“Coolest rejection ever”: the role Jessica Chastain refused to play and why she came to regret it
Comic book films have become such a dominant force in popular culture that the opportunity to appear in at least one project from either Marvel or DC has been challenging to turn down for most, apart from the rare outliers like Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Denzel Washington, but Jessica Chastain had very specific demands for her involvement in this universe.
Chastain is someone who has set new standards for women in Hollywood, often advocating for better representations for female directors, and while her commitment to doing projects that she actually cares about is admirable, it also means that some interesting roles may have passed her by.
Even if she had not yet won her Academy Award for ‘Best Actress’ by the time that Doctor Strange was in production, she was pursued for a potential role in the Marvel film, which starred Benedict Cumberbatch as the titular hero, and was offered the role of Dr Christine Palmer; however, she ended up turning it down because of a specific childhood dream.
According to the film’s screenwriter, Robert Cargill, Chastain was only interested in Doctor Strange if she was able to play a superhero, recalling, “She’s like, ‘Hey, look, this project sounds awesome, and I would love to do it. I’m only going to get one shot at being in a Marvel film and becoming a Marvel character, and I trained in ballet, and I really want to wear a cape’.”
Cargill said that it was “the coolest rejection ever,” as both he and director Scott Derrickson were impressed at how interested Chastain was in the lore of Doctor Strange, adding, “She wanted to be in a Marvel movie, but she wanted to be the superhero, not the badass doctor Night Nurse”.
While Doctor Strange was one of the most successful ‘solo’ films in the Marvel franchise, the actor wasn’t misguided in turning down the role, which ended up going to Rachel McAdams.
Palmer didn’t have much to do in either the first film or its sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which was directed by Sam Raimi, who would later feel so bad about underutilising McAdams that he cast her in Send Help, the first original horror film he had made in 17 years.
Chastain eventually did get to be part of the Marvel franchise, but it wasn’t a particularly successful experience, wherein she was cast to play the shapeshifting alien Vuk in Dark Phoenix, the fourth instalment in the X-Men prequel saga focusing on a younger Charles Xavier, Erik Lehnsherr, Hank McCoy, and Raven Darkholme, and the second time that the franchise tried to adapt the famous ‘Dark Phoenix’ storyline from the comics after it was botched back in 2006 with X-Men: The Last Stand.
Dark Phoenix is one of the worst comic book films ever made, and Chastain can’t really be blamed for a performance in which she was given nothing to do. While many of the characters from the 20th Century Fox X-Men franchise are being folded into the current Marvel Cinematic Universe, she would be best-suited to play a different character if she wanted to stage a MCU return.
