Jessica Chastain says she may opt out of being printed on the Oscars red carpet to show solidarity with Hollywood artists, including the Tammy Faye Eyes nominated makeup team, at the March 27 ceremony.
During a recent interview with The Next Best Picture podcast, the Best Actress nominee said she would not be involved in pre-screening press if it prevented her from supporting Tammy Faye’s makeup and hair team during the first full hour of the non-television ceremony.
“I will definitely be there when the makeup category is announced, and if that means I’m not performing on the red carpet for ABC or whatever, then so be it,” she said. “The most important thing for me is to pay tribute to the wonderful craftsmen working in our industry.”
She went on to say that while talents such as actors are usually seen as the “face” of the play, it is the work of those involved in makeup and hair that makes the play.
“So much attention is paid to the actor. We are somewhat like a face, because you go to the cinema and see us, ”she explained. “But a lot of people don’t realize how much the play goes beyond the actor.”
Chastain’s comments followed infighting within the Academy after it was announced that the 94th annual ceremony would feature eight categories ahead of live broadcast. Instead, the winners in these categories will receive their awards and deliver their speeches in the same way as in the live categories, but their recorded welcome speeches will be edited and included as clips during the live broadcast.
The academy has promised that the Oscars will begin when everyone is in their seats at the Dolby Theater by 4 p.m. PT, but one governor who spoke to THR was cautious about whether that would be the reality. Since the announcement, big-name Hollywood talents such as directors Steven Spielberg and Guillermo del Toro have publicly endorsed the eight categories returning to live streaming.
The decision to pre-record the categories was reportedly the result of the ABC network’s demand that the live coverage of the Oscars would be canceled if the categories were not removed to shorten the show’s running time. In addition to makeup and hair, sound, video editing, original soundtrack, production design, and three categories of short films—documentary, animation, and fiction—will be honored in the first non-television hour of the show.