The one thing Jessica Chastain hates doing onscreen: “I would rather do full nudity”
Jessica Chastain has a real knack for playing characters called ‘Tammy’. In 2021, she starred in the movie The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Her character is an evangelical preacher who, along with her husband (Andrew Garfield), becomes a massive star through her TV presence. Then, in the same year that she was awarded an Oscar for her performance, she took on arguably her biggest Tammy yet – the great Tammy Wynette.
In the Showtime miniseries George & Tammy, the redheaded star played the legendary country singer behind “Stand By Your Man”. The show chronicles not only Wynette’s career, but also her relationship with her then-husband and fellow artist George Jones (Michael Shannon). The two were something of a country music power couple, but had a very turbulent time behind the scenes. They also once tried to sabotage the career of Olivia Newton-John, although that’s not really covered.
As we’ve already mentioned, Wynette was a singer. A very good singer, at that. While her co-star was no stranger to music, having played Elvis Presley in a previous project and has his own REM cover band, Chastain wasn’t nearly as experienced. In fact, as she revealed on The Late Late Show with James Corden, she was actively against the idea.
“I would rather do full nudity than sing a song,” she said. “I felt so embarrassed and so just completely out of my element and out of my comfort zone, and especially in Tammy Faye. She was so confident from the first note, yelling it out to Jesus. It’s just beyond anything I’ve ever been comfortable with.”
It’s not like this was the first time Chastain had gotten on the mic. The real-life Tammy Faye Bakker would routinely sing hymns and gospel numbers as part of her act, and the actor did the same while playing her. Still, as Chastain herself pointed out, Wynette was a whole different kettle of fish. This was a professional singer, one of the most respected and revered women in the history of the country genre. Her going from Faye to Wynette was like going from am-dram to the opening night of a Broadway musical.
To make matters worse, both Chastain and Shannon would be performing their vocals live. One can only imagine how nervous the former must have been before the scene where she had to perform “Stand By Your Man” in front of an entire Las Vegas crowd. We doubt she got much sleep the night before. Luckily, she had nothing to worry about. Though she isn’t quite up to Wynette’s standards, Chastain has a lovely voice. She’s able to convey the heartache present in so many country standards with great effect and certainly didn’t embarrass herself with her performance. She was nominated for several high-profile awards for this role, including a victory at the SAGs, and her vocals later featured on an accompanying soundtrack album.
If you’re not a confident singer, then it can feel like the end of the world when you’re asked to get up and belt out a tune. Considering that Chastain was such a big fan of Wynette’s beforehand, this must have been doubly true. She did it though, and did a pretty decent job too.
