriage', an American television miniseries adapted from Ingmar Bergman's 1973 Swedish classic.

The two actors went to Julliard together before teaming up on a series of movies, including 'A Most Violent Year', 'Ex Machina' and 'Inside Llewyn Davis', but despite their years of closeness, Jessica (46) admitted that she needed "a little bit of a breather" from her "pal" after making the intense 2021 miniseries, aceshowbiz.com reported.

"I mean, 'Scenes from a Marriage' was very tough. And I love Oscar, but the reality is that our friendship has never been quite the same. We're going to be okay, but after that, I was like, I need a little bit of a breather. There was so much 'I love you', 'I hate you' in that series," she told Vanity Fair's 'Little Gold Men' series.

However, Jessica - who has two children with husband Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo - is grateful that she's able to play out emotional turmoil on screen and then go home to enjoy a "very quiet" life.

She said, "But there's so much joy in what I get to do. There's a lot of catharsis. I feel like I have the best job in the world because I get to have these experiences.

"They're so out of this world and feel like they're mine. But then I live a very quiet life. I don't have to have these tortured things in my life. I play them and I experience them, and then I come home and I live quietly and peacefully."

The Oscar-winning actress had previously admitted that she worried 'Scenes from a Marriage' would ruin her friendship with Oscar.

She had told 'Total Film' magazine in 2021, "We've known each other more than half of our lives. There's an innate trust there.

"But also a sense that when you know someone that well, it's like you can read their mind. Which is so exposing. Working on 'Scenes from a Marriage', there were certain parts of the script that really affected me when I think about past relationships, when I think about growing up or parts of being a woman. It affected me quite deeply.

"And Oscar could always see when I was off-balance from something. And when you're acting with someone, and you want to make them laugh and you have a history together, you know how to do it, right?

"And if you want to really hurt them, you know how to do it. So it was a very painful experience for us. I would come home from work and say to my husband, 'I don't know if I could be friends with Oscar after this'. Because it got quite brutal between us, and very painful on set. We were so committed to the characters, and also because we could see into each other."

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