The Forgiven at the Tribeca Film Festival with Jessica Chastain, Christopher Abbott and Mourad Zaoui
Tribeca Film Festival is the best time of the year in New York City for movie fanatics. Of course POP Style attended few great red carpets, including The Forgiven with Jessica Chastain. The annual NYC tradition always boasts amazing films and talks, this year proved to be no different.
Held at BMCC on Chambers Street, “The Forgiven” premiere starring Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes was quite the event. Jessica Chastain glowed on the red carpet in a floor length black gown with white trim. Pop Style TV’s Lauren Conlin spoke to some of the cast about the film, and why audiences should enjoy.
The Forgiven takes place in Morocco while wealthy Londoners David and Jo Henninger (Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain) are involved in a tragic accident with a local teenage boy, on their way to a lavish party in the desert. Arriving late at the grand villa with the debauched party raging, the couple attempts to cover up the incident with the collusion of the local police. But when the boy’s father arrives seeking justice, the stage is set for a tension-filled culture clash in which David and Jo must come to terms with their fateful act and its shattering consequences.
Jessica Chastain and Raph Fiennes star in the new film The Forgiven, which premiered June 14 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, Chris Abbott, along with Jessica and Mourad Zaoui, are just some of the actors in attendance.
Lauren Conlin: Why should we all go see this?
Mourad Zaoui: Oh my God, because it’s gonna give you faith in humanity. It’s gonna help us grow, learn from each other. Not be afraid of the other that we don’t know that speak different language than us that looks different than us. Just like my collar.
Lauren Conlin: Oh, I didn’t even notice that you’re taller. Let’s let’s check this out.
Mourad Zaoui: It’s West versus East.
Jessica Chastain: Yeah, well, I you know, I’ve worked with him before we did Coriolanus together. And when he texted me about this, I was really excited to be a part of it. I love Morocco. I was on the jury at the Marrakech Film Festival in 2011. And it was life changing. It was so exciting to be there. And so an opportunity to go back to be with like, in Morocco with those incredible people and tell the story. It was you it was something you just couldn’t pass up.
Lauren Conlin: And your character Joe, I really I really liked her attitude. I like everything that she was about. How did you get into character for that?
Jessica Chastain: Oh, I mean, I know the book really well. I loved the book. I read it years before I even knew I was ever going to do the movie. And so I just kept reading it and underlying things about her that I loved. And there’s one line that she says that John put in the script for me because I love it so much. She says it. Towards the end of the story.” I’m so awake, I’m dangerous. ” And that was to me was like the whole journey of the character. She’s asleep. In some sense, she’s numbed and asleep in the beginning of the film. And then as it goes on, she becomes dangerous.
Lauren Conlin: Did you enjoy making this film?
Chris Abbott: No, no. Yeah, no, I love, I love the script. I love the group. I’ve worked with a few of these people, the actors before and anyone who I hadn’t worked with before I was excited to work with like Ray, you know, Ray I hadn’t worked with before? And no, it was it was fantastic and odd and ominous. And you know, we’re in the desert at the buildup of the pandemic and it was strange but beautiful at the same time.
Lauren Conlin: You shot it in the middle of the pandemic?
Chris Abbott: At the beginning. Like we were shooting it before. I think before it started to catch fire.
Lauren Conlin: Wow. And Morocco I’ve been before it’s beautiful. Did you enjoy it?
Chris Abbott: Yeah, very much. Yeah, it felt like a dream.
Lauren Conlin: And why should people see the forgiven?
Chris Abbott: Why should people see The Forgiven? Because Wraith and Jessica Chastain are the leads of it. And then if you’re a fan of me at all, I’m in it. And then so I don’t know. I don’t know what else do you want? Or don’t see it. I don’t care.
Lauren Conlin: He doesn’t care. He lives three blocks away. It’s fine.
The forgiven opens July 1 in theaters everywhere. I’m Lauren Conlin for POP Style TV.
Watch more Tribeca Film Festival Interviews:
Broadway Rising With Jesse Tyler & Bernadette Peters
