The horror genre has been gracing our screens with strong and empowered female leads for a long time. Some favorites of the final girl trope include Ellen Ripley, Nancy Thompson and of course Halloween’s Laurie Strode. Actress, Jessica Chastain has recently been cast as female-lead, Beverley Marsh in IT: Chapter 2. Chastain revealed in November last year that she wanted the role and fans were certainly not disappointed when she was confirmed.
She recently took to Instagram to tease her transformation in the upcoming film:
Yesterday, in an interview with Indie Wire the actress revealed why she loves the horror genre. She said:
“I actually love the horror genre, because I found that in the past — I think things are changing now — but in the past the horror genre [in particular] really has great female characters,I’m very happy to work again in a genre that actually has empowered women. And in that genre, you usually see the person surviving at the end being the lady. Do you know what I mean? She conquers the monsters or the bad guys, and she walks away at the end.”
Chastain also revealed another reason the role was so attractive to her:
“Oh, yeah. I remember reading ‘Pet Sematary, Ohhh, I was so young when I read that book, and I got so scared. And I watched that movie so many times. I read ‘The Shining.’ I really like his writing.”
This isn’t the first horror movie Chastain has starred in. She appeared as Lucille Sharp in 2015’s Crimson Peak, alongside Tom Hiddleston. She also played Annabel in the popular 2013 film Mama, which was also directed by Andy Muschietti.
It: Chapter 2 will be released on 6th September 2019.
Who’s your favourite female lead? tell us in the comments!