Jessica Chastain Talks Past and Present Career with Total Film

With her new movie "Madagascar 3" having just opened to a box office topping reception earlier this month, Jessica Chastain scored herself a little added exposure via the Summer 2012 issue of Total Film magazine.

The 35-year-old actress Oscar-nominated actress stoically posed for an elegant Jeff Vespa shot portrait fronting the feature in which she talks about her grand level of success in 2011 and what she has planned for the future.

Highlights from Miss Chastain's in-depth interview are as follows. For more, be sure to pay a visit to Total Film!

On losing out on an Oscar to costar Octavia Spencer:
"Octavia Spencer was a great teacher for me. I went to Juilliard and studied Shakespeare in Chekov and Ibsen and all the heavies, so to be able to do comedy was such a dream. That woman's timing is so great. As soon as I met her I knew we had great chemistry together – she was a fantastic teacher."

On how she stays grounded after such a big year:
"Gosh. You know, I guess I just concentrate on the work and the jobs, and I've been working a lot. I did 'Mama' [horror movie produced by Guillermo del Toro] at the end of last year. January and February was the awards circuit, but I was also in rehearsal for the Bigelow film [Zero Dark Thirty, about the Navy SEAL Team tracking down Osama Bin Laden]. And then I've been working on Katheryn's film. Also, I very rarely get recognized. Here it's different, because we are in Cannes. But in real life I very rarely get recognized. So there hasn't been anything that's made me feel like I'm a big shot. My dog treats me the same. My family treats me the same."

On if she feels pressure to live up to her 2011:
"I keep trying to tell myself I can't possibly live up to what last year was. It was such an amazing year. To be in films like 'The Tree of Life and 'The Help' and 'Take Shelter' and 'The Debt'... To have that reception? It's never going to happen again. Last year, I didn't feel any pressure. It was more the pressure of hoping people like the film. This year, I think I feel more like I'm hoping people say such nice things again. I want to live up to that."

On what she has planned for the future:
"Well, Broadway. I always want to keep doing different things. I don't just want to concentrate on film. The most important thing for me is being an actor. Film, theater, television... That's the career I want. Actresses have so many ups and downs, and we're not always given wonderful choices. So always I want to find the great characters. If that character's on television or stage, I'm going to go there."