Jessica Chastain and Michael perform people’s idols

• Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon play the power couple of country music.
• Chastain and Shannon discussed the pressure that comes with playing people’s idols.
• They say that is a big responsibility.

Jessica Chastain, the Academy Award winner and Oscar contender Michael Shannon play the power couple of country music, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, whose relationship was problematic despite their music’s iconic status. The “First Lady of Country Music” and the once-in-a-lifetime voice known for “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” widely regarded as the greatest country song of all time, were always in sync on stage, even when their internal demons tore them apart. The “First Lady of Country Music” was a loving mother who was determined to keep going, no matter what life threw at her.

In the interview with a private channel, co-stars Chastain and Shannon discussed the pressure that comes with playing people’s heroes, the ten years that Chastain was committed to the project, singing songs like “Stand By Your Man,” finding George Jones’ voice, where Tammy Wynette got her strength from, the odd duck noise that Jones used to make, and when they were happiest.

SHANNON: “On the one hand, there’s a lot of pressure, just because you’re dealing with people’s idols when you’re playing a person that literally is revered by other people and other people have posters of them on their wall. And yeah, that’s a big responsibility, which can be alleviated by understanding that no matter what you do, you’re not gonna be exactly like that person. So then, all the stress of trying to do that evaporates once you reach that conclusion. But you can only come to that conclusion after you’ve done a lot of hard work and preparation”

JESSICA CHASTAIN: “Yeah, it’s actually even more nerve-wracking, right before you do it. Before, you were doing the research, and I was attached to this for 10 years. It was just an idea. It’s not something tangible yet. So, we flew down to Nashville, and then, all of a sudden, it started to feel very real, and I started to get very scared about singing with a band. I’d never done that before, singing a song with musicians playing. I’ve done karaoke, but nothing like that. That’s real musician stuff. It felt, to me, like a huge leap into the unknown”

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