If you're UK based you may have seen the massive publicity drives recently for The Help, the novel about black maids working in white households in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi. Written by Kathryn Stockett, the book is now set for a screen adaptation - and Jessica Chastain is the latest name to join the cast.
"Who the heck is she?" we hear you ask. Why, she's the none-more-up-and-coming Californian actress who's recently shot roles with Brad Pitt in Terrence Malick's Tree of Life, Ralph Fiennes in Coriolanus and opposite Al Pacino in Wilde Salome. And she's worked with Sam Worthington twice, in The Fields and as the younger version of Helen Mirren's character in **The **Debt. We hate to brand someone with the name "next big thing", but she just might be.
In The Help, she'll play Celia Foote, an insecure Southerner trying to fit in with the high society crowd and generally not succeeding. Shooting begins in July in Greenwood, Mississippi, so let's hope she's got her drawl ready and some really good air-conditioning in her trailer.