She may have a second Oscar nomination in the bag but Jessica Chastain isn't resting on her laurels. The Californian has joined Colin Farrell in signing up for Liv Ullman's Miss Julie, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed{
Written by Swedish playwright August Strindberg, Miss Julie is set at the dying embers of the 19th century and plots the events of a single night on the estate of an aristocrat. Chastain will be playing the Count's daughter, the titular Miss Julie, who in an upstairs-downstairs tryst that would probably make Downton Abbey explode, falls in with smart footman called Jean. This, we're assuming, is the part played by Colin Farrell.
If this sounds like Bergman country, Ullman was, of course, the great director's muse. She is now based in America and hasn't directed since 2000's **Faithless **but has obviously kept an eye out for actors capable of navigating Strindberg's dense material.
If actress-of-the-moment Chastain has been busy lately, packing, stacking and racking isn't the name of the game. She has a knack of picking challenging, demanding material that stretches her and Strindberg is certainly both those things. Expect her to perform it in Swedish for bonus points (probably).