In this Screen Tests interview, Jessica Chastain explains why she was inspired by The Kardashians for her performance as skier and underground poker player Molly Bloom in the movie "Molly's Game".

Chastain said, "The Kardashians are such an incredible example of women who really have their own sense of power, you know, entrepreneurs," Chastain said.

How did Molly’s Game come to you?

I heard about Molly’s Game from my agent Hilda, and she asked me if I’d be interested to work with Aaron Sorkin. He is a great film hero of mine because he’s a political filmmaker. And there’s so much idealism in his writing; justice prevails against the odds, I love those themes. So, yes, I wanted to be a part of it, and I had a meeting with Aaron.

Did you know much about poker beforehand?

Before I approached this film, I didn’t know anything about poker except that my mom liked to play poker a lot. On Halloween, we would play poker with our Halloween candy, which was basically a way for her to get all the Halloween candy away from us so we didn’t run around the house in sugar rushes. But other than that, I didn’t know anything. So I did what Molly Bloom did; I just started Googling all the terms that I didn’t understand. I read her book and some other books. And then I met with the players from Molly’s game. And I went to a game in New York.

So much about Molly Bloom and the physicality and people telling her that she’s not presenting herself in the way she should...her boss says, “Ugly shoes, ugly dress,” and she goes and buys something that she says makes her look completely like someone else and she becomes more sexually desirable. And then later on, the lawyer tells her she’s too sexually desirable and she needs to change her clothes. So I thought in terms of, "Well, what do women have to become in order to find power in society when men are making all the rules?" And it was pretty clear to me; I was like, "Oh my gosh, the Kardashians are such an incredible example of women who really have their own sense of power, you know, entrepreneurs." They looked a lot like Molly; Molly looked a lot like them.

It's an interesting character in that she was playing in a man’s world, as well as the idea about how you have to position yourself in a man’s world.

Absolutely. One of a really strong theme that Aaron wrote and that’s present in the film is that the film deals with patriarchy, and you see it in all aspects of Molly’s life. You see it in her family, where her father is the moral authority of the household. You see it in industry, where the men in her poker industry make all the rules and the rules change depending on their whims. And you also see it in government, in terms of the men who are going after her and then changing their minds about whether or not she can get her money back. In each instance, Molly is trying to contend in an environment where men are the ones making the rules and the rules can change depending on their desires. And I find that a fascinating subject to tackle right now.

When was your first kiss?

I was at a slumber party in sixth grade, so I was pretty young. The girls that were having a slumber party invited boys and we all started playing truth or dare. And a guy dared me to French kiss him. I had never done that before. I had seen Top Gun and that scene where they’re kissing each other, so I was like, "Okay." I was too scared to kiss him in the room with everyone, so everyone had to leave the room. And then we’re in the room together and I started to kind of back up and he was like approaching me. And then her mom ran into the room and was like, "Gotcha!" She was laughing and she goes, "Never mind, go ahead," and walks out. So I’m freaked out now, because I don’t know what is going on. He’s approaching me, I’m backing up, backing up, backing up. And finally, I’m like against the wall and he’s right here, and I just closed my eyes and just stick out my tongue. And it grazed his nose. It like licked his face a little bit. And then he yelled, “Oh, she tried to French kiss my nose,” and ran out and told the entire slumber party group. I mean, I don't know if that counts as a kiss. It was fairly traumatic. And the good thing is I will say I have figured out how to French kiss.