In Praise of Unknown Actors

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culturebox In Praise of Unknown Actors Jessica Chastain's graceful turn in The Tree of Life and other amazing performances by newcomers and nobodies. By Jessica Winter Updated Friday, May 27, 2011, at 7:09 AM ET Terrence Malick's domestic tone poem The Tree of Life has several would-be breakout stars, including three adorable boys (they play the sons of bullheaded striver Brad Pitt) and a pair of somewhat less adorable CGI dinosaurs. But the most intriguing of these newcomers may be Jessica Chastain, who portrays matriarch Mrs. O'Brien. Often as placid and usually as silent as a plaster saint, Chastain has an aura of housewifely beatitude enhanced by her glowing pale skin and glossy titian hair. Tree of Life producer Sarah Green has said that the film needed "someone who just exudes love, who is the embodiment of grace, and so ideally, she would be someone who didn't bring a lot of public history" to Mrs. O'Brien. Love and grace, it seems, may be incompatible with red-carpet chitchat, grocery runs immortalized in Us Weekly, and other constants of fame. Hollywood runs partly on star power; it wants a recognizable name and face in the frame. But playing a character might require something else: a vanishing act that subsumes the actor's persona. It's easier to pull off this legerdemain if the actor has no persona to speak of. And if the actor does succeed--and then lands on the cover of W magazine as Chastain did, or scores an out-of-nowhere Academy Award nomination as Jennifer Lawrence did for Winter's Bone this year--it will be harder for her to disappear ever again, because disappearing the first time made her a star. To continue reading, click here. Jessica Winter is a writer in New York. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Wow--Herman Cain Gets 10 Percent of the GOP Vote in New Poll Krauthammer's Attack on Obama's Israel Stance Is So Wrong How Do You Make Someone Mentally Fit To Stand Trial?	Advertisement
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