Jessica Chastain Says She Demanded ‘Balanced’ Full-Frontal Nudity for Co-Star Oscar Isaac in HBO Series

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HBO
Alana Mastrangelo

Actress Jessica Chastain said she demanded the writer-director of HBO’s Scenes from a Marriage shoot nude scenes of her co-star Oscar Isaac that showed the equivalent body parts she had to bare for her own performance, according to a recent interview.

On The View Friday, Chastain confessed she is the reason for a viral shot of full-frontal nudity from Isaac on the miniseries’ fourth episode.

“I said to Hagai [Levi], who wrote and directed the series, in the very beginning, I said, ‘I’m comfortable with all the nudity, but any part of my body that you show, you’re going to have to show the same with Oscar,'” she said.

“So there’s a shower scene that I have in Episode 2, and you see my body,” Chastain added. “So now, like, you see his body — I wanted it to be balanced.”

For his part, Isaac said he was not aware of how much of his body ended up on screen until he saw the frenzied reactions to the scene.

“Well, Oscar, I’m going to have to ask you this question — because it was a hot topic at this table, and it was all over Twitter — about your full-frontal nude scene. There was a full-frontal nude scene, everyone,” said Sunny Hostin Friday on The View.

“I’m feeling objectified right now,” Isaac quipped.

“I hate to do it, but I have to ask,” Hostin continued. “It really set everything on fire — Twitter, we were talking about it — were you surprised at that reaction, and was there ever a moment were you sort of second-guessed to decision to reveal yourself?”

Isaac replied: “I was surprised, because I didn’t know that was going to happen. You get sent the [footage] to look at, and be like, ‘Okay, I’m fine with that.’ But I saw it on a laptop, quite dark, and I didn’t notice what was happening down there.”

“It was a surprise when I started seeing all these things, like, ‘It’s full-frontal,’ — I was like, ‘No, what are you talking about?’ And I saw it, and clear as day on the big TV there, it’s there for everyone to see,” he added.

At another point in the interview, Joy Behar asked the actors if it was “easier or harder” for them to play these roles, “particularly, the hot scenes.”

“Well, we are theatre kids, and, you know, theatre kids, you know, they’re always naked,” Isaac said.

Chastain interjected, “I was never naked in theatre class.”

“I was, all the time,” Isaac replied.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

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