Jessica Chastain apparently has expert timing when it comes to pranks. During a recent appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, she revealed how she pulled off a stunt on a helplessly strung-up James McAvoy while filming 2019’s Dark Phoenix. While the film may not have been great, the prank sounds highly entertaining.
According to Chastain, the moment happened when McAvoy’s Professor X is lifted out of his wheelchair by Sophie Turner’s out-of-control Jean Grey, who uses her Phoenix powers to make him walk up a flight of stairs. The stunt required McAvoy to wear a wired harness, and that’s when Chastain saw her opening. Via Entertainment Weekly:
“He does the scene and it’s good,” Chastain recounted to host Kelly Clarkson. “The director said, ‘Okay, fine. Roll take, let’s do it again.’ So they lift him up and he’s acting, you know, like he’s being lifted by this magic… and, all of a sudden, the ‘Macarena’ starts playing. And the guys who were holding the wires were having him dance the Macarena.”
She added, “There’s no topping it. It was the best.”
However, like all pranks, they turn quickly. Not only did McAvoy start busting out dance moves while suspended in the air, but he ensnared Chastain in her trap.
“He leaned in,” Chastain told Clarkson. “In fact, at one point, because he was at the top of the stairs, he kinda, like, grabbed me and lifted me off the ground, and that’s when I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, no, no. We gotta stop because I could now get hurt.’ He was good fun.”
(Via Entertainment Weekly)