The pair co-starred together on the HBO series and have been friends for over 20 years.
Jessica Chastain is getting real about her friendship with Oscar Isaac.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair (done before the SAG-AFTRA strike) the actress opened up about how her relationship with her longtime friend changed after they worked alongside each other on HBO's Scenes From a Marriage.
While speaking about letting go of roles after she is finished playing the character, the 46-year-old revealed that after playing a role so intense and close with Isaac, she needed a breather.
"I mean, Scenes From a Marriage was very tough. And I love Oscar [Isaac], but the reality is, our friendship has never quite been the same. We're going to be okay, but after that, I was like, I need a little bit of a breather," she told the magazine. "There was so much I love you, I hate you in that series."
In the HBO limited series that ran in 2021, Chastain and Isaac played married couple, Mira and Jonathan, who worked to fix their marriage after years of damage. The pair of A-list friends also starred alongside each other in the 2014 drama A Most Violent Year.
Chastain added that despite the tough toll the work takes on her, there is still joy in playing the roles.
"But there's so much joy in what I get to do," she told the magazine. "There’s a lot of catharsis. I feel like I have the best job in the world because I get to have these experiences. They're so out of this world and feel like they're mine. But then I live a very quiet life. I don't have to have these tortured things in my life. I play them and I experience them, and then I come home and I live quietly and peacefully."
The Oscar-winning actress and Isaac's friendship went viral the same year the show aired. During the 2021 Venice Film Festival, Isaac went viral when he seemingly kissed her armpit while posing for photos.
Chastain, who is married to Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, laughed off the moment with ET.
"We've been friends for over 20 years," the Eyes of Tammy Faye star said. "He's like a jokester, and I adore him. I think because he's a man and I'm a woman it became this huge thing," Chastain continued about the internet's reaction.
ET spoke to Isaac about the moment who hilariously quipped that Chastain "smelled like roses."
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