Jessica Chastain Says She’s ‘Done’ with Singing On-Screen (Exclusive)

The Oscar winner tells PEOPLE why her new film ‘Heartland’ was worth breaking her own no-singing rule

NEED TO KNOW

• Jessica Chastain sings a duet with Jennifer Nettles in the upcoming thriller Heartland, crediting Nettles for helping build her confidence during filming
• Chastain tells PEOPLE that while she previously vowed to never sing on-screen, she made an exception after being drawn to screenwriter Shauna Feste’s character Misty Jones
• Heartland follows a former country star searching for her missing niece and premieres Nov. 13 on Netflix

Jessica Chastain may have said goodbye to singing on-screen, but she isn’t ruling out a return just yet.

At a special screening of her new film Heartland on Nov. 5, the 49-year-old actress tells PEOPLE that while she previously declared she would never sing in another role after starring in George & Tammy, she made an exception for her latest film.

In Heartland, Chastain plays Misty Jones, a former country music megastar who emerges from 20 years of seclusion when her 22-year-old niece, rising country musician Charlie Heart (Carter Faith), goes missing in Nashville. As Misty sets out to find her, she gets pulled into the dark and dangerous underbelly of the city’s music scene, uncovering secrets along the way and confronting her own past. 

“Shauna Feste changed me,” Chastain says of the film’s screenwriter. “She wrote a beautiful script. She wrote an amazing character, Misty Jones.”

She adds, “I felt like John Wayne in this movie. And every person, male or female, should get to feel a little bit like John Wayne at some point in their life.”

The film also explores themes of independence and the power of knowing when to walk away, something The Help star says she particularly connected with.

“I think we all have that skill. Are you kidding me? Every woman who walks out of their house every day tackles the world, tackles bad guys, tackles some kind of obstruction,” she says. “So that was an easy thing for me to imagine.”

“That’s something that is never out of style: saying no,” she says.

She adds that one of the things she loves about the film is how it explores “a woman’s choice to walk away” and “to be able to say no.”

Chastain also had some musical support along the way, including from her costar Jennifer Nettles, with whom she sings a duet in the film. The actress was quick to praise the 52-year-old country star’s vocals, noting that “her voice is of the angels.”

“She’s such a professional,” Chastain says. “I mean, she was just like really supportive and helped me build my confidence, but nobody sounds like Jennifer Nettles.”

Chastain was prepared for her moment and says she studied and practiced the songs before even arriving in Nashville or Atlanta to film.

“We will probably at some point see a lot of BTS footage of me sitting in my trailer playing the piano and singing because I do it on set and I do it in seats,” she says.

But don’t expect Chastain to start auditioning for musicals anytime soon.

“I’m done,” she says with a laugh when asked if she’d consider singing on-screen again. “I mean, I don’t know. I think I’m done. But this, this was a good time. George and Tammy was a good time too, but it was a lot of music on that one. It was a lot of live on set. So, I believe I’m done, but who knows? You never know.”

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Playing the piano is another skill the Other Mommy actress has picked up for various movie roles. Despite taking a few lessons as a child, she never actually learned how to play — but that hasn’t stopped filmmakers from putting her behind the keys.

“I took piano lessons when I was a little kid briefly, but I didn’t learn how to play,” she says. “And then for some reason in movies, I get asked to play the piano.”

Chastain previously played Chopin in 2015’s Crimson Peak and 2017’s The Zookeeper’s Wife. This time around, however, she found the music a little easier to tackle.

“I play a ton of piano in The Zookeeper’s Wife,” she continues, before adding that Heartland “wasn’t classical music, so it was an easier thing for me to learn.”

Heartland releases Nov. 13 on Netflix.