Set to hit theaters Friday, The Zookeeper’s Wife represents a Hollywood rarity as a primarily female-run production. While star Jessica Chastain promotes the film, she’s reminded of a concern raised in interviews prior to the release of her film The Help in 2011.
In a video for Vanity Fair, she explains, “So many of the questions I was getting from the press was about fighting on set—’Was it tough to be on set with all those girls?’”
Apparently a mainly female cast was too much for the press to handle back then. With The Zookeeper’s Wife being based off Diane Ackerman’s novel, adapted by Angela Workman and directed by Niki Caro, there are likely to be similar questions raised about how the women worked together. Women dominating the production of a film with a strong female cast and crew? Sounds to me like they’re serving up infinite amounts of girl power.
Chastian admits, “There was a great myth that I grew up with that women don’t work well together.” We’ve all heard that one before.
The actress revisits the sexist line of thinking to address Hollywood’s unfair treatment of women, explaining that women may be discouraged from pursuing careers in film or television simply because they are not taken seriously. Even Oscar-nominated actresses like Chastain are bothered with sexist doubts.
She says, “I think there’s so few female filmmakers because the industry doesn’t nurture them. There are a lot of female filmmakers in film school, and then they disappear. And I don’t think that’s because of their desire. I think that’s because they find themselves in an industry that doesn’t see them.”
Despite the stereotypes, Chastian has used her career and choice of powerful female roles to combat sexism time and time again. We still hope for the day when a female-run production is nothing but the norm.