Jessica Chastain fights online hate in ‘The Savant’ – Boston Herald

Jessica Chastain fights online hate in ‘The…

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Jessica Chastain fights online hate in ‘The Savant’

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Jessica Chastain in “The Savant,” premiering Sept. 26. (Photo Elizabeth Fisher/courtesy Apple TV+)

By Stephen SchaeferPUBLISHED: September 21, 2025 at 3:03 AM EDTThere are threats, psychological and physical, for Jessica Chastain’s secretive Jodi Goodwin in Friday’s AppleTV+ series “The Savant.”
Goodwin works online to monitor hate groups. This can become tricky, life-threatening even, if her identity becomes known.
For Chastain, 48, it’s a deep dive into a subject and a woman few people know that began when her producing partner passed along an article she had read.
“I was so interested in this world I had never known: These people that were undercover, almost like cops online, working with the FBI to keep us safe. function dfm_stn_player_script_id_ubk1i44d( getS2NApiForPlayer ) {
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“Then,” she said in a Zoom interview, “I had the opportunity to talk to the woman that the article was written about.
“In the article, they call her K. Our series is inspired by this woman. It’s not based on her life; the whole backstory is different.
“What really interested me was the interior life, the emotional weight of what she was doing. I asked her questions but nothing that would identify her.
“She had a certain way of speaking that I was so drawn to and wanted to copy. Like the second we started talking on the phone I was, ‘This is amazing!’ Only I realized I couldn’t do it, because I needed to keep her safe and not do anything too identifiable.

“But I would ask her questions. What’s your favorite music? What do you do when you need to de-stress?
“Then when I’d be on set, I would listen to her favorite music and that would just connect me to our conversations.
“Then I had to build the whole backstory of Jodi and her family and her upbringing on my own, with the help of the script. That was the main thing in creating the character.”
“Savant” begins with a horrible, racially motivated attack, seemingly inspired by an incident in New York State that targeted Black grocery shoppers.

Jodi’s interracial marriage is complicated by her husband’s medical duties overseas. Was this domestic situation meant to reflect the world that she’s exploring, which is filled with so much hate for what she and her husband have, just by the fact that they’re alive together?
“For me,” said Chastain as executive producer and handmaiden to the film, “it’s also reflective of society and so much love. I know so many people who are so open and supporting and intelligent, you know? Just really where the world needs to be in 2025.
“Sometimes I think hate can be louder than love, and that’s a horrible thing. But that’s also why I’m drawn to this character: Because she shows the hope of where we’re going.
“I do believe there’s way more positivity than hate. We just have to focus on that.”
“The Savant” streams 2 episodes on AppleTV+) Sept. 26
Jessica Chastain is an undercover investigator in “The Savant.” (Photo Elizabeth Fisher/courtesy Apple TV+)

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